Blacknight Blog

Blacknight IPv6 - ICANN Folllwup

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 04:04:53 -0500

As I mentioned previously, I was asked to give a presentation on IPv6, or more specifically, our experience with deploying IPv6, at the recent ICANN meeting in Paris.

Leo Vegoda has posted an excellent followup of the session on the ICANN blog, summarising the speakers' various comments and thoughts.

While we may have some experience with ipv6 the session in Paris definitely opened my eyes to a whole set of issues that we will need to address moving forward.

Show Us Some Love - Testimonials Wanted

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:34:23 -0500

We're currently putting what I hope (and even pray!) are the final touches to our new website.

One of the things we are very very interested in updating is the testimonials page ie. the place where people tell us how wonderful we are!

Seriously. If you like our services and are happy to let others know email me directly (michele@blacknight.com) and we'll put it up on the new site.

Please don't ask me to write your testimonials (it's happened before!) We're only interested in genuine ones.

Thanks!

Latest iPhone Firmware Includes More Domain Extensions - Snubs DotMobi

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:06:51 -0500

Image by el frijole via Flickr

I don't have an iPhone, in case you were wondering. You probably weren't, but I felt I had to share this vital piece of information before saying anything else!

According to The Unofficial Apple Weblog (via), the latest firmware release for both the iPhone and iPod Touch includes support for other domain extensions; namely .net, .edu and .org.

The inclusion of .edu is an odd one. Either they're targetting a LOT of US students or there's something very odd going on. What's odder still is that they've completely excluded dotMobi (.mobi) as well as .info and .biz. Surely adding support for .mobi would have been more logical on a mobile device than adding .edu?

When Should You Register a Domain?

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 06:06:45 -0500

Image via Wikipedia

I am a self-confessed domain addict. I don't hide it.

I personally own a very eclectic mix of domains including a .kz (Kazakhstan), but I know that that kind of madness isn't for everyone!

While catching up on RSS feeds this morning I came across a short piece about Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. While most of the press are focussing on their newborns the writer in question had spotted that Ms Jolie, or someone acting for her, had registered a bunch of domains related to the twins.

That's good going!

It's never too early to register a domain name. Registering your child's name, for example, means that they'll have their own little slice of cyberspace when they're ready for it.

In the case of the Jolie - Pitt babies it's a little different, as they were bound to attract plenty of online interest for the next few years, so registering the domains now will save them a lot of headaches (and money) further down the line.

So when should you register a domain?

When you want to. When you can. When you feel that you should.

Worst case scenario, your idea doesn't blossom and grow and you let the domain expire.

VPS Hosting Basic FAQ

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 09:39:46 -0500

Since we launched our VPS hosting a couple of months ago we've been working on adding extra documentation both internally to our wiki and externally to our knowledgebase and websites.

We've recently added a short FAQ for VPS clients which hopefully addresses some of the questions people have.

We'll be adding more content as we can, but if there are any areas that people would like us to focus on please let us know.

I've also added a new VPS section to our forum

Feedback, as usual, is welcome

Business Blogging in Sunday Business Post

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:43:54 -0500

I spoke to a Sunday Business Post journalist a couple of weeks ago about blogging and business blogging specifically.

This month's Computers In Business supplement features an in depth article where they spoke to a wide variety of people including TJ McIntyre, who was able to provide a legal angle:
Brave new blogging world

Dot Org To Implement DNS SEC

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 07:59:59 -0500

One of the things to come out of the recent ICANN meeting in Paris may have slipped "under the radar" due to the media attention for new TLDs.

Pir, the organisation that manages the dotOrg registry (.org) was granted permission to implement DNSSEC.

DNSSEC, in simple terms, adds a level of security to DNS and can help prevent spoofing. While the implementation of DNSSEC has been discussed at length by many people over the last couple of years it's only with PIR's move that we may see it becoming a reality.

Standards Compliant Browsers Cost Less

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 09:56:14 -0500

Web developers and designers hate dealing with odd browser issues, so the more people that use standards compliant browsers the better.

In the case of Internet Explorer 6 it seems that people have to do lots of hacking around to get it to "play nice".

Check out Save the developers

Blacknight Accredited for co.nl

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 06:54:13 -0500

Blacknight Solutions, Ireland's leading internet services company, is now accredited to sell .co.nl domain names. By registering a .co.nl domain name, for example myname.co.nl, registrants have the opportunity to reach a wider audience, particularly in The Netherlands.

Domain names with the .co.nl extension can be registered by anyone anywhere, unlike the .nl country code that requires a contact point in The Netherlands.

"Becoming an accredited registrar for .co.nl domain names allows us to give our clients an even wider range of options for registering domain names", said Blacknight CEO Michele Neylon.

"It extends the level of service we can offer our clients, making Blacknight Solutions a one-stop shop for all a businesses' internet hosting and domain name requirements."

With over three million .nl domain names already registered, obtaining your preferred .nl domain name can be difficult, however with this new extension, it will be much easier.

To ensure our clients get the .co.nl domain of your choice, Blacknight Solutions suggests contacting us as soon as possible to discuss requirements.

The .co.nl domain name extension was launched at the ICANN meeting in Paris held from 23-26 June, 2008. To ensure every person and every company has a fair chance to register their own .co.nl domain name, there will be a Sunrise process, as outlined below.

