Category Archives: Domain Names

Domain Names

Do you feel lucky?

The .asia top level domain is set to release valuable 1,2,3 and 4 character domains over the coming weeks and months.

promoting .asia top level domain name
.asia top level domain

Premium domains such as ‘8.asia’, ’28.asia’, and ‘X.asia’, will be available for registration based on a multi-phase release plan starting from July 30th, 2013, while 3&4 numeric domains such as ‘2013.asia’, ‘888.asia‘, and ‘777.asia’ will be up for grabs through auctions starting August 2013.

No. 8 has long been regarded as the luckiest number in Chinese culture. With pronunciation of ‘Ba’ in Chinese, no. 8 sounds similar to the word ‘Fa’, which means to make a fortune. However just as some numbers have good connotations, some are the opposite.  No. 4 sounds like ‘Si’ (death) in Chinese. Just like some westerners hate no. 13, Chinese avoid number 4 and no.14 when they choose phone numbers, room numbers or the date of important ceremonies.

Please see here for a complete list of parked, reserved and other 1&2 character domains. 3&4 character numeric .Asia domains are available via public auctions but the 1 and 2 character domains have a variety of  release mechanisms

2020Media is accredited via it’s registrar Imperial Registrations to offer .Asia domains, so we can help advise and obtain these exciting domains.

Auctions start in August 2013. Contact us for further information.

 

 

 

Domain Names

New Top-Level Domain Name Applications Revealed

Historic Milestone for the Internet’s Domain Name System

At the New gTLD Reveal Day Press Conference
New gTLD Reveal Day

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) today revealed who has applied for which generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) names in what is expected to become the largest expansion in the history of the Internet’s Domain Name System.

A total of 1,930 new gTLD applications were received during the application period of the new generic Top-Level Domain program.

“We are standing at the cusp of a new era of online innovation,” said Rod Beckstrom, President and Chief Executive Officer. “That means new businesses, new marketing tools, new jobs, and new ways to link communities and share information.”

Beckstrom made the comments during a London news conference, where it was revealed which organizations have applied for which specific domain names.

Senior Vice President Kurt Pritz noted that the applications will now be subject to a public comment and objection period, and a rigorous, objective and independent evaluation system.

“A 60-day comment period begins today, allowing anyone in the world to submit comments on any application, and the evaluation panels will consider them,” said Pritz. “If anyone objects to an application and believes they have the grounds to do so, they can file a formal objection to the application. And they will have seven months to do that.”

Of the 1,930 applications received:

  • 66 are geographic name applications.
  • 116 applications are for Internationalized Domain Names, or IDNs, for strings in scripts such as Arabic, Chinese, and Cyrillic.

Applications were received from 60 countries and territories, broken down by ICANN’s geographic regions;

  • 911 from North America.
  • 675 from Europe.
  • 303 are from Asia-Pacific.
  • 24 from Latin America and the Caribbean.
  • 17 from Africa.

To listen to the audio file from the London Reveal Day event, go here: http://www.icann.org/en/news/press/kits/reveal-day-audio-13jun12-en.htm

To see who has applied for which generic Top-Level Domain, go here: http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/program-status/application-results

To post comments on applications, go here: http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/program-status/application-comments

To file an objection, go here: http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/program-status/objection-dispute-resolution

To obtain background information on the new generic Top-Level Domain program, go here: http://www.icann.org/en/news/press/kits/reveal-day-13jun12-en.htm

For information on ICANN’s geographic regions, go here: http://archive.icann.org/en/meetings/montreal/geo-regions-topic.htm

Domain Names

New Domains .Africa

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The countdown for a huge tranche of new top level domain names is well underway* and the list of applied for domains will shortly be made public. One applicant is making their option known now at GlobalINET which is taking place this week in Geneva.

The .Africa top level domain application is a African Union sanctioned bid to establish a regional internet identity of Africa. Mohamed El Bashir, Chair of the dotAfrica steering committee describes the reason for the domain:

“Africa’s new top-level domain (dotAfrica) will be utilised as a mechanism to promote the development of Africa’s Internet services and ecosystem, and to showcase African pride, identity and know-how.”

The registry will be run by non-profit .za (South Africa) operator, UniForumSA, and they hope the new domain will stimulate the whole African domain name market. Pricing and availability (including any restrictions) will be announced closer to launch.

*The countdown hit a bump in the road in April due to a security issue with the online platform ICANN uses for the process.

Domain Names

ICANN opens new top level domain process

New gTLD Program Timeline
New gTLD Program Timeline

ICANN, the organisation in charge of the global domain name system, tonight opens the 3 month process for allowing applications for new top level domains. Top level domains are the ‘right of the dot’ extension on domain names – like .com, .uk, .xxx.

From midnight 12 Jan 2012 until April 12th 2012, anyone who can stump up $185,000 (£119,500) as a processing fee can apply for more or less any domain name extention they like*.

*ICANN has a multi-stakeholder consensus-based decision making process so there are plently of caveats, special cases and  discounts for worthy causes.

You can find out more about the process at the newgTLD Icann website.

2020Media offers registration services for domain names worldwide and we welcome the changes ICANN has made. Although it’s likely many of the applications will be by big brands like Facebook and Microsoft for domains that won’t be available for the public, there will still be more choice in the coming months and years.

Domain Names

Secure your .uk domains

Secure .uk domains for longerThe .uk country code domain currently offers a single registration period – 2 years.

Starting from May of next year we will be offering the more common registration periods of 1 to 10 years for .co.uk, .org.uk and .me.uk domains. The allows users of .uk domains to have the same protection that they have in .com, .net and other top level domains.

.uk market

A recent report shows that .uk registrations grew by 10.5% over the past 12 months, bringing the total number of domains to 9.7 million by the end of September 2011. .uk also maintains its position as the world’s second largest country code registry after Germany’s .de.

The report also shows that the global market for domain names is healthy and growing with an increase of 9.5% this year, taking the total number of domains globally to 218 million, an increase of 19 million. Generic Top Level Domains now make up 60% of the market while 39% are country code Top Level Domains.