New TLD Deadline Only 18 Hours Away

Posted on May 29, 2012 by Joe Alagna

I received this update just now.  It states that there are still 500 applications incomplete… Wow! We’re at 18 hours and counting down and there are still 500 apps not done!   I think tomorrow will be a busy day for a lot of people.

This is a big day for the future of the Internet. This deadline represents the last chance (at least for several years) that companies have to own their own space to the right of the dot.  It represents the beginning of possibly hundreds of new registries and top level domain endings that have never been seen before.  I want to wish all applicants good luck and success as we approach this historic deadline!

Someone gave me an analogy that I completely agree with (I wish I could remember who it was; if you read this, please remind me so I can give you credit).  He said that the ICANN process is like a glacier.  A glacier is always moving.  You can’t miss it.  There’s no excuse if you let it run you over.  And when it passes, everything in its path is changed. He pointed out that in some ways, we can take comfort in that because it is stable enough for businesses to count on for the foreseeable future. I love that analogy.  It’s very true about ICANN.

Below is the text of the announcement:

—

TAS Interruption – Update (29 May 2012)

 Statement by Akram Atallah, COO

 29 May 2012

 The TLD Application System, or TAS, is scheduled to close tomorrow, 30 May 2012, at 23:59 GMT/UTC.

 As of today, over 500 applications remain incomplete in TAS – either a complete application has not been submitted, and/or the full fee has not been paid. If you have not completed your application, we urge you to do so in TAS as quickly as possible.

 If you are experiencing difficulties in submitting your application, please contact the Customer Service Center for assistance at: https://crm-gtld.icann.org/portal-icann/

 ICANN has established the following target dates for the New Generic Top-level Domain program. More information on plans for the announcement of applied-for domain names will be provided soon.

 We appreciate the patience and understanding applicants have shown throughout the application process.

 Target Dates for the New Generic Top-level Domain Program:

http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-2-29may12-en.htm#target-dates

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Van Couvering Acknowledges M&M Strategy

Posted on May 23, 2012 by Joe Alagna

Antony Van Couvering acknowledged a bit of M & M’s strategy today in a comment over at Domain Name Wire…

Someone wrote that TLDH’s company is worth about $60M.  He commented that they are working with a few Geo TLDs in addition to their vertical ones.  What isn’t addressed in any of this is whether they will get them.  But it is likely a good strategy to have some geo tlds in their mix as a hedge against the possible failure to  be awarded enough vertical generics.

Of course, they’ve been the most public of any portfolio applicant but his thinking is characteristically insightful.

Here are Antony’s comments…

TLDH is a public company, so I am constrained about how I can talk about valuation. But let me provide some comparables about a subset of TLDH’s portfolio — geographical new gTLDs.

New Zealand’s ccTLD, .co.nz, has 400,000 registrants in a population of 4 million. That’s 10%. Great Britain (.uk) has 10 million names in country of 60 million – 15%. Germany, .de, has 15 million names for a population of 90 million – 18%. You will find that throughout the developed world, ccTLDs have registration that correspond to between 10 – 20% of their populations. These sales have occurred over many years, but the bulk of them have occurred recently.

Now consider some of the new gTLDs in the developed world where governments have given TLDH their stamp of authority. Bavaria – .BAYERN – has a population of about 12.5M. North Rhein Westphalia – .NRW – about 18M. Greater London Area – 14M. Greater Miami – 5.5M. Greater Budapest, about 2M. Total more than 40M people.

We think city and regional TLDs, with government approval, are highly analogous to ccTLDs. With proper execution, a company with a geo-TLD market ought to be able to approach the 10% penetration achieved by ccTLDs within a few years (remember, current ccTLDs have done essentially zero marketing). You do the math.

It’s our view that our current share price and market valuation is more than supported solely by the developed-world geographical gTLDs whose governments have chosen to work with us. In addition, geographical gTLDs are not the only new gTLDs we’re applying for.

I hope that helps.

Antony Van Couvering
CEO, TLDH

 

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ICANN’s Culver City Regional Registrar Meeting Slides

Posted on May 23, 2012 by Joe Alagna

ICANN held a very nice regional registrar event last week and I was privileged to attend. Their Registrar Liaison Manager, Mike Zupke came through with his promise to send us the slides from the meetings.

It was a good meeting, although there were periods of strong contention during the meeting.  Most attendees felt/feel that ICANN needs to be more forthcoming with information considering that we have clients investing millions of dollars on new TLDs. They started the meeting with a notice that they weren’t going to answer questions on new TLDs which was certainly top of mind for most attendees!  I appreciate ICANN’s attempts to reach out, but I certainly understand the impatience.

If you were unable to attend last week’s function, I hope you’ll enjoy and get some benefit from the documents that Mike sent out today.  I’ve listed them below and they include certain full session recordings and chat logs (as long as you can get the Adobe Connect to work well; I tested it on my computer and although it took a bit to start up, it worked well):

Presentations 17 May 2012 Sessions

Session Presentation
Overview of GNSO Policy development
Registry and Registrar Liaison Support Brainstorm Session

Recent Activity at ICANN Security
New gTLD Recap

Operational Readiness for New gTLDs

Contractual Compliance Update

Agenda 18 May 2012 Sessions

Schedule Friday [PDF, 1.09 MB]

Presentations May 18 Sessions

Session Presentation
SAC 051 Roadmap Update (Whois Protocol replacement)

Registrar onboarding
Registrar stakeholder Group

Registry stakeholder Group

Registrar Training Program and Other Initiatives
ICANN budget

IDN update

Universal Acceptance

 

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TAS Reopens

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Joe Alagna

Ok, It’s game on again. After so many weeks of down time, research, and notifications, TAS has reopened.  They’ve allowed for some maintenance windows this time. Their target date for closing the window is now next Wednesday (May 30, 2012) at 23.59 PM GMT.

You can find some support info and FAQs from ICANN’s website here:

http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/tas/top-ten

The communique from ICANN’s COO is reproduced below:

____________________________________

ICANN News Alert

http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-21may12-en.htm

____________________________________

TAS Reopens

Statement by Akram Atallah, COO

21 May 2012

The TLD Application System, or TAS, has reopened. All registered applicants can now log in, review and submit their applications.

The system will remain open until 23:59 GMT/UTC on 30 May 2012. Consistent with our previous practice and to allow the application window to open as soon as possible, two-hour maintenance windows have been scheduled as follows: 22 May at 16:30 GMT/UTC, 25 May at 23:00 UTC, and 29 May at 22:00 UTC.

Applicants are encouraged to review “Top Things Users Should Know When TAS Reopens,” posted on the new gTLD microsite at http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/tas/top-ten. The document provides advice on logging into and completing applications, submitting wire transfers, and contacting customer service with any issues users might encounter.

During the last few weeks, we have fixed the technical glitch that caused us to take the system offline. Also, to address user feedback, we have improved the overall system performance and the HTML preview function.

In our continuing review of the system logs and system traffic, we determined that in two instances, a single file might have been temporarily unavailable to an applicant. Full access to those two files has been restored. ICANN notified the affected users.

We recognize and regret the inconvenience caused by this glitch and the delayed closing of the application window.

____________________________________

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