News

The IE Domain Registry (IEDR), the managed registry for Ireland’s official Internet address .ie, announced the 15 winners of its OPTIMISE 2014 Fund. The winning companies include micro-enterprises, SMEs, emerging and established companies from the retail, travel, tourism, charity and service sectors.
More information here
 

This autumn, .SE will conduct an auction to release more of the .se domain names that are not currently possible to register. The domain names are two-character country codes, such as no.se, tv.se and pr.se as well as the names of other countries, for example, thailand.se and spanien.se.

.SE is currently planning the auction process and will have more information available autumn 2014.

The Domain Name Commission Limited (DNCL) has announce that from 30 September 2014 people will be able to register shorter, simpler, more representative names immediately before the .nz – as well as the more familiar-looking options like ‘.co.nz’ and ‘.org.nz’. 
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Last week the newly formed IANA Stewardship Transition Coorindation Group (ICG) met for their first meeting - held in London.  

This autumn, .SE will conduct an auction to release more of the .se domain names that are not currently possible to register. The domain names are two-character country codes, such as no.se, tv.se and pr.se as well as the names of other countries, for example, thailand.se and spanien.se.
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CENTR has published its latest ccTLD newsletter for June 2014 - this edition includes:

• Article: The IANA transition: What's at stake for ccTLDs?"
• Highlights from ICANN50 London
• Global Status of Domain Names
• QnA from CENTR Jamboree 2014 participants  
• ccTLD news highlights and statistics

See all previous editions of the CENTRnews
 

Following a public consultation, the Minister of Business and Growth has decided to extend DIFO’s permission to be registry for the .dk domain names.

Since 1999, Danish Internet Forum (DIFO) has had the license to manage all dk domain names and maintain the DK-zone in DNS. This task is handled by DK Hostmaster A/S, owned by DIFO. Yesterday, The Danish Business Authority announced that the Minister of Business and Growth has awarded DIFO permit for six more years.

Chairman of DIFO, Henrik Udsen says:

“We are very pleased that the Minister has extended the permit. We have worked hard to ensure that the .dk domain names are safe, stable and available, and it is great that so many in the Internet community support us and our work. The next six years we will continue the focus on service and safety, and to continuously adapt to technological and market developments.”

Read the comments to the consultation (in Danish) and The Danish Business Authority justification (in Danish)

For more information, please contact Political director Lise Fuhr or chairman Henrik Udsen.

The CENTR full report from ICANN50 is now published.  The report covers in detail the sessions from ccNSO, GAC and GNSO along with updates relating to the IANA transition and ICANN accountability - two of the meta themes at this recent meeting.  
Click to access the report
 

The latest of CENTRs 'DomainWire Stat Report' is available (Edition 8 - June 2014).  The report provides a global status update on top level domains (legacy gTLDs, new gTLDs and ccTLDs) with a focus on European ccTLDs.  

Included in the report:;

• Global Status of Domain Names
• Top 20 ccTLDs list
• European ccTLD overview 
• High growth ccTLDs for the quarter 
• Article: "New Approaches in Visualising TLD positions"

The CENTR Guide to ICANN50 to be held next week in London has been published.  The report provides an overview of what to expect with some background details on the sessions in the ccNSO, GAC and GNSO.  

Access the report here