VeriSign, the global registry operator for .com, .net and other extensions, has released its latest Domain Name Industry Brief. In this brief, VeriSign reviews the state of the domain industry using statistical and analytical methods. As always, HEXONET looks forward to this report since it is packed with interesting data, insights, key performance metrics, and growth opportunities. Below are some of the key highlights.

1) 4.5 million domain names were added to the Internet in the first three months of 2011, representing a 2.2 percent increase over the fourth quarter of 2010. There is now a base of more than 209.8 million domain registrations across all Top-Level Domains (TLDs).

2) The base of country-code Top-Level Domains is now 81.7 millions domains

3) The largest TLDs in terms of base size are .com, .de (Germany), .net, .uk, .org, .info, .nl, eu, .cn and .ru (Russian Federation).

4) Among the 20 largest ccTLDs, the Netherlands, Brazil, Italy, Australia, France, the United States and Canada each exceeded 4 percent quarter over quarter growth.

4) The .com/.net  renewal rate for the first quarter of 2011 was 73.8 percent.

Thank you for making HEXONET domain backordering a huge success. In just under a year, our service has grown tremendously both in terms of users and service features. HEXONET backordering today offers over thirteen (13) TLDs, some rarely available anywhere else, with more on the way.

Most importantly, we have now found an excellent solution for the “public auction” concerns noted by some of our customers. Secure and equitable PRIVATE AUCTIONS are now available for our customers.

Until recently, backordered domains with multiple backorders went to GoDaddy auctions to fairly allocate backorders under contention. Though we talked to many auction providers about PRIVATE AUCTIONS – auctions ONLY available to original backordering clients – we could not find a suitable partner to meet our needs. As a result, over the course of the past year, HEXONET has been developing our own auction platform. And as of Saturday, May 7, 2011, HEXONET launched PRIVATE AUCTIONS through our new auction service PremiumSale.com

WHY PremiumSale.com:

• Fully integrated and automated with HEXONET’s backordering service
• Safe and secure bidding ONLY among original backordering customers of a domain
• Domain allocation in your HEXONET account is automatic after payment has been confirmed
• User driven features – you ask, we implement – new features already scheduled for release!

Again thank you for your patronage of HEXONET’s backordering service. As you see, we are working on building better services and features for our customers all the time. Please watch for more updates to our backordering service, as well as, more enhancements to PremiumSale.com this year.

NIC.AT, the official registry operator of the country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) of Austria, has just published their third NIC.AT report. In previous blog postings, we touched upon the strong growth of the .AT ccTLD. In January 2011, NIC.AT reached a significant milestone surpassing 1,000,000 domains!  Their latest report provides a very unique perspective on how .AT registrations make a direct and very important contribution to the Austrian economy. Domains are not only important for inducing economic growth, but they also play a key role in the development of the Internet in Austria.

Some Interesting Stats that Quantify the Value of the .AT Zone to the Austrian Economy

• The booming .AT zone induces an economic impact of EUR 13.5 million per year – with no let up in sight
• In 2009 every .AT domain generated economic value added of EUR 14.89.
• The study also confirms that an .AT domain creates jobs – hundreds, in fact, since nic.at assumed responsibility for domain registrations. Compared with other industries, .AT domains are a powerful employment and value add multiplier.
• Statistics show that an increase in the domain density of just one additional domain per inhabitant equates to an average gain in per capita GRP of EUR 268. Conversely, a EUR 1,000 increase in gross regional product is equivalent to an additional two domains per 1,000 inhabitants

Why Register an .AT Domain?

• If you run a business that operates in Austria or sells into Austria, an .AT is a must.
• Austria does not limit the registration of .AT only to its citizens, but allows .AT domains to be registered by anyone worldwide.
• Idioms: There is an increasing use of .AT domains to capitalize on catchy domain names that represent certain English expressions / idioms that feature ‘at’ at the end or include ‘at’ in the expression. For example, Form.at and Bureaucr.at  ‘good.at.’  In fact, one of our favorite idiom domain is a US-based company that operates a free online  website builder for restaurants called letseat.at