INWW Signs New Deals, Opens U.S. Operations

Internet Names WorldWide (INWW) this
week formed partnerships with Intuit, Verio and Digital Envoy as part of its push for
secure domain name management for businesses, as well as formally launching
its operations in the U.S.


Under the agreement with Intuit, the financial services software firm will
incorporate INWW’s registration services in its QuickBooks Site Builder
within QuickBooks 2000. Verio also gave INWW the nod for its customer base,
while Digital Envoy will work with INWW to provide localized services such
as weather, entertainment and personalization.


INWW has opened its U.S. operations in McLean, Virginia, and plans to add a
West Coast office in the next several weeks. London operations will follow
within the next three to four months, with offices to be opened in Hong Kong
in the next six months.


At Spring Internet World, INWW also introduced NameBuddy, a service which
suggest domain name possibilities from a database of unclaimed URLs.


The registrar expects to add country level domain registration to 40
countries, a service platform which is expected to become available in its
service package within the next three months. INWW General Manager Clive
Flory says that the company is not concerned about entering this sector
behind its registrar competitors because the multinational registration will
be “differentiated by its simplicity.”


INWW is currently working to form broader policy and technology standards
for country code top-level domains.


The company is also focusing on security and domain technology packages for
businesses as a compliment to its wholesale name registry, encouraging
companies to see domain names as a valuable trademark asset which requires a
greater degree of security technology. Flory pointed to current conditions
which allow customers to lose domain names, erroneously redelegate URLs,
and allow outsiders to easily claim ownership of a domain name, and says
that INWW is working to increase the security of domain name management.


“Domain names can now be sold for millions of dollars. If you had a ten
million dollar house, the first thing you would do is install a security
system,” said Flory. Domain name services are an aspect of online brand
management which also require a high level of security, he added.


Still, INWW is now eyeing what it sees as the next big thing in the domain
registration market — multilingual domain names. While such domain names
have already been developed within Asian markets, Flory says that INWW hopes
to establish itself as an international partners for such URLs, with
registry operations on a global level.


INWW’s parent company Melbourne IT has also undergoing an audit for its IPO.
Flory said that investors have the right to ask questions about the process
and deserve to receive the right answer, but did not comment further on the
investigation.

Get the Free Newsletter!

Subscribe to our newsletter.

Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis

News Around the Web