South Africa’s .za Domain Name Authority (ZADNA) selects AusRegistry International to provide consultancy services to support its new Domain Name Registry System.AusRegistry International, a leading international provider of Domain Name Registry Services, has been selected by the .za Domain Name Authority (ZADNA) to provide consultancy services to support a new Domain Name Registry System for South Africa’s .za country-code Top Level Domain (ccTLD).

This extensive project will consolidate multiple Registries that currently operate second-level domains, such as .co.za, net.za and .org.za, into one Central Registry. The new Registry Solution will deliver standardised policies across the.za namespace and will create a competitive Registrar-based distribution channel to support the growth of the Internet within South Africa.

AusRegistry International CEO, Adrian Kinderis said “We are thrilled to have been selected by ZADNA to support their Central Registry project. It will no doubt be a valuable asset for the people of South Africa for many years to come. Our organisation went through a similar process in 2002 when launching .au in Australia and the result of that process allowed .au to grow into one of the world’s leading ccTLDs with over 1.7 million names and an average year-on-year growth of 25%. We look forward to assisting ZADNA to achieve a similarly successful future for .za.”

“This project will build on the successes that we have already achieved with our proprietary consultancy methodology in other regions. I am particularly proud of our achievements in the Middle East, where we have been providing support for the relaunch and continued development of existing ccTLDs for some years and are working to support the launch of new Arabic script Internationalised Domain Name (IDN) ccTLDs, in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and elsewhere.”

Vika Mpisane, General Manager of ZADNA said, “AusRegistry International carries substantial experience in managing the complex process of transitioning to a consolidated Registry from their management of the .au Registry. They have been very successful in the operation of that particular Registry and have built an impressive body of consulting work supporting other ccTLD Registries around the world. These elements of their experience made them an obvious choice to assist ZADNA with this project.”

“Given the significance of this project for South Africa’s technical development, it was vital that we took the necessary time to evaluate all possible alternatives when selecting an organisation to advise us. We look forward to working with AusRegistry International to build the basis for a successful Central Registry for the .za namespace.”

The .za ccTLD is the largest in Africa and currently accounts for approximately half of around one million country-code domain names registered on the continent. The Central Registry will provide a platform for the continued development of the .za namespace and will have positive implications for the wider internet industry within South Africa. It will allow .za to continue to be the flagship namespace within the African domain name industry.