Blacknight Blog - Hosting - Domains

New Flavour Advertising Coming To A Newsagent Near You Soon

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 02:10:18 PDT

I'm a strong believer in print advertising. I'm also a strong believer in quality.

If your print ads look dated or messy then I think it reflects badly on your business.

The two new ads we'll be running in some UK magazines are below:

Advert 1 (click to enlarge)

Advert 2 (click to enlarge)

Both designs were done by Alan from Spoiltchild, who is one of the two agencies we've been using for print ads over the last couple of years.

More Cool Foam Stuff

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 04:18:07 PDT

The guys in MadeInHollywood have come up with yet another cool concept.

Remember when we had a few Microsoft mugs to give away? Well one of the problems we ran into was that the mugs weren't packed ie. no boxes or anything, so shipping them was a problem.

MadeInHollywood came up with a pretty cool solution that does two things:

Protects the mug
Promotes our brand

I've taken several photos of the packages which are now on Flickr, but here's a couple to whet your appetite:

Pretty cool concept !

ICANN Sydney Photos

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 08:05:16 PDT

While in Sydney I did my best to take as many photos as possible, though I also discovered the limitations of carrying a big SLR around with me ...

In any case you'll find my shots over on Flickr.

Other people's photos should be viewable on Flickr here if they're tagged with "icann" (I'm not the only person who put photos on Flickr - honest!)

Last Call! Silly Server 2008 Promo

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 08:00:14 PDT

Our Windows sysadmins inform me that there are still one or two Windows packages available on our special promo pricing

Signup now for the Windows 2008 Minimus and pay only 29.95 for the first year (when that offer's gone it's gone.. )

If you're using Windows on your desktop - why not upgrade to Internet Explorer 8?

UPDATE: Offer sold out.

Rod Beckstrom Announced as New ICANN CEO

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:38:00 PDT

At the ICANN board meeting in Sydney this afternoon Mr Rod Beckstrom was confirmed as the new CEO of ICANN. The board passed the resolution with acclamation.

Mr Beckstrom then took the stage to address both the board and the audience. He comes across as a highly intelligent and "clued in" individual with a good understanding of both the technical and political and economic aspects of the internet and how it impacts the world.
During his speech Beckstrom spoke eloquently at length and without any notes, about ICANN's history, current role and future.

ICANN 35 Sees More New Domain Extension Announcements

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:38:24 PDT

Over the course of this week's ICANN meeting in Sydney, Australia, new TLDs (top level domains ie. the bit after the ".") have been "the" topic.

The other evening I was lucky enough to be invited to the official launch of dotfood, which is being promoted by Wolfgang Puck and backed by Minds and Machines (Disclosure: I'm good friends with several of them).

The dotfood is pretty obvious, while other tld projects may need a little more explanation.

So what are we likely to see happen in the next 12 months?

The city TLD projects are not without their little controversies (there being at least two projects for .nyc for example), but by in large they are not as contentious as some of the more commercially motivated ones. They're pushing a "step by step" solution for the new TLDs - more on that later (hopefully!).

The intellectual property lobbyists have been voicing their concerns for months, but even their employers (and clients) have interests in pushing forward with the launch of the new domains.

As an ICANN accredited registrar we hope to be able to work closely with many of the new domain extension operators when they are approved by the ICANN community. The main concern now, obviously, is seeing how much longer this will take.

ICANN Sydney Kicking Off

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 22:27:52 PDT

ICANN Sydney Goodie Bag Contents
Originally uploaded by blacknight

Although the 35th public ICANN meeting, which is being held in the Sydney Hilton, does not officially open until Monday, registration opened earlier today.

I picked up my delegate bag in the last hour or so and was delighted to see our material had made it in successfully!

The Sydney Hilton has been "invaded" with delegates from the four corners of the globe who will be here for the next few days to discuss a wide range of issues including the new TLD process that I've mentioned in the past.

I'll try to post a bit more on the outcome of the various meetings over the next few days.

Down Under Special - ICANN Sydney

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 01:43:33 PDT

Since the ICANN meeting is about to open here in Sydney this weekend and we're one of the sponsors, I thought we'd do a small offer to tie in with the event...

So, from now until just after the end of the meeting (June 28th) we're offering 20% off all annual and 24 month shared hosting plan orders (Minimus, Medius, Maximus)

All you need to do is use the coupon code: ICANN when you place your order!

If you're in Sydney for the meeting take a moment to say "hi".
I'll probably be wearing one a Blacknight tshirt, so I should be easy to spot.

Blacknight Now Microsoft Gold Partner

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 08:46:14 PDT

A couple of months ago we got a nice shiny object from Microsoft, so now I'm delighted to say we got its "big brother".

