Registrar Connections

VeriSign will host Registrar Days events in Seoul, Korea on April 24 and in Beijing, China on April 26. The one-day event in each location is designed for registrar executives with responsibility for strategy, marketing and the general business. Participating registrars will have the opportunity to learn about the latest products and product-news from VeriSign as well as network with other registrars.

Participating registrars will have the opportunity to learn about the latest products and product-news from VeriSign as well as network with other registrars. Agenda topics will include IDN opportunities, market research information and product updates. All accredited VeriSign registrars are invited and encouraged to attend.

Domain Name Industry Brief

The VeriSign Domain Name Industry Brief reports strong growth across the industry in 2006. The domain name industry reached a new milestone with a total base of approximately 120 million domain names worldwide across all of the Top Level Domain Names (TLDs) at the end of 2006. This represents an estimated 30 percent increase over the previous year and an eight percent growth over the third quarter of 2006. The Country Code Top Level Domain Names (ccTLDs) grew at roughly 31 percent year over year and approximately 10 percent quarter over quarter. In terms of total registrations, .com remains the largest TLD in terms of its total base of registrations, with .de (Germany), .net, .uk (United Kingdom) and .org holding their respective positions in the top five.

The overall base of .com and .net domain names grew to roughly 65 million domain names at the end of 2006. This represents a six percent increase in the fourth quarter compared to the third quarter 2006 and an estimated 30 percent increase year over year.

New .com and .net registrations were added at an average of 2.1 million per month in the fourth quarter of 2006 for a total of approximately 6.2 million new registrations in the quarter. This is a two percent increase over the third quarter of 2006 and a 17 percent increase over the same quarter last year.

The Domain Name Industry Brief series highlights key trends in the industry, key performance indicators and growth opportunities. VeriSign will issue the latest report with full findings on February 27. The report will be available at www.verisign.com/domainbrief.

Notice: Com/Net Software Release scheduled for April

Good news!
Registrar's Com/Net Accounts will be merged with the Name Store Registrar Account during the scheduled maintenance on April 28, 2007. The OT&E maintenance is scheduled for March 27, 2007.

What this means: This new release will help you manage your finances better because you only need one financial account to manage the different Registry activities.

In addition to the account updates previously announced and summarized below, the XML parser will also be updated. The updated parser will result in an EPP 2001 “Command syntax error” when passing both a date and time (2007-04-03T22:00:00.0Z) in the <domain:curExpDate> element of a domain renew.

With these updates in addition to the account updates it is important that all registrars connect to OT&E in order to test your client application following the OT&E software release on March 27, 2007.

A Webinar schedule will be sent to the Registrars List in the coming weeks, which will cover all of these changes in greater detail prior to the OT&E software release.

The Power of Suggestion

Brief update: Did you know that VeriSign's Name Suggestion service is being utilized by many registrars today and that these registrars benefited from an estimated 4.43% increase in incremental registrations for the month of January? VeriSign's Name Suggestion service is accessed through the Name Store Platform using the same EPP Protocol used for the major domain name registries.

.jobs: Building a Brand

VeriSign has allied with Employ Media to perform the registration, resolution, billing, and first level customer support services for the .jobs TLD, because we believe in the vital role of this TLD.

Hiring the right people is critical to the success of any organization. Corporate recruiting teams are well aware of this fact and are always looking for efficient but effective ways to attract the best candidates to their online Want Ads. Organizations are finding out that .jobs helps to do just that by providing them with a clear, easy-to-advertise, straightforward URL that pulls job seekers to their recruitment web site.

Companies large and small are not only adopting .jobs, but actively using it to communicate their on-line job opportunities. See how both Merck (www.merck.jobs) and American Family Insurance (www.amfam.jobs) are using .jobs to communicate their career opportunities.

VeriSign plans to build on this early success with a new marketing program aimed to drive awareness of the .jobs brand. Upcoming news articles, events, and company showcases will help let recruiters know that there is an easier way to reach their target audience with the use of their www.CompanyName.jobs.

Registrars and resellers can now find exciting new tools to help reach their target customers at http://www.verisign.com/jobsmarketing. This .jobs marketing tools page provides you with materials you may need for your marketing efforts, such as compelling testimonials, the .jobs logo, online banner ads, .jobs marketing emails ready for your immediate use, the .jobs Product Guidebook and more.

We will continue to update this site as more marketing materials are developed to assist you in promoting .jobs and generating new registrations. For more information, contact your VeriSign account manager or send an email to namingmarketing@verisign.com.

