Radix, Asia’s largest new gTLD applicant, announced top players of the global hosting community as Pioneers of the .host namespace, which rolled in to Landrush on 26th August ‘14.

The Pioneer lineup includes big international names like MediaTemple, Bluehost, OVH, Arvixe, and the UK2 Group, in addition to regional leaders such as Natro (Turkey) and UOL (Brazil), HostPapa (Canada), Blacknight (Ireland). Several top global wholesale registrars, such as OpenSRS, ResellerClub and InternetX have also signed on as Pioneer Partners.

“Jumping on the .HOST bandwagon was a logical choice for Media Temple and we are pleased to have a domain extension that specifically serves our industry,” said Jacob Shin, VP of Marketing at Media Temple, a premium web hosting subsidiary of GoDaddy, and one of the first companies to sign on to what has shaped into an elite roster.

“We’re seeing a huge amount of interest for .host among our global network of resellers,” said Dave Woroch, EVP Wholesale at OpenSRS. “The Pioneer Program has been a great way to drum up anticipation for the launch, and we’re excited to move forward.”

Leading news and reviews site FindMyHost will pioneer the namespace on www.FindMy.Host. Hosting-Review and eBridge, both leading affiliate marketers and now .host Pioneers, look forward to the improved search engine rankings .host stands to afford.

Each of the .host Pioneers recognize the value of .host for the industry and have committed to helping in making it a successful and viable namespace.

Already, .Host Pioneers have explored innovative ways to use the domain. Bluehost, for example, acquired the domain name Pink.host for later use during its breast cancer awareness program, a clever way to adapt the namespace while enhancing its premier brand. Meanwhile, FindMyHost has acquired domains such as FindMyCloud.host in order to specifically target industry niches.

“We’ve long been a part of the hosting industry,” said Viram Lodhia, .host Category Manager, Radix, “and now we’re looking forward to giving back to the community. Thanks to all our Pioneers, we will go a long way toward driving awareness of .host’s possibilities and it’s great to see widespread interest in the launch.”

The .host public Landrush phase began 26th August and will be open till 15th September. First-come, first-serve registrations will be available starting 17th September.

Interested members of the community can pre-register for free on www.dothostregistry.com. The Registry is also promoting Landrush names via a dedicated Landrush microsite on http://www.radixregistry.com/landrush.