Blacknight is now officially a Microsoft Gold Partner!

"Gold Certified Partners represent the highest level of competence and expertise with Microsoft technologies and have the closest working relationship with Microsoft."

That's pretty cool!

We've been working closely with Microsoft's Irish offices over the last couple of years and so it's nice to have achieved this level of certification.

While we may originally have started out offering Linux hosting only, over time we realised that we needed to be able to offer both Windows and Linux based solutions to our clientele.

We now offer Windows Server solutions that range from simple shared hosting, through Microsoft Exchange email hosting to fully managed clusters of Windows servers that power mission critical services for large ecommerce sites.

(And if you are a Windows user we would really encourage you to upgrade to Internet Explorer version 8.)

New TLDs For Dummies (Sort of)

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 06:16:01 PDT

There's been a lot of media attention on the new TLD process in the last few days, which is a good thing. Unfortunately most of it is badly written, misleading or simply misinformed.

Let's look at the reality.

To start with, there are currently 20 gTLDs ie. "global" top level domains (extensions). (21 if you include arpa) These are:

com
net
org
info
biz
mobi
name
museum
pro
cat
aero
asia
coop
jobs
tel
travel
edu
gov
mil
int

There are a further 248 ccTLDs (country codes, such as "ie", "im" etc) - I won't list them here!

During the ICANN meeting in Paris the new TLD process was officially started (based on community feedback ie. it didn't come out of nowhere).

What that means in plain English is that ICANN said "let's do this", but they didn't say "how", "when" or "how much".

In reality what has happened so far is that there has been a LOT of discussion and debate and disagreement. There will be more to come in the coming weeks and months as the process moves forward.

First off ...

Can anyone get a TLD?

No.
In order to get a TLD you would need to meet criteria on multiple levels, both financial and technical.
A lot of the media coverage seems to suggest that just about anyone who wants to can run their own domain extension - the reality is that they can't.

How much will it cost?

The application fee is currently set at $185k, however you would really need to have a couple of million in the coffers if you wanted to actually launch a TLD. (As was pointed out to me the costs would be lower for a non-commercial TLD)
The application fee does not cover any legal costs, backend costs, marketing, staff, PR etc., Depending on the TLD you are interested in setting up you might also need to have lobbyists working with you..

When will the new TLDs be available?

At the moment there is no exact date.
ICANN are pushing for opening the application process in Q1 of 2010.
Bearing in mind that applications won't be accepted immediately and that any new TLD operator would need a "ramp up" period, I doubt if there would be any launched until 2011 at the earliest.

What about trademark holders? Will people be able to "squat" on brand names easily?

Trademark holders have been engaged in the process and the IRT report was published recently. In essence TM holders' concerns will need to be addressed as part of the process, though other parties rights should not be ignored.

Who is planning on launching new TLDs?

Nobody knows exactly who will be applying, as some people are in "stealth" mode, but there is a partial list of possible TLDs here.

The applicants fall into several categories:

cultural / special interest groups - like the Basques or Breton
city domains - New York, Berlin, Paris are all pitching for their own tlds (.nyc, .berlin, .paris)
commercial - too many to even begin naming
other - single registrant type applications for example if BMW were to get .bmw

How much will registering one of these new domains cost?

The cost for registering a domain name will depend on the registry operator.

What about IDNs?

Some organisations are trying to launch IDN TLDs (ie. domain extensions that not only support non-Latin characters, but are actually made up of non-Latin characters)

Should small businesses owners be concerned?

In short - no.

Without knowing which new TLDs will launch it's impossible to give sage advice to small business owners at the moment, I would, however, encourage them to "keep an eye open". If a New York based business doesn't register the corresponding .nyc domain, for example, they could end up missing out on a fantastic opportunity. However the same business wouldn't gain much from registering a .paris ...

What about privacy?

This is still a matter that is being debated. If new registry operators were to adopt a whois policy similar to that of .tel (Telnic) which protects private individuals it would be ideal.

What about spam? What about phishing?

Nobody is going to be able to setup a TLD for the sole purpose of abuse. Anyone who tells you otherwise is seriously misinformed. Spam and phishing isn't a TLD specific problem anyway.

If anyone has any other questions or queries they feel need addressing please let us know via the comments and I will do my best to respond.

Blacknight Solutions the Largest Irish Seller of .EU Domain Names

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 04:17:41 PDT

Blacknight Solutions, Ireland's leading internet services company, is proud to announce it is now the largest domain name registrar for .eu domain names in Ireland.

"A .eu domain name is a great way not just for Irish businesses, but all Europeans, to promote themselves throughout Europe and the wider world," said Michele Neylon, CEO of Blacknight Solutions. "Ireland is one of Europe's leading export economies, and Blacknight strongly encourage Europeans to register .eu domains as a great way to express European identity."

