The .PW Registry today announced that more than 50,000 .PW domain names were registered in just 3 weeks since the beginning of its General Availability phase.

.PW, launched as "the Professional Web", was available for General registrations from March 25, 2013 with a strong distribution channel of 120+ ICANN Registrars including Network Solutions, Web.com, Tucows, Name.com, eNom, Xinnet & Namecheap. The registry saw more than 4,000 .pw domain registrations within 30 minutes of its launch, making it the most successful TLD launch post .XXX.

"Our goal was 100,000 names for the first year. Considering that no competing extension had come anywhere close to achieving 100,000 names in the first year, it was a goal that most considered ambitious. The feeling of achieving 50% of the goal within the first three weeks is surreal. The team put together and executed a brilliant marketing plan. We are eagerly looking forward to leveraging this experience for our new gTLDs", said Bhavin Turakhia, CEO, .PW Registry & Radix Registry.

.PW also bagged some respectable premium name deals with two single character names going for $8,000 each. The company now intends to release all its reserved premium names through BIN sales at BuyDomains and themed auctions at NameJet.

About Directi:
With over a decade in the internet industry, Directi is a $350m+ group of businesses, providing various web products and services to millions of global users. Directi businesses include ResellerClub, LogicBoxes, BigRock, Skenzo, Media.net and Radix Registry. Over 1000 employee strong, Directi currently has 5 offices across 4 countries. Directi businesses rank amongst the fastest growing businesses worldwide in their corresponding industry segments. For more information, please visit http://www.directi.com.

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Michael Boustridge joins Dyn's Board of DirectorsDyn, the worldwide leader in Internet Infrastructure as a Service, announced today that Michael Boustridge, has been added to its Board of Directors.

Boustridge is the former President of BT Global Services, a company that delivers a combination of communications and IT services to customers organizations and governments worldwide. He joined BT Global Services in April 2007, assuming responsibility for all aspects of their operations and performance in the United States and Canada and Financial Services and finally running all of the Global MNC (MultiNational Customer) business.

"Michael brings a long-term view of technology and insight into how larger companies operate that will help us navigate our future," said Jeremy Hitchcock, Dyn CEO.

The addition of Boustridge to Dyn's board is another nod toward the company's continued focus on international expansion and the development of new enterprise channels — two specialties of the Texas-based tech legend.

"When joining a board, I want to associate myself with companies that are applying innovative approaches to technology and solving real world problems," Boustridge said. "I have found both of those with Dyn. This is a company with an amazing track record and an even brighter future. I am happy to be playing a small role in helping guide that future."

Prior to the BT run, he was the Chief Sales and Chief Marketing Officer at EDS, an information technology equipment and services company founded by Ross Perot, where he led the company's $22 billion global revenue sales engine.

In addition, Boustridge is member of the Board of Trustees for XPRIZE Foundation, an educational nonprofit organization with the mission to bring about radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity, as well as other high tech companies. He also sits on the board of Riverbed Technology, Inc., Ciber, Contact Solutions LLC, Presidio and Cyan.

Boustridge joins a board that already includes:

• Jeremy Hitchcock, Dyn CEO and co-founder
• Jason Calacanis, founder and CEO of Mahalo, co-founder of ThisWeekIn, co-founder and former CEO of Weblogs, Inc. (acq. by AOL) and a respected angel investor
• Ric Fulop, General Partner at North Bridge and co-founder of A123 Systems
• Russ Pyle, General Partner at North Bridge
• Scott Dussault, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Demandware

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DCA's application for .Africa new gTLD received an ICANN GAC Policy Advice Objection which the organization hopes to resolve by following the due process provisions within the ICANN new gTLD Program.

The DotConnectAfrica Trust delegation led by its Executive Director/CEO, Ms. Bekele participated and contributed at various sessions of the ICANN 46 International Meeting held in Beijing China from 7th - 11th April 2013.

Beijing, is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. Beijing is China's second largest city by urban population after Shanghai and is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's largest state-owned companies and is also a major transportation hub.

ICANN 46 Beijing International Meeting
Image Source: ICANNThe ICANN 46th meeting broke the record and was rated as the largest meeting ever with more than 2,100 people showing up against 1,821 who attended the Prague meeting in the Czech Republic in June 2012. ICANN President and Chief Executive Officer Fadi Chehadé also announced that the organization would open its first new global engagement office in Beijing. “Engagement with China is not merely an option, we simply must engage at every level or we will lose our legitimacy,” said Chehadé. “This is part of our effort to embrace the world.”

This meeting also saw the introduction of a seasoned international executive named to lead ICANN Communications Team. Duncan Burns has been introduced to guide rapidly expanding communications efforts. “Duncan has the international experience and leadership skills we need" said Sally Costerton, ICANN’s Senior Advisor to the President for Global Stakeholder Engagement.

The announcement of ICANN’s expanding presence in China was heralded by Chinese Internet leaders. “Our Internet future will now be brilliant,” said Madam Hu Qiheng, the President of the Internet Society of China. “This is a bridge for ICANN and China and it will lead to greater expansion of Internet development.” ICANN Board Chair Dr. Stephen Crocker pointed out the dramatic growth of Internet users in China in the past decade.  “In the past decade, Internet use has increased ten fold,” said Crocker. “There are now 564 million Internet users in China and that is expected to climb sharply in the future.”

The ICANN 46 comes at a time when the governmental representatives on the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) are giving their policy advice to the ICANN Board on different applications.  DCA's application for .Africa new gTLD received an ICANN GAC Policy Advice Objection which the organization hopes to resolve by following the due process provisions within the ICANN new gTLD Program. 

