Australian domain name registrar Internet Names WorldWide (INWW) is to launch
the world’s first high-speed bulk registration service to cater for
customers wanting to establish large numbers of domain names.
The service, called bulknames.com,
will offer discounts and reduced turnaround times for customers wanting to
register 300 or more domain names.
INWW, a division of recently-floated online services and
consulting company Melbourne
IT, will charge on a sliding scale that starts at around $AUS36
($US24) each
for orders of 300 domain names.
The service boasts the ability to register 1000 domain names per hour, and
process orders
of more than 1000 names simultaneously. This will undercut the time it
takes to register that number of domain names individually by more than 24
hours.
INWW has developed bulknames.com in anticipation of increased demand for
domain names, following new rules and regulations established by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers (ICANN).
These moves include the creation of a more competitive market, which is set
to reduce registration costs by up to 50 per cent. Registrants will also be
able to secure ‘.com’, ‘.org’ and ‘.net’ domain names for between one and
10 years.
Currently INWW’s services allow domain names of up to 63 characters to be
registered, and expanded services will include domain names in ‘.uk’
(United Kingdom), ‘.fr’ (France), ‘.es’ (Spain) and ‘.jp’ (Japan).
“INWW has registered tens of thousands of names using our bulk registration
system,” said Clive Flory, INWW managing director. “INWW has created the
necessary technology to meet this demand.”
The registrar is hoping bulknames.com’s main drawcard will be its speed of
registration, which will be critical during the domain name rush it expects
in the wake of ICANN’s new regulations.
To help promote the service Melbourne IT formed a strategic partnership with
U.S.
Web site hosting company Verio, Inc. to
provide its domain name registration
services to Verio’s subscriber base of more than 525,000 domain name
holders.
As part of this agreement Verio has acquired 4.9 per cent of Melbourne IT’s
issued capital from its December 13 listing on the Australian Stock Exchange.
“The relationship between our companies has been built over some time,” said
Flory. “The key factors which led Verio to Internet Names WorldWide
are our knowledge of the domain name registration industry, our robust
technology and the fact that we are setting up an on-ground presence in the
U.S.”
