This Monday, a historic decision was reached that will change the Internet as we know it today. ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) approved the expansion of new gTLDs (Top-Level Domains). Currently there are only 22 gTLDs (.com, .net, .org) and 250+ ccTLDs (.uk, .de, .fr etc).  By 2013, it is expected that we may see several hundred new gTLDs. For example,  .Canon, .Hitachi, .NYC, .ECO, .CAR etc.

“ICANN has opened the Internet’s naming system to unleash the global human imagination. Today’s decision respects the rights of groups to create new Top-Level Domains in any language or script. We hope this allows the domain name system to better serve all of mankind,” said Rod Beckstrom, President and CEO of ICANN.  HEXONET would like to congratulate ICANN on reaching this important decision. This decision follows many years of discussion, debate and active engagement with business groups, government and the Internet community.

ICANN’s decision has received huge coverage this week by the mainstream media. It has been very interesting to see the different angles that reporters haven taken on this news.  For example, some reporters have used the headlines like “the shake-up of .com,”   “dotAnything to Take Over the Internet,” and even “So Long dotCom.”   Although these are definitely attention-grabbing headlines, we feel that they are not completely accurate. This leads us to ask our readers for their feedback on a number of interesting questions.

1) What impact will the new gTLDs have on .com?  Most of the domain industry forums and blogs that we regularly follow are abuzz with chatter concerning this. Many will agree that .com (established in 1985 and the largest TLD by far) will always be king.  Many refer to .com as the ‘oceanfront property’ of the Internet.  There is a strong argument to be made that gTLDs introduced to date have actually strengthened the value of .COMs.

2) What will the impact be on other existing gTLDs like .net, .info and .org?

3) And how about ccTLDs?

4) What will the impact be on SEO? This will be very interesting to see how this plays out. However, initial responses are indicating that the impact will not be very significant. According to Catalystonline, a leading search marketing firm, “Search engines like Google and Bing do not differentiate between a .com and a .net suffix, and certainly do not give a .COM any additional ranking power because of it. Where there might be a bit of opportunity would be the use of keywords in the URL itself, however, keyword rich URLS  is only one of many organic ranking factors and are less significant than in the past. SEO requires more than just a great domain name and more TLDs doesn’t necessarily equal more rankings.”

We at HEXONET will be monitoring developments of the new gTLDs very closely.  We encourage you to provide us with your comments to the questions posed above as well as any additional feedback you may have.

Courtesy creative interactive agency Jess3.com

ICANN Approves Historic Change to Internet’s Domain Name System

Plan to Launch New Generic Top-Level Domains Is Approved in Singapore

Singapore… ICANN’s Board of Directors has approved a plan to usher in one of the biggest changes ever to the Internet’s Domain Name System.

During a special meeting, the Board approved a plan to allow an increase in the number of Internet address endings – called generic top-level domains (gTLDs) – from the current 22, which includes such familiar domains as .com, .org and .net.

“ICANN has opened the Internet’s naming system to unleash the global human imagination. Today’s decision respects the rights of groups to create new Top Level Domains in any language or script. We hope this allows the domain name system to better serve all of mankind,” said Rod Beckstrom, President and Chief Executive Officer of ICANN.

New gTLDs will change the way people find information on the Internet and how businesses plan and structure their online presence. Virtually every organization with an online presence could be affected in some way.

Internet address names will be able to end with almost any word in any language, offering organizations around the world the opportunity to market their brand, products, community or cause in new and innovative ways.

“Today’s decision will usher in a new Internet age,” said Peter Dengate Thrush, Chairman of ICANN’s Board of Directors. “We have provided a platform for the next generation of creativity and inspiration.”

The decision to proceed with the gTLD program follows many years of discussion, debate and deliberation with the Internet community, business groups and governments. Strong efforts were made to address the concerns of all interested parties, and to ensure that the security, stability and resiliency of the Internet are not compromised.

ICANN will soon begin a global communications program to tell the world about this dramatic change in Internet names and to raise awareness of the opportunities afforded by new gTLDs. The application process will also use this period to elaborate on what is involved in applying for a new generic top-level domain.

Under the plan, new gTLDs applications to be accepted beginning on January 12.

The decision to launch the new gTLD program raised the curtain on ICANN’s 41^st public meeting, taking place in Singapore. It is just one of the issues that will dominate the weeklong meeting.

On Wednesday, the focus will turn to cyber security with the inauguration in Singapore of a specially built “hardened” facility, the first of three around the world that are helping to secure the domain names of all countries.

The Singapore meeting will continue through the week and conclude on Friday with a public meeting of the Board of Directors.

Source: http://www.icann.org

VeriSign, the global registry operator for .com, .net and other extensions, has released its 3rd quarter Domain Name Industry Brief (DNIB). 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.  HEXONET would like to provide a synopsis of the this important report:

1) Major Threshold is Broken!

The total number of domains registered worldwide has surpassed the 200 million barrier. There are now more than 201.8 million domain names registered across all Top Level Domains (TLDs), an increase of 3.8 million domain names or 2 percent just over this past second quarter. Registrations have grown by 13.3 million, or 7% over the past year.

2) ccTLDs, a Big Piece of the Pie:

ccTLDs (country-code Top Level Domains) now account for approximately 40% of all global domains. There are now 79.2 million ccTLDs. This segment continues to grow year-over-year. There are more than 240 ccTLD extensions globally, with the top ten ccTLDs compromising 60 percent of all ccTLD registrations. And since HEXONET offers one of the widest selection of ccTLDs in the industry, our resellers are well positioned to profit from the explosion of ccTLDs.  In fact, our resellers have successfully used ccTLDs to not only “anchor-in” existing clients, but to also attract new ones.

The Russian Federation, Brazil and Australia have recently join Poland and France as top 20 ccTLDs exceeding 20 per cent year-over-year growth.

3)  How Many Zeros Make up a Quadrillion??

A very interesting note in this report was VeriSign’s quarterly metric on the average Domain Name System (DNS) query load.  This past quarter the average DNS query load was just over 66 billion queries per day or 23 percent more than the same quater in 2009.  The steady and unabating growth in DNS queries has prompted VeriSign, through their Project Apollo, to look at expanding DNS query capacity from todays 4 trillion query cap to an amazing 4 quadrillion queries per day by 2020.  That is 24 zeros!!

4) The “Decade of the International Internet”

The report also takes a look at how the Internet has truly gone globally over the last decade. Over the past ten years, the Internet has expanded by over 500 percent with most of the growth in the developing countries. For instance, Africa had less than five million Internet users a decade ago, but has more than 100 million users today.  And Asia, which had approximately the same number of users as Europe or North America back then, today has more than both continents combined!  According to VeriSign, “What these trends tell us is that over the past decade the Internet has internationalized its audience and provided a platform for services beyond those targeted for speakers of Latin-based languages. Today, the English-speaking world makes up less than 40 percent of Internet users.”

The importance and influence of IDNs (Internationalized Domain Names) was noted as a strong factor in the growth of the Internet globally. In fact, over the past year ICANN has approved several new ccTLD IDNs including IDNs for the countries of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, China and Russia.  In 2011, even more ccTLDs IDNs are expected to made public.  HEXONET resellers and customers continue to have an edge as we are typically one of the first, if not the first, registrars to offer these newly minted IDNs.