Mr. Shang Bing, Vice Minister of the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information, has also delivered a speech at the opening session, saying that "the Internet has become key infrastructure for development in information age" He continued to say that "and we will improve all the monitoring, the security, the user rights and fair, honest market environment". “We are confident that the Beijing meeting will be an impressive one, and a milestone in the development of the Chinese community and Internet.” added Ms. Limei Liu from China Organizational Name Administration Center (CONAC).

Ms. Bekele remains confident that the processing of the .Africa new gTLD application that DotConnectAfrica has submitted would continue and successfully move towards delegation in the not too distant future.  According to the DCA Trust Executive Director/CEO: "we are following a structured process, and the GAC Policy Advice is by no means the end of the matter."

ICANN has also got a head way due to its involvement at a closer level in decentralizing and globalizing its programs and delegates hope that these efforts will go a long way in making ICANN understood all over the world and especially African governments .

DotConnectAfrica Project Support Engineer Mr. Gideon Rop also had an opportunity to speak as a panelist for the NPOC Beijing Meeting - Role of Youth in the DNS, where he explained that the role of the youth was increasingly becoming an important facet in Internet governance.  He pointed out that apart from the traditional ICT duties that required trained skills, the youth also have an important role in the utilization of Social Media networks which is now a niche platform for content development, sourcing, advocacy and education.

The ICANN Beijing was a successful meeting in many ways and DotConnectAfrica hopes that these developments will further consolidate Internet development and advancement.

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I recently discovered HBO's new hit show, The Newsroom, which follows a team behind a nightly cable news program in their quest — in the name of ethical journalism — to deliver the best and most truthful news coverage to viewers. If you're a fan of the show, you likely can understand how it made me think about how we consume, digest and respond to all of the information that media throws at us. Between the emails, embedded hyperlinks, tweets, pop-up banners, and mobile app notifications constantly popping up in our day-to-day lives, how do we cut through the clutter to differentiate between what's important?

And when we need the facts, where are we most likely to turn for credible, reliable information?

So where do you turn for the most trusted source of information for a cause or charity? Would it be through social media or the organization's website? We recently conducted a survey through ORC International to measure the level of trust consumers have in .ORG and their sentiments towards other online resources, such as social media, and found that 82% of survey respondents still think a website is the most trustworthy place to get information on a charity or social cause. Despite the growing rise and popularity of organizational social media pages and accounts, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn were respectively ranked second, third and fourth most trustworthy

At Public Interest Registry, we fully believe in the power of the Internet as a useful medium to spread knowledge, ideas and support for the common good. As the not-for-profit-operator of the .ORG domain, we have a responsibility to help maintain the integrity of the Internet by providing a trusted place online for organizations, companies and individuals to tell their stories and to mobilize their communities.

We were pleased to find that a large majority of all respondents (90%) associate a .ORG web address with the words "non-profit," "trusted," "exclusive," or a combination of all three. Furthermore, nearly half (49%) of the respondents polled would choose to purchase a .ORG domain to relay information about a cause that they were passionate about. Other key findings include:

• Assuming there are four websites, all with similar content but each with a different domain name, 39% of all respondents surveyed indicated they would trust .ORG the most; 23% chose .COM and 25% said they would trust them all equally (.ORG, .COM, .INFO, .NET).
• In a time of crisis, 33% of all respondents would look for information on a .ORG, followed by .COM (31%) and .INFO (17%).

While these survey findings certainly help us validate our daily efforts to give more causes around the world a trusted online venue, they also demonstrate how audiences seek to connect with these causes and communities across the many Internet options available. As hundreds of new generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) become available online in the months ahead, Public Interest Registry is working with the global community of non-profit and NGOs to ensure that the transformations coming to the Internet expand the opportunities for organizations and their causes around the world.

Written by Thuy LeDinh, Senior Marketing Communications Manager

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Learn about the diverse technologies Neustar uses to Mitigate DDoS attacks quickly and effectively. The seasoned DDoS fighters in the Neustar Security Operations Center explain the need for a full toolset to combat complex attacks. Listen as some of the world's top DDoS experts break it down in plain English to help you grasp your options.

Transcript

DDOS can happen, it can strike at anytime, around the clock, 24/7.

There's so much out there. There are so many unknowns. Everyday there's some new variant of some new botnet coming out. You have to be constantly on your toes at this job

The reality is that the technology and the threat have changed so much over the last year and a half that anything you bought 2 years ago is pretty much irrelevant. A lot of people fall for the marketing if I have a firewall I think I can automatically withstand a DDOS, if I have an IPS or an IDS I believe that I can deal with these things.

However this doesn't always work and it's not the best solution because the largest floods and types of attacks can actually overwhelm a firewall or an intrusion detection service and just pass right through.

What people need to realize is their hosting company isn't going to protect them if they get a large enough attack. That hosting company is going to shut you off so that they can protect their overall infrastructure and that's the one great thing about SiteProtect is we are solely invested in protecting you.

The model that we use for SiteProtect and what differentiates it versus what else is in the market and often what we hear from customers is our architecture is far reaching. The technology that we use is diverse in nature. So we're not just using firewalls, we're not just using IPS, we're not just using purpose built gear. We're bringing all of that to the forefront to fight attacks on behalf of our customers.

Neustar takes all of the devices and all of the technologies that we have and can kind of mesh them together and to blend them together to get the most effective mitigation in place.

Attacks continue to evolve every day. Everyone knows that in the industry so it's important that you bring to the table technology that can deal with those sophisticated often application layer attacks. And that's what we offer with SiteProtect.

