Featured Blogs

Next gTLDs: 2016 or 2019?

On September 22, 2014, ICANN published an analysis of the review and assessment work that remains to be done before a new round of gTLD (generic Top Level Domain) applications can be initiated. According to the document, 2016 is the earliest a call for the next lot of applications to operate an Internet suffix could come. To many, a subsequent application window so soon after the 2012 round seems unrealistic. more

New gTLD Abuse Trends Beginning to Emerge

With just over 2.4 million New gTLDs registered, abuse trends are beginning to emerge. Earlier this month we conducted a review of the top 100 most highly-trafficked Web property names across the top 5 most popular new gTLD registries. It is apparent that the abuse we had expected has occurred -- just not where we had anticipated. more

Bashbleed - A Nasty Reminder Never to Forget Security 101

After the botched burglary at the Watergate Apartments, every scam and scandal that hit the headlines became a 'gate' -- Irangate, Contragate, you name it. The Heartbleed bug is possibly the closest thing to Watergate that this generation of computer security had seen till the past few days -- an exploit in a component that is "just there" -- something you utterly rely on to be there and perform its duties, and give very little thought to how secure (or rather, insecure) it might be. So, fittingly, every such catastrophic bug in an ubiquitous component is now a 'bleed'. more

Whose Customers Are Those Typing Brand Names in the Browser’s Address Bar?

Fourteen years ago, we had so much hope at the start of a new century. We thought the global economy was going to improve a lot because of the emerging Internet technologies. But where are we today? What has happened in the last 14 years? We know that even advanced countries are suffering from economic difficulties today. What happened to these advanced countries with high speed Internet? more

Exploring Future Internet Architectures

UCLA and Washington University in St. Louis recently announced the launch of the Named Data Networking (NDN) Consortium, a new forum for collaboration among university and industry researchers, including Verisign, on one candidate next-generation information-centric architecture for the Internet. Verisign Labs has been collaborating with UCLA Professor Lixia Zhang, one of the consortium's co-leaders, on this future-directed design as part our university research program for some time. more

So you want to apply for a new gTLD in the second Round of the ICANN new gTLD program?

New domain names are now on the market and you start to realize that you may have missed the train by not submitting your own new gTLD application. So why not get your part of the cake and consider applying for your own new Top-Level Domain in the second Round of the ICANN new gTLD program? Why not become a "Registry" and sell domain names... to the world? more

State of Broadband Report 2014

Last Sunday I attended the 10th meeting of the UN Broadband Commission for Digital Development in New York, where we launched this new report -- State of Broadband Report 2014. Here are some of the highlights of the report. Over 50% of the global population will have Internet access within three years' time, with mobile broadband over smartphones and tablets now the fastest growing technology in human history, according to the 2014 edition of the State of Broadband report. more

Big Data Stress? Go Zen With These 5 Technologies

The promise of "big data" -- real-time insights, predictive analytics and a better understanding of customer behaviors -- has many companies jumping into this near-bottomless information pool with both feet. But the sheer volume of data can cause serious stress for IT professionals trying to balance C-suite expectations, legacy tech limitations and corporate workloads. What's more, the data market is rapidly evolving. more

How Buying the Right Domain Name Is Different

This post outlines a typical information-gathering process for online purchasing decisions and demonstrates why a different approach is needed when buying a domain name. Huge amounts of product information are now publicly available on the Internet. When buying most products, consumers rely on that wealth of information. About 70% of consumers make online reviews a key part of their buying choices, according to a 2012 Nielsen survey. more

The East Asia Telecommunication Union

That's what Europeans are now calling the venerable old International Telecommunication Union -- EATU for short. In fact, based on current metrics, this transformation is exactly what has occurred. The shift began occurring almost a decade ago, and has dramatically accelerated in recent years. At the ITU-T's key Study Group 17 meeting on security now underway, fully 90% of the input contributions and more than half of those participating are from only three countries -- China, Japan, and Korea. Indeed, there has long been a semi-formal organization known as CJK that has been manifested here. more

Is It Time for a Registration Operations Industry Association? (Part 3)

In Part 1 and Part 2 of this series of blog posts I described the need for a registration operations industry association. At the end of Part 2, I wrote that Part 3 will describe "an opportunity for everyone that's interested in discussing this topic in a live environment." The large number of people attending ICANN 51 in Los Angeles presents the best chance of discussion with many potential participants being in the same place at the same time. Let's take advantage of that proximity. more

Triple Challenge of Network Transformation

Following my comments about the iPhone VoLTE announcement I had an interesting conversation with Andy Huckridge from Gigamon, a company that provides intelligent traffic visibility networking solutions for enterprises, datacentres and service providers around the globe. An interesting concept that we discussed was the 'triple challenge of network transformation'. The three elements of this challenge are... more

A Trick to Register Good Generic Domain Names

A good domain name can be difficult to find... in particular when the domain name extension is highly demanded. It is what is happening with the .CLUB new gTLD. Should your Registrar tell you that the desired domain name is not available, it is not necessarily true. Anybody involved in launching a website has to go through a search for a domain name, and most of the time, it begins with the following question: "is the .com available?". Most of the time the answer is: "no it is not".  more

Bringing Order to Chaos

If we were to apply themes to Internet governance world, the narrative for 2014-15 is definitely 'change'. The governance ecosystem is knee deep in the IANA transition, with a few meetings and teleconferences of the IANA Transition Coordinating Group behind us, and a ramping up of activity around ICANN accountability and governance. While the IANA transition and ICANN accountability processes are being conducted in parallel and independently, it's important to note that not only are they related, they are dependent on one another. more

Industry Association: An Implementation Model

We read carefully Scott Hollenbeck's call to form a Domain Name Industry association to promote consistency in technical operations across the many moving parts of the industry and we, the Board and members of the Domain Name Association, largely agree. More formal coordination among registry operators and domain name registrars would improve the domain name registration experience for registrants and business operations for the domain name industry in general. more