Internet Infrastructure Expansion

With more than 1 billion Internet users around the globe, Internet usage is growing at a rapid pace. This growth is demonstrated in not only the number of Internet users, but also their level of usage. Their usage can be measured by examining the number of DNS queries and how it has changed. In 2000, for example, the system averaged four DNS queries per Internet user per day (there were 250 million Internet users and VeriSign received approximately 1 billion DNS queries a day). In 2007, that ratio is now 25 DNS queries per Internet user per day (there are 1 billion users and VeriSign receives and average of 25 billion DNS queries a day).

Broadband penetration, new business applications and e-commerce drove this increase in usage. In the years to come, new applications and services will continue to fuel the surge in Internet usage including increased numbers of Web-enabled cell phones, IPTV subscribers and VOIP subscribes. If DNS query rates continue at historical rate, we can expect 200 DNS queries per Internet user in 2010 for approximately 1.8 billion users – or 362 billion queries a day.

In addition to normal traffic, the DNS must be able to handle cyber attacks that drive DNS query volumes to 50 -150 times of their normal levels. Since 2000, these cyber attacks have increased in both scale and sophistication such that cyber attacks that could have crippled the Internet in 2000 are now considered blips on the radar today. For example, a cyber attack in 2006 leveraged 32,000 hijacked PCs to launch the attack which was 70 times larger than any other attack seen to date. Thus, the very devices and increased bandwidth that make the Internet more robust and user friendly are being deployed to compromise the Internet.

Domain name registries must be able to handle the increased demands on their infrastructure. VeriSign has announced a global initiative to expand and diversify its Internet infrastructure by ten times by the year 2010. Under the initiative, VeriSign will increase its capacity 10 times from 400 billion DNS queries a day to roughly 4 trillion a day; increase its bandwidth capacity 10 times from over 20 gigabits per second (Gbps) to greater than 200 Gbps and substantially expand its infrastructure both domestically and internationally. By expanding and diversifying its infrastructure, the .com and .net systems will have greater redundancy and reduced latency, which will improve the experience for users.

Staff Spotlight: Suzanne Yerks

She may be the first person in VeriSign who welcomes you as a newly accredited registrar and it’s time you learned a little more about Suzanne Yerks. Officially, her responsibilities include acting as the primary point of contact for assisting newly ICANN accredited registrars through the VeriSign certification process for .com and .net. Suzanne coordinates the execution of Registry Registrar Agreements, creation of the registrars' financial accounts and validation that technical requirements have been met prior to granting registrars access to the production Shared Registration System (SRS).

Additionally, Suzanne is also responsible for processing any transfer dispute Requests For Enforcements that are filed with the registry for resolution.

During her free time, Suzanne keeps herself occupied with her 19-year old daughter and diverse hobbies like Irish set (not ‘step’) dancing and counted thread work. In fact, she has won two blue ribbons and one third place award for her needlework. When she’s in-between dancing and needlepoint, Suzanne gives back to the community by volunteering her services to the Greyhound Rescue team and regularly plays the organ and piano for her Church on Sundays.

A loyal and happy VeriSign employee, Suzanne exclaims, “I like working at VeriSign because management is great and my job is stimulating, keeps me engaged and on my toes. Plus, interfacing with the Registrars is always a fun part of my job!”

Customer Service: Frequently Asked Questions

This section includes some recent questions handled by the Customer Service group. This week's topics include: the weekly domain report and the WHOIS time stamp.

Answer: You can view the weekly domain report which contains a list of all domains belonging to the Registrar. The report contains the Create Date and the Expiration Date of the domains. The reports are available via the FTP server ftp.verisign-grs.com. Below is the name of the weekly report. YYYYMMDD.domain_report.weekly.core.GURID.txt.gz

Question: Why does the time stamp in WHOIS not match the time stamps when I do an INFO on a domain?
Answer: WHOIS is displayed in U.S.A. local time, Eastern Time; and EPP is displayed in UTC.

Worldwide Internet Users 2005-2011

Special Report from eMarketer
The US remains the single largest Internet market in the world with approximately 181.9 million Internet users in 2006, but China is likely to overtake the US before the decade is out. The number of Internet users in China is already greater by tens of millions than in the next three largest online populations, Japan, Germany and the UK.

Morgan Stanley estimated in November 2006 that by the end there will be over 1.34 billion Internet users worldwide in 2007. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a longstanding benchmark for such data, put the total for 2005 at 964 million, only slightly less than Morgan Stanley’s 1.04 billion estimate for the same year.