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dot Brand or dot What? Afilias new gTLDs research report 2013 – The results of the report are designed to help organizations who have already purchased (or who intend to purchase) their own gTLDs understand consumer concerns in relation to the new domains and how they can overcome any apprehensions end users have to ensure "dot Brands" will be accepted and embraced in the internet ecosystem.
(Click to Download Report)Afilias research reveals 75 percent of UK and US consumers oblivious to new Web extensions

Afilias Limited, a global provider of domain registry services, has announced the results of research on consumer attitudes towards the hundreds of new generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) that will launch beginning in 2013. The results? At this moment, the major online initiative where companies like Google, Microsoft, Nike and Amazon will create and use their own "dot Brand" domains to promote their websites has fallen on deaf ears among the UK and US public.

The program, in which 1,000-plus new gTLDs will be launched by organizations and household brands, was only known by 21 percent of UK adults and 22 percent of US adults. Internet governing body ICANN created the new gTLD program to foster innovation and improve consumer security on the Internet. However, the research revealed that 73 percent of UK adults would prefer to visit traditional Web addresses like "www.adidas.com/shop" rather than "www.shop.adidas." In the US, 61 percent of adults would prefer to use a "heritage" gTLD.

The results have been published in Afilias' "dot Brand or dot What?" report, which polled 2,054 UK and 2,000 US consumers in conjunction with YouGov, examining perceptions about and understanding of the new gTLDs.

"The advent of new TLDs coming over the months ahead will result in major changes to the Internet. Some of the world's best-known companies will roll out a dot Brand extension, but our research shows consumers are unaware that these changes are coming and would avoid the new gTLDs due to their unfamiliarity," said Roland LaPlante, CMO, Afilias. "However, the new gTLDs offer consumers great benefits, such as reducing the risk of purchasing counterfeit goods online. Our research demonstrates that businesses need to seriously consider the ways that they will integrate the new gTLDs into their online strategies and how they will educate consumers about their benefits."

Consumer Response To: Companies will soon be able to run their own website addresses and not have to use .com, .co.uk, etc. For example, imagine "sale.nike" instead of "www.nike.com/sale." were you aware that these new website addresses were being introduced?The survey also found that UK and US consumers have trepidation concerning Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs), domains that use non-Roman characters (as in Russian, Chinese and Devanagari.) Only eight percent of UK and US consumers recognized IDNs as domains designed for foreign-language communities while 65 percent of UK consumers and 60 percent of US respondents said they would navigate away from IDNs. This figure reaches more than 70 percent for "over 55s" in both markets.

LaPlante added, "Education is also needed to ensure the growth and support of IDNs. Consumers should understand that if a domain name isn't written in a script they recognize, it doesn't mean the site is dangerous. In reality, websites using IDNs will create an improved, more relevant Web experience for consumers around the world."

The Afilias "dot Brand or dot What?" report is available for downloading from the Afilias website.

Afilias provides registry and DNS services for more than 21 million domains, including seven million .INFO domains and one million .MOBI domains registered worldwide. In addition, Afilias supports .ORG, .AERO, .ASIA, .PRO, .AG (Antigua and Barbuda), .BZ (Belize), .GI (Gibraltar), .IN (India), .LC (St. Lucia), .ME (Montenegro), .MN (Mongolia), .SC (the Seychelles), .VC (St. Vincent and the Grenadines) and .XXX.

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April 02, 2013, Zodiac Holdings Limited ("Zodiac"), the largest Chinese TLD applicant, is pleased to announce that 6 of its new gTLD applications have successfully passed the Initial Evaluation.

The results for八卦 (gossip) and 集团 (conglomerate) were announced on March 23, 2013 and 网店 (online shop), 商城 (mall), 我爱你 (i-love-you) and 娱乐 (entertainment) were announced on March 30, 2013.

"Applications that pass Initial Evaluation may be eligible to proceed to contracting with the execution of the Registry Agreement as early as 23 April 2013.", according to ICANN. Zodiac looks forward to signing the Registry Agreement with ICANN and to offer these new gTLDs to the market as soon as possible.

In January 2013, renowned industry veteran Wang Jian (Mack), former General Manager of Xinnet, joined Zodiac as COO. Mr Wang was the Vice President of HiChina and General Manager of Xinnet — the two largest registrars in China today. During his tenure at Xinnet, he led the commercialization of virtual private server (VPS) leasing services. At HiChina, Mr Wang was entrusted to set up the cloud solution Business Division, with the solution entering the market within 4 months.

Another domain name industry veteran, Tang Li Hong, has joined Zodiac as Vice President of Operation. Mdm Tang spent the last 10 years at HiChina. During her tenure at HiChina, Mdm Tang led the effort in standardization and automation of the back-end operation of HiChina. Her team of nearly 200 staff has won numerous company awards for efficiency and customer support. Mdm Tang will be responsible for Zodiac's service operation.

In addition, Zodiac recently appointed Allan Ma as the group's General Counsel. Formerly with Cadwaladar, Wickersham & Taft LLP (Beijing) and King & Wood Mallesons (Hong Kong), Mr Ma has in-depth experience in cross-border transactions and is specialized in venture capital, private equity, corporate finance and corporate structuring

These new additions, joining the existing team of former CNNIC staffs including ex-Deputy Director of CNNIC Eugene Li, bring impressive domain name industry experience and will further bolster the Zodiac team and readiness to market."

"With the release of the Initial Evaluation Results, Zodiac will continue to rapidly expand our team in China.", Mr. James Seng, the CEO of Zodiac commented. "There is tremendous excitement and anticipation for our new gTLDs in China so we would like to be the first to market."

Zodiac is also announcing its "China Advisory Services" for new gTLD applicants who are interested in entering China domain name market.

China has the largest Internet population in the world, estimated to be around 560 million. China is also the second largest world economy with a GDP of US$8300 billion and over 50 million registered companies. According to Verisign's December 2012 Domain Name Market brief, the ccTLD for China (.CN) has the highest quarter-to-quarter growth of 43%.

