.ORG, the Public Interest Registry (PIR) announced today the production launch of the Automated Registrar Accreditation System (ARAS) for new registrars seeking to sell .ORG. The goal of ARAS is to reduce the time and effort involved for ICANN accredited registrars to sell .ORG domains, by enabling all the steps to be done very quickly and safely in a secure online environment. The introduction of ARAS demonstrates PIR’s commitment to serve and advance the development of the domain industry in the public interest.

“From an operational standpoint, the traditional process for a registrar to get accredited with any registry is tedious and very paper intensive, which could be prone to human error and extended delays from traditional transmission methods and downtime,” explained Michelle Coon, lead project manager for ARAS and Compliance and Operations Manager for PIR, “So, we’ve come up with a way to combine several steps and do almost the entire process electronically—streamlining the process for the registrar and subsequently, for PIR.” The registrar accreditation process traditionally involves three main steps: 1) submission of all required forms and legal documents; 2) completion of the Operational Test and Evaluation (OT&E) for technical purposes; and 3) financial arrangements with .ORG. With ARAS, all of the documents and forms are submitted online instantly and securely, thus reducing effort and time from using traditional means of hardcopy submission, and PIR can quickly process all accreditation applications within the ARAS system. Once a registrar passes OT&E, the entire accreditation process can be completed in a matter of a few days with ARAS, as opposed to many weeks previously. “We want to utilize technological advancements to assist our registrars in any way we can,” concluded Coon. New registrars going through this process with ARAS will be greeted with an online, step-by-step tutorial, including video, as well as live support whenever necessary.

“This is an innovative approach to expand the potential sales channel for .ORG and enable the new registrars to go from application to booking revenue with .ORG very quickly,” said Alexa Raad, CEO. “New registrars can now complete and track the whole process online.”

To learn more about how to become a registrar with PIR, please visit http://pir.org/sell/registrar.