During this Sunrise period, every owner of a .nl and/or a valid trademark registration has the exclusive opportunity to register the international variant of their domain name within the defined Sunrise periods:
Sunrise 1: Grandfather period - commencing date Q3 2008
During the Grandfather period, owners of a .nl have an exclusive right to register their .co.nl as well. This implies that a registrant owning mydomain.nl, will be the only entity that has the opportunity to register mydomain.co.nl during the Grandfather period.

Sunrise 2: Registered Trademarks - commencing date Q4 2008
Domains that were not registered during Sunrise 1 (Grandfather) can still be claimed by trademark owners during the second phase. These applications will also be reviewed by a Verification Agent.

Multiple eligible applications of the same .co.nl name received during the 2nd Sunrise period will be assigned on a first come first served basis.

Landrush/ Go live - commencing date Q1 2009
In the Landrush phase, application requests can be made by the general public without restriction. They will be accepted on a first comes first served basis.

(Mentioned dates are merely indicative. Specific dates will be communicated two months before the actual launch)

Irish Communications Regulator Seeking Feedback on dotIE

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 04:46:47 -0500

The Irish communications regulator, Comreg, has opened a public consultation period about dotIE (.ie), which I mentioned last week.

This follows on from a study conducted by Comreg into stakeholder attitudes towards the IE namespace and the current registry operator, IEDR.

We get a lot of people complaining to us about the IE domain registration process, so now is the time for them to make their opinions known.

You can download the consultation document and submit your feedback via email or more "traditional" methods.

I'll be submitting a detailed set of answers to Comreg before the August deadline.

ICANN Paris - New TLDs, ipv6, Dottel and dotme

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 08:55:27 -0500

Last week's ICANN meeting proved to be incredibly busy, both in terms of number of attendees and the number of announcements made.

From our point of view there were a number of topics that are relevant and important to our business and I'll be posting about some of these in the coming weeks both here and on my personal domain blog.

Last Thursday morning I was on the panel for a workshop on IPv6. There were four of us on the panel talking about our experiences from very different angles. If nothing else I definitely feel that I learnt something from it.

Of course the big announcement of the week was in relation to new Gtlds. Unfortunately a lot of people seem to have cherrypicked from the announcements and now seem to think that all sorts of crazy domain extensions will now be available. They won't. (I'll follow up on this over the next few days).

As John mentioned on his blog, ICANN have finally taken steps to mitigate "domain tasting". It won't stop it outright, but it should curtail it quite a bit. It will also have the handy side-effect of stopping Network Solutions' practice of "holding" domains for "clients", as they won't be able to do it without incurring a fee.

The Afilias team were at ICANN Paris in full force and held a drinks reception to celebrate the launch of dotme (Montenegro).

Closer to home (relatively speaking), Telnic announced their launch timeline. They've also started rolling out demo applications so that both users and developers can get a "feel" for the things you can do with a dottel domain (.tel).

The next few months should be an interesting time for the domain industry!

ICANN Meeting Opens In Paris

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 04:44:30 -0500

ICANN's 32nd International public meeting opened in Paris yesterday morning.

There are several hot topics on the agenda and judging by the crowds of people at last night's welcome cocktail, attendance levels are good.

If you're interested in finding out more head over to the meeting's official site where you can find details of meetings, talks, presentations and more.

The areas that are bound to attract attention this week are quite diverse and encompass topics such as new TLDs, the launch of .tel (dottel), Whois (again!), registry failover, the registrar agreement and both IDNs and IPv6. (Can you say "acronym hell"??)

Of course no ICANN meeting would be complete without an equally busy social agenda and last night's welcome cocktail at La Defense (photo above) was no different. Wednesday's gala dinner is being held in yet another famous Parisian landmark (more on that Thursday I hope!)

Web 2 Ireland Logo Competition Winner Announced

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 07:17:46 -0500

Image via Wikipedia

We're pleased to announce that Alan O Rourke of SpoiltChild design was the winner of the recent Web 2.0 Ireland logo competition.

Blacknight, Microsoft and PollDaddy provided prizes, with us offering a year's VPS hosting to the winner!

We'll be liasing with Alan to ensure he gets to make full use of his prize :)

Live Chat Now Available!

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 05:57:14 -0500

We've been toying with the idea of providing "live chat" on our site for quite some time.

We finally found a software vendor whose product fit our criteria, so we're now offering live chat on our VPS hosting site.

All conversations are routed over 128 bit SSL, so your privacy is assured.

We would, of course, ask that people not handover credit card details etc., via the live chat system.

Staff from sales, technical support and accounts are available from 8 am to 6 pm Monday to Friday to answer your queries.

Of course if anyone has any feedback to give us either here or via email (management@blacknight.com) we'd love to hear it.

Upcoming Events - Busy Times

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 04:26:33 -0500

Image via Wikipedia

The next couple of weeks look like they are going to be quite busy.

Thursday evening sees the Firefox party in Dublin, which is sponsored by ourselves, PutPlace, Wubud and BT.

If you're in Paris this week there's a domainer meeting being held prior to the ICANN meeting. It looks like quite a few people will be attending both events, as they are in the same venue.

Saturday is BarCamp Belfast.

And of course there's ICANN in Paris which officially starts the following Monday.