On 7th April 2013 during ICANN 46th meeting in Beijing, Zodiac will be hosting a seminar titled "A New Beginning - Domain Name Market in China”. Speakers are well-known experts in China domain name industry from the Internet Society of China, the China Domain Name Promotion Alliance, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and others.

While China offers tremendous opportunities, it also presents many challenges for a foreign company. Founded in 2008, Zodiac has accumulated unique experiences and broad contacts in China. Zodiac's China Advisory Services look forward to work with new gTLD applicants to exploit the China domain name market.

For more information, please contact advisory@zodiacregistry.com

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The 11th Innovation Africa Digital Summit with the theme: "National Broadband Strategies and Agendas: Acceleration and Alignment" was held in Addis Ababa the capital city of Ethiopia from 19thto 21st March 2013. The special three-day event was attended by senior ministers, policy makers,corporate executives, regulators, telecommunications operators and service providers; major end users, finance companies and international agencies.

The Internet Business Council for Africa (IBCA) and DotConnectAfrica Trust were represented at the event. Also in attendance was the Ethiopian State Minister for Communications and Information Technology, H.E. Ato Peter Gat Koukt, who noted that his government recognizes the importance of developing Information and Communications Technologies to eradicate poverty. He also emphasized that "even though Ethiopia already achieved tremendous results in the use of ICT tools, ensuring adequate ICT access to all, and, in particular, providing affordable access to ICT infrastructure and services to rural communities remains a daunting challenge".

The three-day Summit was jointly organized by the Ethiopian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and Extensia Ltd, a bespoke events management and special programme services firm based in the UK. The keynote presentation was made by Mr. Andrew Rugege, Director of the ITU Regional Office for Africa who discussed the Broadband target aimed at 50 per cent penetration by the year 2015 in the developing countries. He congratulated Microsoft Corporation for their low end phones and also commended VMK African-designed tablet computers and local contents recommended by UNESCO and OECD to be used by local content and services providers in Multi-language use of the web. He also discussed the Broadband and Mobile Internet Revolution, which accounts for nearly 6 billion users globally, and noted that currently, the mobile telecommunications revolution has experienced a remarkable uptake in Africa.

During the Universal Access Panel discussions, Ms. Sophia Bekele who represented DCA Registry Services Ltd. at the IAD Summit, took the opportunity to clarify to the august audience that during this new gTLD application window, two (2) bids were actually submitted to ICANN for the .africa (DotAfrica) new gTLD by two different competitors. Ms. Bekele explained that both bids have been placed by ICANN in the same Exact Matching Contention Set, and used the same opportunity to clarify that contrary to the misconception that was being given to the audience that Uniforum ZA Central Registry was the only .Africa applicant, DotConnectAfrica Trust also applied directly to ICANN for the mandate to operate the .Africa new gTLD registry.

Ms. Bekele, who is also a former gNSO Policy advisor to Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) for generic domain names and has helped to champion the introduction of Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) at ICANN, further noted that "DCA Trust has always tried its best to clarify and inform people, especially in Africa, regarding how the ICANN new gTLD process operates in order to correct the wrongly held view that it is the African Union Commission (AUC) which has the authorized mandate to delegate the DotAfrica new gTLD".

She strongly emphasized that DotAfrica as an Internet new gTLD resource rightly belongs to ICANN, and that the entire new gTLD program is governed by ICANN under a globally approved process." Ms. Bekele said she felt compelled to clarify these matters in order to correct the wrong impression that was being conveyed by the UniForum representative, Koffi Fabrice Djossou that the AUC has jurisdiction to delegate DotAfrica outside the ICANN's process. Ms. Bekele was quite definite in her position that the final decision on DotAfrica new gTLD will be made by ICANN, and not by the African Union.

Mr Bashir Gwandu, Chairman of the ITU Commonwealth Group, who was also on the Universal Access Panel, responded to questions from the audience on whois the most appropriate body to manage the Internet between ICANN and ITU.His response 'if it is not broken why fix it' was lauded by Ms. Bekele and followed by many others. Mr. Gwandu reiterated that he does not favor any form of government intervention in matters of Internet Governance.

DotConnectAfrica Trust has for a long time championed a multi-stakeholder environment at global ICANN and within the AfrICANN Community, and believes that governments should not be involved in the management of new gTLDs. As a matter of fact, ICANN expects the new gTLDs to be managed and administered by registry services operations businesses.

Responding to a participant's request for further clarifications regarding the major differences between the two contrasting bids for DotAfrica, DCA explained that Uniforum in its application submitted to ICANN has already given away the legal rights to the .africa registry databases and all intellectual property to the AU, which explains why Uniforum was calling it an AU initiative, the same view that was held by the NEPAD representative who was also a panelist.

DCA Trust has always maintained that all the rights to the new DotAfrica gTLD including the registry databases, rightfully belongs to ICANN according to the stipulations of the new gTLD Program and the associated new gTLD Registry Services Agreement, and that the African Union and UniForum cannot act outside these specifications that have been legally codified and approved.

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The .PW Registry today announced the general availability of .PW domain names, which will enable anyone from anywhere to establish their professional presence online. The newest TLD on the block has fast gained worldwide acceptance with over 110 active registrars signing up from 32 countries to offer .PW domain names to customers.

Launched as the Professional Web at the ICANN Meeting in Toronto, .PW is a new namespace operated by the Directi Group and is meant for professionals around the world looking for first-choice domain names to establish their online identity at an affordable price point. The Registry received more than 4000 orders within 30 minutes of the General Availability launch.

"The internet space is getting cramped with thousands of new users going online every day. Distinguishing your online identity from this crowd is getting harder. With com, net, org and other major TLDs running out of quality domain names, .PW provides customers with short, generic and first-choice domain names to stand out from the rest of the crowd", said Bhavin Turakhia, Founder and CEO of the Directi Group.