"With domain name registrations continuing to defy the global financial crisis, Blacknight is encouraging people thinking of registering a .eu domain name to not delay. Especially as it only costs €5.95 per year."

By registering a .eu domain name, it demonstrates your product or service's European identity. A .eu domain name assists in showcasing products and services to the 500 million Europeans in 27 European countries and out into the wider world.

There are almost three million .eu domain names registered by European businesses and individuals, with any company or organisation based in the European Union and any person living in the EU eligible to register a .eu domain name.

"By offering .eu domain names is part of being able to offer our clients a full range of domain name services, from registration to hosting, making Blacknight a one-stop shop for all a businesses' or individual's requirements."

Blacknight offers advice on domain name and webhosting requirements, with domain name registration services available for all major European countries and further afield throughout the world.

About Blacknight Solutions

Blacknight Internet Solutions Ltd is a 100% Irish-owned company specialising in serving the hosting and co-location needs of businesses, both large and small. Its servers are based in Ireland's leading datacenters: The Data Electronics Group in Clondalkin, Dublin and Interxion, also in Dublin. By partnering with innovative companies, like Parallels and Comodo, Blacknight brings best-of-breed technologies to the Irish market, while maintaining an aggressive pricing model. Blacknight are members of the IIA, ISPAI, RIPE, INEX and Nominet. Blacknight are an ICANN accredited registrar. See www.blacknight.com for more information.

Tshirt Competition - The Aftermath

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 05:06:53 PDT

Sorry for not posting about the tshirt competition - we got a little sidetracked with other things ...

In any case ...

We received a lot of really impressive entries - so many that it proved impossible to chose a single winner, so we "chickened out" and chose three!

The winners we chose were:

Jennifer from Laughing Lion Design
Marcin from RedMillion
Doreen Fahy from Insignia Plus

Some of the designs are already loaded into our SpreadShirt Shop, but we'll also be getting some of the tshirts printed by a local provider (we're also considering bringing a few to Sydney ...)

Thanks to everyone who entered!

Registrant Privacy Should Not Be Ignored

Sun, 31 May 2009 12:36:14 PDT

Image via Wikipedia

I am a strong advocate of the new TLD process that is currently ongoing in the ICANN community and it is something that will be central to the discussions in the upcoming meeting in Sydney.

One of the areas that I feel particularly strong about is privacy for registrants.

If you register a co.uk domain or a .eu domain as a private individual you can choose to hide your contact information in whois. What that means is that your contact details remain private, as long as you are a private individual. If you are a business user, then you should be displaying your contact information, as is mandated by various EU directives (it also makes sense for consumers to know who is behind a website).

Unfortunately in the gTLD world (ie. com/net/org/info/biz) the whois data is not private, so any information you supply during domain registration will be viewable.

Enter .tel.

With the launch of .tel the landscape for gTLDs changed slightly and it is now possible for a private individual to "opt out" of whois when they register .tel domains.

Great news!

So what of the new TLDs? Will they be able to offer private registrants that same level of privacy?

I would have liked to think that they would be able to, especially as several of the new TLD projects are aimed at providing domain name services for cultural and ethnic groups, such as the Basques, Scots and Bretons (to name a few).

Unfortunately the intellectual property advocates would appear to hold their rights to be of greater importance than those of private citizens' right to privacy.

As part of the new TLD process the IRT report, which was published a couple of days ago, looked at the issue of registrant privacy, but basically swept it under the carpet, as it did not fit with their view of how whois should work.

Hopefully the ICANN board and other actors will have the foresight to see past their blinkered recommendations and allow new registry operators to give domain registrants the same rights to privacy as the cctld operators already do.

There is currently a public comment period open on this very subject, so I would urge people to take a few minutes to submit their views.

For a longer rant on why I personally feel that the IRT report is fundamentally flawed see my post here .

Magnet Now Supporting Users On IrishISPTest

Sat, 30 May 2009 06:37:36 PDT

As some people may know we also run Irish ISP Test, which has been providing Irish (and international) broadband users with a speed test service for the last few years.

Earlier this week we were delighted to welcome Magnet's official representative to the site. Hopefully he'll be able to assist users (and potential users) of Magnet's services.

Of course, if any other ISP wants an official representative on the site we'd welcome them.

Bank Holiday Opening Hours

Fri, 29 May 2009 07:01:30 PDT

This Monday, 1st June 2009, is a bank holiday in Ireland. As a result of this our sales and billing teams will be enjoying the nice weather (presuming it lasts!)

The IE Domain Registry will be closed on Monday, so no new registrations will be processed fully - they can, of course, be queued.

Our technical support team will be available to assist our clients like on any other bank holiday Monday