Mark Monitor is to be acquired by NewFold Digital from its current owners Clarivate. Mark Monitor is one of the longest established corporate domain name registrars and provides services to many of the Fortune 500 companies. The deal sees the company swapping hands for $302.5 million. The company was originally founded in Boise back in 1999. It was previously acquired … [Read more...] about NewFold Digital to Acquire Mark Monitor
Africa DNS Forum to be Held in Nairobi
For the past two years the Africa DNS forum, like so many other events, switched to a virtual event format. This year, however, the event will be held in person in Nairobi, Kenya. When? 5-6 October Where? Nairobi, Kenya Full information about the event will be available on the official event site here. Registration is free. I was at the last "in person" … [Read more...] about Africa DNS Forum to be Held in Nairobi
Nominet Election Candidates 2022 Finally Announced
This year Nominet's non-executive director election is for one seat on the board. For reasons that aren't 100% clear the announcement of the candidates took quite a bit longer than normal, with the list only being made official in the last week. So who is running for election this time round? Jim DaviesVolker GreimannKieren McCarthy While anyone can be nominated to the … [Read more...] about Nominet Election Candidates 2022 Finally Announced
Nominet Taking RDAP Out of Beta
Nominet, the .uk domain registry, has been running RDAP (Registration Data Access Protocol) for over a year in public beta. They're now moving to it out of beta and adding it to the IANA bootstrap which will mean that it'll be readily accessible by anyone using an RDAP client. RDAP is the new, technical protocol that replaces whois. As it's XML JSON based it's 100% machine … [Read more...] about Nominet Taking RDAP Out of Beta
ICANN Still Insisting Their Waiver is “Normal”
Prior to the ICANN meeting in The Hague I wrote a couple of times about their insane waiver. I wrote to ICANN's CEO and the Chair of the ICANN Board, but that went nowhere. We even filed a reconsideration request along with the .na domain registry, but that was also rejected. And we were not alone. The ALAC also wrote to ICANN's Board formally about the waiver (full text … [Read more...] about ICANN Still Insisting Their Waiver is “Normal”
RIPE 85 Registration Now Open
The next RIPE meeting is being held in Belgrade, Serbia. As they've been doing for the last couple of meetings RIPE is offering two options: Onsite in person attendancevirtual online attendance It's 100% free to attend the meeting online, while attending in person for the full week costs €350. Based on past experience with RIPE meetings that's €350 well spent, as they … [Read more...] about RIPE 85 Registration Now Open
NamesCon Agenda Published
NamesCon will be held in Austin, Texas from August 31st to September 3rd. Yesterday the event organisers published the agenda, though it still has a few gaps. So what's on the agenda? There's a combination of keynotes, smaller panels and of course an auction. NamesCon is primarily focussed on domain investors so the schedule reflects topics that you'd … [Read more...] about NamesCon Agenda Published
GoDaddy Acquires Dan.com
GoDaddy has been buying up companies for years. Some of the acquisitions happened fairly quietly and without fanfare, while others have been fairly seismic in their impact on a particular market segment. When they bought NeuStar, for example, they went from having no registry services to having a big chunk of that pie. In the domain name aftermarket space GoDaddy has been a … [Read more...] about GoDaddy Acquires Dan.com
ICANN Announces GDD Summit Dates & Location
Prior to the Covid pandemic leading to the cancellation of all "in person" events across the globe ICANN had been planning to hold its annual GDD Summit for registrars and registries in Paris, France. That event got cancelled completely and there's no indication if or when the organisation will try to bring the event to Europe again. They will, however, be holding the Summit … [Read more...] about ICANN Announces GDD Summit Dates & Location
Donuts is no More – Rebrands as “Identity Digital”
Donuts is rebranding. The company which runs around 300 domain name extensions acquired Afilias back in 2020. They're now going to rename the entire thing "Identity Digital", which is using the domain Identity.Digital Here's the new logo: At one level I can understand that they'd want to come up with a new brand identity for the various companies that they've … [Read more...] about Donuts is no More – Rebrands as “Identity Digital”