The extended Sunrise period saw many Fortune 500 brands like Apple, Pfizer, Volkswagen and Nokia securing their trademarks in the .PW namespace. Similarly, the Landrush phase attracted a lot of interests from domainers with more than 8000 quality names being released from the reserve list.

"We thank all our Registrar partners for the support, as .PW is now available to more than 25 million customers worldwide through them", added Mr. Turakhia.

.PW domain names can only be registered via their list of accredited registrars which includes industry stalwarts such as eNom, Network Solutions, Register.com, InterNetX, Key-Systems, Name.com, ResellerClub, Domain Monster and many more.

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Two Arabic-language Top-Level Domains ("TLDs") applied for by The Ooredoo Group have been approved today by domain name regulator ICANN.

Adding the names .QatarTelecom and .Mozaic in Arabic script into the domain name system as substitutes for TLDs such as "dot com" and "dot net" represents the biggest change to the Internet since its inception, according to Ben Crawford, CEO of CentralNic, the technology company whose "DotBrand Solutions" division was tasked with obtaining and powering these new TLDs.

"Not only are these the first generic TLDs in Arabic script, but they are also among the world's first "DotBrand" domains. The Ooredoo Group is one of the first companies in the world to have their own brand names approved for use as TLDs. We will see this revolutionary trend continue with the approval of other DotBrand TLDs like .google, .apple and .sony in months to come," said Crawford.

ICANN followed a rigorous due diligence process in assessing the TLD applications prepared for The Ooredoo Group by DotBrand Solutions, and evaluated the applications and CentralNic's technology as surpassing ICANN's requirements.

The domains which were approved are as follows:

Meaning "Qatar Telecom"
Brand of the Qatar-headquartered telecommunications provider.
Meaning "Mozaic
The Ooredoo Group's pay TV service brand.

"The Ooredoo Group is a visionary company and a leader in innovation not only in the Arabic-speaking world, but globally," Mr. Crawford said. "We are delighted to congratulate them on taking a leadership position in the next developmental stage of the internet."

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The domain name market in China is undergoing a major transformation with the anticipation of the launch of the new gTLDs.

Zodiac Holdings Limited ("Zodiac") is hosting a seminar on "Domain Name Market in China” during ICANN 46th meeting in Beijing:

When: Sunday April 7, 2013, 09:00 - 12:00
Where: Beijing International Hotel, Grand BallRoom
Who should attend: new gTLD applicants, ICANN accredited registrars, general ICANN participants interested in China domain name market

China has the largest Internet population in the world, estimated to be around 560 million. China is also the second largest world economy with a GDP of US$8,300 billion. Over 50 million companies are registered in China. In contrast, there are merely 13 million domain names.

According to Verisign's Dec 2012 Domain Name Market brief, the ccTLD for China (.CN) has the highest quarter-to-quarter growth of 43%, much higher than the average of 4%. It is not surprising that China has the most number of new gTLD applications in Asia.

Regardless whether you are a registry or a registrar, one cannot ignore the potential market opportunities China has to offer. We invite you to join us to hear from experts and learn more about the general landscape, regulations as well as opportunities and challenges of the domain name industry in China.

Agenda:

1. 09:00 – 09:15  Opening, Welcome Speech, by James Seng, Zodiac Holdings Limited
2. 09:15 – 09:45  General landscape and recent development in China, by Sun Yong Ge, Internet Society of China
3. 09:45 – 10:00  Introduction to the Chinese domain name eco-system by Cao Hua Ping, China Domain Name Promotion Alliance
4. 10:00 – 10:30  Analysis of the Chinese domain name market by Liu Yue, China Academy of Telecom Research (CATR) of Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT)
5. 10:30 – 11:00  Coffee break
6. 11:00 – 11:30  China's legal framework and regulations for domain name industry by Prof Hong Xue, Beijing Normal University
7. 11:30 – 12:00  Chinese domain name dispute resolution practice by Dr. Li Hu, China Internatonal Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission

Please register early! You may also RSVP via email to event@zodiacregistry.com.

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Vertical Integration Solution for New gTLDs
LogicBoxes provides a suite of services for every New gTLD Applicant; from ICANN Accreditation Consultancy to the world’s most complete Registrar Automation Platform backed by access to a Distribution Network of over 100+ Registrars and 100,000+ Resellers. Learn MoreLogicBoxes, the developer of OrderBox, a Registrar automation product currently used by over 100 ICANN Accredited Registrars, announced the launch of a new solution, 'Integrate Vertically', tailored to meet the needs of New gTLD operators.

The solution is meant for those New gTLD operators that wish to set-up a Registrar subsidiary to distribute their TLDs to resellers, end-customers or internal users, without depending exclusively on existing Registrars.

"The electric fence that divided registry and registrar operations since 1999 has been torn down. gTLDs will soon out-number the active Registrars but their shelf space will be very limited. Incumbent Registrars will not be able to focus on all gTLDs as they do today. New gTLD operators need to plan their distribution strategy and evaluate the need to setup a registrar subsidiary" said Sandeep Ramchandani, Business Head of LogicBoxes.

The solution consists of a comprehensive package which offers consultancy to take New gTLD bidders through the ICANN Registrar Accreditation process, front-end and back-end registrar software set-up (using OrderBox), process and compliance management (to ensure that all clients are prepared to manage Registrar functions), and even includes white-labeled end-customer support. Once integrated, all New gTLD clients will be in an advantageous position to channel their string to LogicBoxes' existing base of 100+ Registrars and 100,000+ Resellers. You can find more information on LogicBoxes' latest New gTLD offering on their website.

