Archive for August, 2009

Introducing .AG, the ccTLD of Antigua and Barbuda

Continuing with more “A” ccTLDs, the next one we want to highlight is .AG, the official country code Top-Level-Domain of the beautiful island of “Antigua and Barbuda”.

Antigua and Barbuda Facts*:

  • Located East to South-East of Puerto Rico between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic
  • Estimated population of 86,000.
  • 37,500 Telephone Lines in use (est. 2006)
  • 2,215 Internet Hosts
  • 60,000 Internet Users

The .AG Registry:

  • The official website http://www.NIC.AG
  • Restrictions: None (anyone worldwide)
  • .AG, .com.AG, .net.AG, .org.AG, .co.AG and .nom.AG.
  • Statistics – not currently available

Reasons for registering an .AG Domain:

  1. .AG represents the country of Antigua and Barbuda
  2. .AG can be used to represent certain types of companies, especially targeting PLC companies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.  The abbrev. for such companies in these countries is .AG (e.g. AUDI AG)
  3. .AG can be used to represent “Agricultural Businesses”

If you are or service German, Austrian or Swiss companies and are interested in registering multiple .AG domains, please do not hesitate to contact Dennis Nizard at dnizard@hexonet.net or sales@hexonet.net.

* https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ac.html.

Introducing the ccTLD of Austria dot AT

Allow HEXONET to provide you with some more detailed information on our ccTLDs offerings through a series of ccTLD Postings.

Some basic facts about NIC.AT:

  • Anyone worldwide can register an .AT domain, there are no restrictions
  • Official registry behind .AT is NIC.AT
  • Extensions that are open for registration: .AT, .co.AT & .or.AT
  • Min. / Max. length of a .AT Domain: 3 – 63 characters
  • IDN Capable: YES

Some stats on .AT Registrations:

  • Total .AT registrations from last count were 868,480 .AT Domains
  • 833,545 registered .AT Domains
  • 28,227 registered .co.AT Domains
  • 6,708 registered .or.AT Domains

Distribution of Registrants by country:

  1. Austria -> 595,354 Domains (68.55%)
  2. Germany -> 169,225 Domains (19.49%)
  3. Switzerland -> 19,579 Domains (2.25%)
  4. Rest of EU -> 47,397 Domains (5.46%)
  5. Rest of World -> 36,925 Domains (4.25%)

According to IPS (Internet Profiling Service) statistics, provided by VeriSign, for the month of June and for all domains under management, the following information was available about .AT:

  • .AT Domains with multi-page content –> 52.80%
  • .AT Domains that were redirected –> 19.11%
  • .AT Domains that are being parked and have pay-per-click –> 8.30%
  • .AT Domains that do not resolve –> 19.79%

A quick note on Verisign’s IPS. The service remarkably monitors, analyzes, and consolidates data about domains, which is important to see how people are using a particular TLD. For instance, it is quite amazing that nearly 20% of all .AT domains don’t even resolve!

Now back to .AT. Even without doing a side by side comparison with another ccTLD, I can say the numbers for .AT are actually looking very healthy. The only area of concern is the aforementioned number of non-resolving domains. To see further details and information on .AT domains, I high encourage people to visit NIC.AT and read The Internet-Service-Profiling breakdown.

A particular bit of information about .AT, not freely available in these reports, is the going market price point for .AT domains. With a bit of snooping, I found a large and significant price difference between registrars. Within the EU, registrars are pricing .AT domains retail between 20 -30 EUR. Outside of the EU, registrars are charging double or more, from 40 – 80 EUR! This just proves that taking the time to find the best registrar with the best price will save money. For those of you who want to save time and money simply send us an email to support@hexonet.net.

The final note on the .AT registry is about the people who work there. Some great individuals are at the registry and they are always willing to lend a helping hand. If you want to learn more about .AT or just want to know more about Austria, simple send them an email and they will happily respond.

[update] HEXONET at event “Domainvermarkterforum” in Cologne

HEXONET is pleased to be attending this years “Domainvermarkterforum”. The organizers of this event have chosen the beautiful city of Cologne to be the host city for this event.  Domainvermarkterforum is a two day event starting on Sept. 3rd and ending on 4th 2009.  A highlight of the event will be a very large “live” Domain Auction to end the show.

HEXONET will be exhibiting at  Domainvermarkterforum and would be more than happy to speak with our current resellers or future customers about our latest products, enhancements and developments. Please feel free to stop by and say hello.

For those of you who will not be able to attend this event, stay tuned as we will post an event summary along with pictures after the show.