United States
The Internet is around 13 years old in the US and the number of Internet users continues to grow steadily, if somewhat more slowly than in the past. eMarketer estimates that by 2011 there will be 211.3 million Internet users (those who access the Internet at least once per month), up from 175.4 million at the end of 2005. By 2008, two-thirds of the US population will be Internet users, and this will rise to over 70% of the population by 2011.

Western Europe
The United Kingdom led the five largest economies in Western Europe in terms of Internet penetration in 2006, at 57.9%. France, Germany and Italy are all approaching 50% penetration of their populations while Spain, at 40% penetration, is about

The Asia-Pacific Region
There is nothing homogenous about the Asia-Pacific region, and even among the five countries examined for this report, Internet development differs widely. At one end of the scale are South Korea and Japan, each with a penetration rate above 67%, and at the other end of the scale are the vast population centers of China and India, with penetration rates of 10.2% and 2.3%, respectively. China, of course, is quickly emerging as the largest Internet market in the world as its middle class grows and home Internet access becomes widespread. India, however, is still struggling to develop its telecommunications infrastructure in order to create a supply of Internet access to meet what is sure to be high demand. Australia continues to be a leading Internet market in the region, and while it is the smallest market of those examined for this report, its influence is not insignificant in the region.

In the News

This section contains a selection of articles pertaining to the Domain Name Industry compiled by Information, Inc.

"Registrations of Chinese Domain Names Surge as Spring Festival Approaches"
CCTV International (02/08/07)

There has been a run on Chinese-character domain names during the lead-up to China's traditional Spring Festival. This increase in domain registrations was made possible by the introduction of new Web site technology that supports domains with Chinese characters. Upwards of 1,000 people a day have been registering Chinese domains since January, and the number is increasing with the approach of the Chinese New Year. China Internet Network Information Center CTO Li Xiaodong explains the significance of Chinese domains: "Chinese domain names incorporate traditional Chinese culture. We can extend traditional greetings through Chinese domain names. So celebrating the New Year with a new Chinese domain name can be very meaningful, and it's fashionable too." One business owner recently registered the "Cai yuan gun gun" domain name for his company, which translates to "endless streams of income." The owner says he hopes the domain will bring his business and customers good luck.
(http://www.cctv.com/program/bizchina/20070208/105719.shtml)

"City Buys Domain Names to Help Market Itself"
Rocky Mount Telegram (02/08/07); Ramsey, John

To improve its marketing efforts, Rocky Mount, N.C., has bought simpler domain names to replace those that users may have had trouble remembering. Rockymountsportscomplex.com, imperialcentre.org, and downtownrockymount.com, will replace domain names such as www.ci.rocky-mount.nc.us/sportscomplex. "Downtown investors, stakeholders, and visitors now have a simple address to remember for current information on events, programs and services," said downtown development manager Ian Kipp. The domain names cost between $6 and $10 each per year. "It's kind of a no-brainer when it comes to marketing today," said city public affairs manager Megan Hanks. "We can put [a new domain name] on a billboard or a sign, and it speaks for itself."
(http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/search/content/news/stories/200
7/02/08/07/websitechanges.html)

"Interests That Use Web Data Oppose 'WHOIS' Changes"
National Journal's Technology Daily (01/29/07) Vol. 10, No. 9,; Noyes, Andrew

ICANN is considering a proposal to restrict access to WHOIS data based on "technical purposes," and as a result it is becoming apparent that many online interests, especially intellectual property owners, rely on open access to WHOIS data for their endeavors. ICANN's public comment period for the WHOIS reform proposal has ended. ICANN's next step is the finalization of a draft report on changing WHOIS policy. WHOIS records regularly are used by domain name arbitrators such as the National Arbitration Forum, and by intellectual property owners such as the Recording Industry Association of America to protect their assets. Intellectual property owners and their advocacy groups are concerned that restricting access to WHOIS data will benefit a few people's privacy rights, while preventing intellectual property owners from cracking down on cybersquatters and other domain name fraud activity. Yet, exposing domain name registrants' personal records to anyone who can go online exposes domain name registrants to scam artists and unwanted solicitors. It also violates the privacy laws of the European Union and other governments around the world. The American Intellectual Property Law Association wants clear rules on finding out who owns a domain name, regardless of the exact reform proposal chosen.
(http://www.nationaljournal.com)

February 2007

In this issue:

Asia Registrar Days in Seoul and Beijing: April 24 and 26