About LogicBoxes

LogicBoxes is a Technology & Consultancy Company providing Business Solutions exclusively to the large players of the Web Products & Services Industry — including New gTLD Applicants, ICANN Registrars, Domain Registries, Large Web Hosts and Domain Resellers. LogicBoxes is the world's premiere ICANN Accreditation Consultancy provider. Over 20% of the world's ICANN Accredited Registrars have been accredited through the LogicBoxes Consultancy Service. Additionally, LogicBoxes also offers a renowned turnkey SaaS platform - OrderBox, which provides end-to-end business automation to clients. LogicBoxes currently powers over 7 Million domains across the world through an extensive network of over 100+ registrars and 100,000+ resellers. 


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Mr. Buruchara's has amassed an invaluable leadership experience in numerous innovation-focused governmental and private sector organizations and his extensive experience in emerging economies throughout his career, and it is hoped that he will bring this to bear positively on the work of the ICANN GAC.

Mr. Buruchara is a renowned Internet giant with a long and successful career in the ICT industry. He is the founder of Nairobi Net Limited, one of the pioneer Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Kenya, a founding member and former chairman of the Telecommunications Service Providers Association in Kenya, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Kenya ICT Board. He also served as a member of the IT-enabled services working group at the Prime Minister's Office of the Government of Kenya.

Mr. Buruchara is familiar with the work of ICANN and has been credited for organizing and hosting one of the most successful ICANN meetings in Africa. Under his coordination, the ICANN 37 in Nairobi held in March 2010, hosted delegates from all over the world during which important resolutions that have had very positive impacts on today's Internet deployments were adopted.

His tenure in several organizations such as Kenyan Network Information Centre (KeNIC) saw Mr. Buruchara pioneer great strategies of how to run the country-code TLD registry (.ke) by replicating the ICANN bottom-up approach because of the balance between commerce and public interest. This approach ensures that governments and the private sector are able to participate equitably in a PPP (Public Private Partnership).

Late in 2012, he was also brought in as a Change Manager at KENIC, and successfully oversaw the total revamping and rebranding of the ccTLD manager. He overhauled the whole system and refreshed the management as well as systems in a move to reduce cost and increase effectiveness.

Until this appointment to the ICANN GAC, Mr. Buruchara had been associated with DotConnectAfrica Trust as the Chairperson of DCA's Strategic Leadership Advisory Board. He has since since resigned officially from DCA Trust and is no longer associated with our organization.

We are delighted to have Mr. Buruchara extend his great internet and development expertise and insight to the ICANN GAC. His deep knowledge of Internet needs in the developing world and impressive accomplishments in creating solutions tailored for the African internet constituency would be of great help in furthering the work of the ICANN GAC.

In his resignation letter he commended Ms. Bekele's leadership saying; "It was a great unique opportunity and experience to work with the entire board especially Ms. Bekele who tirelessly showed immense leadership for the project" Mr. Buruchara credits Ms. Sophia Bekele for building and consolidating many important partnerships between DCA Trust and several technology and services providers in Kenya in order to boost Kenya's profile as the country host of a new gTLD registry.

Mr. Sammy Buruchara will be greatly missed at DCA Trust. We wish him well in all his future endeavors especially now that he has to discharge important responsibilities at ICANN as the GAC Representative of Kenya, a role that he seems quite prepared for. In his valedictory comments to DCA Trust, Mr. Buruchara said: "I really look forward to working with the ICANN GAC and assist towards achieving its goal of independence and judicious execution of its duties in my appointment representing my country at ICANN"

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March 14, 2013 — Dubai, UAE: The Registry for .PW — the Professional Web, today announced that the Landrush Period will be extended for 4 days, until March 22, 2013. It was originally scheduled to end on 18th March and has been extended further based on registrars' demand.

The .PW Landrush is a unique opportunity where several premium domains including savings.pw, properties.pw, credits.pw, designers.pw and many more including 2-3 character names are available at non-premium rates. Last week, the Registry announced its partnership with industry giants like Network Solutions and Register.com, Web.com brands.

"There are some really great names that we've released from the reserve list, specifically for Landrush. This is a great opportunity for start-ups, business owners and professionals to buy the name they always wanted, at a very reasonable price. We've even put up a list of our top picks”, added Ramchandani.

The Registry also recently announced the sale of "p.pw" and "w.pw" for $8,000 each, in a private transaction to a hosting company. .PW will enter the General Availability phase from March 25, 2013 with 110 registrars including eNom, Network Solutions, Register.com, InterNetX, Key-Systems, Name.com, ResellerClub, Hostinger.com and Domain Monster.

About Directi:
With over a decade in the internet industry, Directi is a $350m+ group of businesses, providing various web products and services to millions of global users. Directi businesses include ResellerClub, LogicBoxes, BigRock, Skenzo, Media.net and Radix Registry. Over 1000 employee strong, Directi currently has 5 offices across 4 countries. Directi businesses rank amongst the fastest growing businesses worldwide in their corresponding industry segments. For more information, visit http://directi.com

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Ms. Sophia Bekele & Mr. Fade Chehade ICANN CEO at the MIG meeting in Addis AbabaThe Internet Business Council for Africa (IBCA), an initiative of DotConnectAfrica that was Unveiled at ICANN 49 Public Forum in Toronto Canada and seeking to partner with ICANN and the African Businesses in a multi-stakeholder model of IG was invited to present its ideas at the just concluded African Multi-stakeholder Internet Governance meeting held at the UNECA Conference Center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 6-8 March 2013.

Invited to speak on the different sessions as a panelist, Ms. Bekele analyzed the African business scenario, noting that there was a need to identify the various stakeholders and define them within the multi-stakeholder model so that specific and strategic roles could be assigned. This, she emphasized, would be the best way to increase visibility of the African DNS market. "We are ready to collaborate with any other similar initiatives proposed at ICANN, however we should be cautious that we work on our own niche areas". There is a lot to be done; therefore it should be acceptable that a single entry may not be enough.

