RegistryPro, the official registry operator of the generic TLD .PRO, recently launched a new and and improved version of .PRO.  Registration is NOW OPEN TO ANY PROFESSIONAL who’s credentials are governed by a licensing certification body or jurisdictional licensing entity recognized by the government.

Since the liberalization of the registration eligibility process, much has happened in the .PRO Domain Name Space.  The Registry was recently purchased by Afilias – one of the top leading registry services providers (Read the official Press Release). Soon thereafter, the Registry partnered with GoDaddy.com and held a premium auction for one, two, and three character domain names.

The seven-day event was a smashing success, which saw opening bids as high as $5,000 USD and final single domain sales as high as $40,000 USD (GO.pro).  Other notable .PRO sales from the auction include XXX.pro, which sold for $18,903 (with 125 bids) and Job.pro, selling for $5,456 (with 91 bids).  RegistryPro is planning another auction to be held in the second quarter of 2012 (Read the offcial Press Release). Stay tuned!

HEXONET is in full support of the new direction of the .PRO registry and is also in full support our good friend Karim Jiwani – President of Registry.PRO.  To celebrate the great start of the new .PRO, HEXONET would like to offer two .PRO promotions.

.PRO First Year New Registration Price Promo:

• Promotional Pricing:
  • Reseller:  $7.02* (net: 5.90) USD per Domain/Year
  • Premium: $5.83* (net: 4.90) USD per Domain/Year
  • Platinum: $4.64* (net: 3.90) USD per Domain/Year
• Promotional Pricing Ends: April 30, 2012
• Promotional Price only applies to new one (1) year registrations
• Multi-year registrations are NOT eligible at promotional pricing
• Transfers and renewals are NOT eligible at promotional pricing

.PRO Consolidate Transfer Price Promo:

Until recently, .PRO domains were very expensive due to their restrictive nature and the handful of registrars offering them.  HEXONET is now going to make keeping your .PRO easier and cheaper.  Until April 30th, 2012, transfer your .PRO domains to HEXONET at an amazing discount.  And by moving all your .PRO domains to HEXONET, save the overhead of dealing with multiple registrars!

• Promotional Transfer Price: $9.41* (net: 7.90) USD per Transfer
• Transfer Pricing applies to all Price Classes equally
• Special Transfer Pricing Ends: April 30, 2012

If you are interested in registering larger volumes of .PRO domains, please do not hesitate to contact our Sales Department and allow us to make you an offer (sales@hexonet.net).

* The GROSS price includes Germany’s 19% VAT; many resellers pay the lower NET price without VAT.

CIRA, the Canadian Internet Registration Authority, has just released its 2012 .CA Factbook, a collection of facts and research about the global domain name industry and .CA’s place relative to other registries. It is a comprehensive report delivered online to encourage ‘social sharing’ (i.e. tweetable factoids and excellent graphics). We encourage you to take some time to view this report in its entirety (here). Below are some of the highlights of this report:

• By mid-2011 there were over 214 million domains registered globally and approximately 84 million of these were ccTLDs (country-code Top Level Domains)
• Canada’s .CA is the world’s 14th-largest domain registry, up two spots over the past year
• .CA’s share of the Canadian market has grown consistently and now accounts for approximately 29% of all domains registered in Canada
• Most ccTLDs enjoy a large domestic share advantage over gTLDs (generic Top Level Domains). This is especially true for .NL (Netherlands), .DE (Germany), .SE (Sweden), and .UK (Britain) and although overall market-penetration rates are very low, Brazils’s .BR  (see chart below)
• As suspected Canadians pay far more than most for high-speed Internet access; Canada’ ranking in the areas of broadband speed and price is quite far down the list. Based on OECD data, Canada is #23 on the list! Japan actually leads the pack… a country where one mbps costs less than one-tenth of what it does in Canada.

.CZ – Price Decrease – February 1, 2012

Please note the following price decrease for .CZ domains that will take effect February 1, 2012:

• Reseller: Reduced from 368.90* (net: 310.00) CZK to 351.05* (net: 295.00) CZK
• Premium: Reduced from 315.35* (net: 265.00) CZK to 297.50* (net: 250.00) CZK
• Platinum: Reduced form 255.85* (net: 215.00) CZK to 238.00 (net: 200.00) CZK

.AC, .IO and .SH – Price Decrease – February 1, 2012

Effective February 1, 2012, HEXONET will be reducing the price for .AC, .IO and .SH domains:

• Reseller: Reduced from 36.30* (net: 30.50) GBP to 34.51* (net: 29.00) GBP
• Premium: Reduced from 34.51* (net: 29.00) GBP to 32.73* (net: 27.50) GBP
• Platinum: Reduced form 31.89* (net: 26.80) GBP to 30.11* (net: 25.30) GBP

* The GROSS price includes Germany’s 19% VAT; many resellers pay the lower NET price without VAT.