Two years ago, in 2008, I put together a session at the Paris ICANN meeting where I gathered new TLD applicants and service providers together in a room to meet each other.
Afterward, I put together a survey and then collected the information in to a grid so that potential new TLD applicants could see side by side comparisons of the many, many registry service providers, and make informed decisions about their initiatives.
I had my friend publish the results of the survey which I’d run personally, and many things grew from that in the two years since.
Some TLD applicants made technology selections, but many are still making decisions. Some new providers have started operations. Subtle new nuances have crept in to the application process which impact the questions that should be asked up front.
This is the 2010 version of the survey. I’ll collect the information until August 4th, 2010.
Participating registry service providers, I will interview you about the service you offer, then publish the information to this blog through August (and into September if the response volume is high).
This is an outstanding opportunity for registry service providers to make their technology known and attract potential applicants.
If you offer Registration Services for a potential new TLD or ccTLDs, please take some time and complete this survey: Registry Service Provider Survey
A few colleagues and I were musing about who the best European Registrars are for Europeans, and it was suggested to me that a poll might be in order to the 5 or 6 readers of my blog. Â
 Looking for feedback from the readers here, please pick the one that is most near and dear to you, and write one in if I missed it.
The former Yugoslovia ccTLD has been designated for a 3 year sunset process, transitioning to .RS (Serbia) and .ME (Montenegro).  Following in the footsteps of the ccTLDs that have some generic appeal beyond simply that of the country (.TV, .MD, .FM/.AM, .CD, etc), there was some competition for the registry services with this recently introduced ccTLD.
According to the NIC, A bid was tendered, with three primary parties vying for this opportunity.Â
According to a Dutch Telecom Paper (googled – non/pw version), Afilias and GoDaddy have partnered with Montenegro’s MeNet and are the top candidate for managing the registry of .me (Montenegro’s ccTLD). They had been competing with Neustar and a consortium of companiesand VeriSign’s Registry Services. The government will now negotiate the final terms of the contract with the lead candidate.
All strong candidates with very capable registry services. It must have been a true challenge for the parties having to determine the most favorable bidder.
DomainFest has been a series of small, regional events that domain owners start to put together, and then contact DomainSponsor to put their support behind.
This was a well attended event, with 45 people in attendance. 17 Languages, millions of dollars in domain names, and some of the most brillaint and wonderful “domainers” in all of Europe came to participate.
Jothan has been in the domain name industry since 1994, and has helped launch numerous registries, registrars, TLD consultancies and domain conferences, and is currently a consultant in the New Top Level Domain name field, with deep experience and contacts in the domain industry and ICANN arena.