IBCA's model focused on three major pillars or dimensions that include: Digital Transfer Initiatives, DNS industry, Policy Development which is key in setting up appropriate structures to improve business in Africa. There also exists the Special Group Focus where the IBCA will focus on Women and youth who have been identified as the major drivers of the economy.

Noting the Africa strategy, Ms Bekele said there is a need that the model is embedded in the ICANN Africa strategy in order to raise the stakes of the business operation that would translate to globalizing African business. To reach out and further explore the idea, Chehade subsequently held an Africa business roundtable lunch with relevant stakeholders, where he also supported the idea.

ICANN CEO Fade Chehade in his address emphasized that Africa must now take its position in the universal market and in so doing it was imperative to involve the Banking sector, the insurance and legal sector in crafting ways to synergize business and technology. Ms. Bekele in her talk at the business table noted that the IBCA was her baby and she was looking forward to ICANN's support and good will in order for the vision to be achieved.

The IBCA is looking at working together with the DNS industry and with the bench-marking with stakeholders in the domain industry both locally and internationally. It will attempt to bring together all the organizations that aim to improve coverage in Africa including ISP's, Telco's, Software Development Firms, Content Development, ICT equipment firms, Academia, Banking Sector among others.

The IBCA delegates along with its International partner CentralNic, were also happy to speak to various ccTLD registry delegates and noted their achievements as well as challenges in upgrading their DNS business. This was another opportunity for the IBCA to declare its roadmap and hopes that in a few days to come, the strategies in the blue print will begin to multiply results.

IBCA is thankful to ICANN and the organizers of the conference and looks forward to more opportunities to meet as well as present its achievements in the collective responsibility of fulfilling the African strategy.

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DCA Registry Servs & CentralNic Partnership-Empowering ccTLDS with Tech TransferDCA Registry Services and its UK Technical Partner CentralNic participated in the just ended African Multi-stakeholder Internet Governance meeting held at the UNECA Conference Center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 6-8 March 2013, where it played a part among other African organizations like African IGF, AfriNIC, AFTLD, ISOC Africa, and the ATU and ITU.

ICANN participated in this meeting that saw regional leaders from government, the private sector and civil society. Some of the attendees included the Ugandan and Burundian ICT ministers. The foreign Registry firms that attended the conference were AFNIC the French Registry and the UK based CentralNic, who has partnered with DCA registry services to set up an African Registry based in Nairobi, Kenya.

This open public meeting was aimed at fostering engagement among Internet organizations and all stakeholder groups in the African world and therefore offered the opportunity to share best practices of successful multi-stakeholder models and discuss means to enhance effective participation in global Internet Governance.

DCA Registry Services delegates included Chief Executive officer Ms. Bekele, who had an opportunity as a panelist to relay part of how the African DNS business can achieve its goals. Ms. Bekele specifically identified the fact that the clear responsibilities must be defined in the multi-stakeholder model in order to ensure thriving of the DNS business in the new dispensation especially now that new gTLD's are entering the market.

While speaking implementing the Africa strategy, Ms. Bekele was also able to further present and elaborate on The Internet Business Council for Africa (IBCA), an initiative that was unveiled during ICANN Toronto public forum, a consortium that will seek to work purely with the private sector in energizing ICT with business, and setting up means for African businesses to work with the global entities and thus improve their stakes and reach universally.

In his remarks, the ICANN CEO, Fadi Chehadé, emphasized the openness that ICANN wants to have with the global market and especially the African sector. "Partnering together all of us is central to our success," Said Chehadé. He also pointed out that the world is waiting for Africa to rise, and that it's our responsibility to transfer ICANN to the world. The CEO also emphasized the need to synchronize the work and policies of African initiatives with the global ICANN program for any initiatives to have legitimacy, which mirrors the core of DCA's voice and its own initiatives at ICANN.

In intervention, Mr. Gideon Rop the Project Support engineer for DCA Registry Services while speaking about the DNS business noted the Registry Business challenges/opportunities that are facing the African market and the need to put action into the strategies that have been put on paper that will focus on improving the DNS services so that the domain name business can be lucrative and attractive. Such include improvement of the DNSSEC, IPV6 implementation and Especially the EPP services to make it easier for the registrants. Mr. Rop also elaborated on how the involvement of youth at ICANN would be strategic in increasing its activity in the African continent. This is in line with DCA's trust program which has offered to use resources from the registry to empower the youth.

The presentation by DCA Registry services highlighted some of the problems that are currently facing the DNS market in Africa, including the lack of sound registry back end solutions, no advantageous pricing promotion and marketing, lack of favorable and flexible registration policies professional management. There also is a missing registry/registrar/reseller model that would allow for competition and innovation in the DNS business and the ICANN position in the African context, which ICANN is making efforts to increase African presence as promised to close gap.

Voices from the ICANN Board members including Mike Silber and Sébastien Bachollet who were present, affirmed the various business model that can be adapted by ccTLDs and gTLDs and that there is no one model that should be considered as successful.

DCA registry services and CentralNic who was represented by Mr. Mohammed AL-Ammouri, Business Development Manager, (Middle East Africa) also lauded the opportunity to meet the African ccTLD's that were present and understand their views, challenges and the registry models they have adopted. DCA Registry Services plans to provide the required technology transfer for African ccTLDs through its partner CentralNic. The delegation noted the urgent need for the improvement of services to make the market viable and profitable and these findings strengthen its promise to work with the ccTLD's.

There was also some room to iron out objections that were purportedly placed on DCA application by ccTLD or other Governmental representatives present, said Ms. Bekele in her statement to this press release.

Overall this was a successful meeting for DotConnectAfrica and its partners. DCA registry services looks forward to participating in more events that are key in improving the African DNS market. DCA thanks the organizers for their support and for participation.

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Network Solutions and Register.com, Web.com brands, 2 of the world's top 10 registrars became .PW Registry's 100th and 101st accredited partners respectively.

.PW, the Professional, Web has partnered with industry giants like eNom, Key-Systems, ResellerClub, Gandi, Name.com, Ascio and many more. With 100 registrars aggressively promoting the namespace, .PW is expected to attract a large volume of first-time domain name registrants.

"Many SMBs with whom we work look for a short and memorable name, which just is not available in .COM" said Jennifer Standiford, Director of Policy at Web.com. ".PW's abundant availability of first-choice names will make it a prime alternative."

"We're excited to partner with Industry veterans like Network Solutions, Register.com and the Web.com Group. With many of the world's top wholesale and retail registrars on board, we now have a perfectly balanced distribution channel to take .PW mainstream," said Sandeep Ramchandani, Business Head of .PW.

Web.com will start offering .PW from the General Availability phase which starts on 25th March. PW is currently in the Landrush phase where multiple premium domain names like café.pw, pubs.pw, homeloans.pw and many more (http://registry.pw/premium-landrush-domains/) are available at non-premium rates.

About Directi:
With over a decade in the internet industry, Directi is a $350m+ group of businesses, providing various web products and services to millions of global users. Directi businesses include ResellerClub, LogicBoxes, BigRock, Skenzo, Media.net and Radix Registry. Directi businesses rank amongst the fastest growing businesses worldwide in their corresponding industry segments. For more information, visit http://www.directi.com.

About Web.com:
Web.com is dedicated to providing everything a small business needs to succeed online through their network of brands like Network Solutions, Register.com,1ShoppingCart.com, Renovation Experts, LogoYes and Solid Cactus. For more information, visit http://www.web.com/.

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The Board of TLDH (AIM: TLDH.L) is delighted to announce that ICANN's String Similarity Panel has determined that none of the strings for which it is the sole applicant will be placed in contention sets with other strings. In particular, the panel has ruled that TLDH's application for .work does not conflict with another application for ".works", and hence has a clear path to approval and delegation.

As a result the Company and its clients now have 22 uncontested strings, the Company having removed .work from its original list of uncontested strings in its Interim statement.

"We are very pleased with the results of the String Similarity Panel — in particular in relation to .work. We believe that the .work TLD will appeal to companies who are hiring staff and to individuals seeking employment," said Fred Krueger, Chairman. "The string is short, memorable and ideal for career pages, resumés, service providers and many other uses."

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.ORG Dashboard Report – 2012 2nd Half (July to December) Click to DownloadPublic Interest Registry — the not-for-profit operator of the .ORG domain — has released the results of its bi-annual domain name report, "The Dashboard," detailing the increased growth of .ORG from July to December. The report reveals that new .ORG registrations increased by 11.9 percent in the second half of 2012.

Other findings outlined in "The Dashboard" include the following:

• The number of .ORG domains under registration (DUM) grew by 4.3 percent in 2012, growing 1.1 percent from July to December.
• .ORG experienced a net gain of 416,301 registrations in 2012.
• .ORG's DUM has more than doubled during the past seven years, increasing from 3.9 million in 2005 to more than 10.1 million in 2012.

"The Dashboard" also revealed strong growth outside of .ORG's core markets, North America and Europe. From 2010 to 2012, newly created .ORG domain names in Asia, Australia and the Pacific Region grew by 47 percent, followed by Latin America at 25 percent and Africa at 23 percent. Top five international markets for .ORG registrants by country include the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, Australia, and France.

Domains Under Management – By December 2012, approximately 10.1 million organizations and individuals held .ORG domain registrations, reflecting a 4.3 percent increase over the previous year. Source: Public Interest Registry”We had a very successful 2012, which included reaching a remarkable milestone with the registration of our 10 millionth .ORG domain," said Brian Cute, CEO of Public Interest Registry, "The outlook for 2013 looks just as bright both domestically and abroad. As we are experiencing rapid growth in various countries, PIR is pursing initiatives to increase support for international markets, which includes introducing new domain options for communities worldwide."

Public Interest Registry details its advancements and preparations for the development of the .NGO and .ONG domains in "The Dashboard." Public Interest Registry's applications to manage the to-be-launched top-level domains are currently under evaluation with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), as are four other internationalized domains that translate into "organization," "org" or "structured organization" in Devanagari, Cyrillic and Chinese-simplified scripts.

The Dashboard also illustrates the diversity of .ORG registrants, annual renewal rates and growth compared to other domains. In addition, the registry discusses its commitment to enhancing Internet security and preserving the open Internet.

For more information on "The Dashboard" or to download a copy, visit http://pir.org/news.

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Top Level Domain Holdings Limited (AIM:TLDH), the parent company of Minds + Machines, is happy to report that we have signed a funding agreement that will help us compete for a specific string at auction in exchange for a share of revenue if we win it. TLDH can call up to $10M, and the investor has the right to add another $5M. The investor will have no management rights or responsibilities. We are not revealing the string at this time.

We're very pleased with the arrangement as it gives us the ability to compete at auction without diluting existing shareholders.

"We believe that this funding model provides an attractive way to secure the resources to participate in an auction of those contended strings that we believe have significant revenue potential, while at the same time avoiding dilution to our shareholders," said Fred Krueger, executive chairman.

About Top Level Domain Holdings Limited
Top Level Domain Holdings is a publicly-traded holding company listed on the London AIM market. The company is focused on the new top-level domain space. Top-level domains, such as .com, run by VeriSign (NASDAQ: VRSN), and .biz, run by NeuStar (NYSE: NSR), are regulated by ICANN. ICANN has announced plans to expand the number of top-level domains. TLDH intends to make targeted investments in this space, focusing on both infrastructure technologies and specific top-level domains.

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