Digital Branding Blog

Melbourne IT Acquires VeriSign Inc's Global DBMS Business

2008-04-30T20:50:16Z

Melbourne IT announced the acquisition of the assets of VeriSign Inc's global Digital Brand Management Services business effective May 1, 2008.

The acquisition will significantly boost Melbourne IT's scale and market share in the digital brand protection and performance market. The VeriSign DBMS business and Melbourne IT's existing Corporate Brand Services division will be integrated to create the global number one digital brand services company. The combined business will help enterprise clients to manage, monitor, protect and optimise the performance of their digital brands.

The full press release is available at: http://corporate.melbourneit.com.au/news/newsfile.php?docid=269

ME Sunrise Begins May 6

2008-04-30T20:42:15Z

DBMS is now accepting applications for the new Montenegro .ME ccTLD. The Sunrise period for trademark owners starts on May 6, 2008 and extends through May 16, 2008 .ME is expected to be in high demand for both personalized web addresses and for businesses. The extension will enable the creation of numerous catch phrases for marketing purposes, and companies are advised to register early to reserve key domain names.

Due to the expected demand, customers are encouraged to submit applications as far in advance of the Sunrise application deadline as possible. Please note; orders that are placed in advance of the registry processing period will be indicated with an "On Hold" status In the DBM. The status will update once the registry begins processing applications. Contact your client service manager for special pricing for this in-demand domain name.

The complete .ME roll-out schedule is as follows:

May 6 to May 16: General Sunrise Period. During this time, anyone with a trademark is eligible to apply for a .ME domain name. Applicatons must be in by May 16. Five year minimum registration is required.
May 20 to June 6: Sunrise auctions will begin for names that received multiple applications. .ME domain names that receive only one application will be awarded.
June 6 to June 24: Landrush for the general public. Anyone who doesn't have a trademark, but is interested in a specific .ME domain name, can apply during this period. Two year minimum registration required.
June 26 to July 15: Names for which there was only one application during the Landrush Period are allocated. Landrush auctions will begin for names that received multiple applications.
July 17: Open Registration. Domain names are registered on a first-come, first-served basis. Two year minimum registration is required.

VERISIGN ANNOUNCES DBM 11.0

2008-04-04T23:30:40Z

New Features and Functionality
DBM 11.0 is scheduled to be released during the week of April 7. The new release adds numerous features and functionality to the Digital Brand Manager (DBM Portal) to improve the efficiency of domain name management.

Many enhancements in DBM 11.0 are the direct result of collaboration with customers, incorporating key features identified during the January 2007 Usability Group Roundtable. In the new release users will have the ability to create custom extension lists and search domains from the portfolio, and modify request home pages to meet specific needs.

Key New Features:
Usability Enhancements for domain and request search.
Improved Reverse WHOIS lookup to enable the discovery of domain names pertaining to specified search criteria.
Order Cancellation is now handled directly through the portal providing more control of orders.
Automated Password Reset.
Custom Extension Search allows users to create unique extension subsets for domain registration.

DBM 11.0 implementation will be done in phases and in most cases will be seamless to DBM users. Should a DBM session be in progress during the transition, the session will be interrupted and the user will simply need to log back into the system.

DBM User Training
VeriSign will be hosting three Web Training Sessions to familiarize users with the new features in DBM 11.0. All system users are encouraged to attend one of the sessions. Refer to the Product Update email for details regarding access to the training sessions

Session 1: Thursday April 10, 2008 at 12:00PM (9:00am PST)
Session 2: Monday April 14, at 4:00pm PST
Session 3: Tuesday April 15, 2008 at 9:00am EST (1:00pm GMT)

Malaysia -.MY Second Level Doman Names Available for Public Registration

2008-03-21T18:53:27Z

MYNIC Berhard announced the opening of the .MY domain names to the public on March 25, 2008, on a first-come, first-served basis for all Malaysian entities and individuals. Applicants may apply for any number of second level domain names during the registration, and will need to submit supporting documents as required by the MYNIC terms and conditions.

Your VeriSign Digital Brand Management Services client services representative is available to assist with this or other domain registration needs, or for additional information related to this announcement.

.ASIA Go-Live Begins March 26, 2008

2008-03-19T18:56:43Z

The .ASIA registry will be entering the Go-Live, first-come, first-served registration process on March 26, 2008. There are expected to be up to one million registrations for this domain name within the first year of operations.

.PR Registry Announces New IDN Character Set Support

2008-03-17T19:15:22Z

On March 14th, the NIC.pr registry announced starting support for Portuguese, Spanish German and French character sets. VeriSign Digital Brand Management Services can process customer requests for these newly announced IDN's. More Details

.CR - .2nd Level Domains are Now Available

2008-03-14T17:54:13Z

NIC-Internet Costa Rica announced on March 1, 2008 that the ".CR", 2nd level domain registration is available as of March 3rd. There is no Sunrise or Land Rush period for registration. Current third level domain holders will be given priority rights for 90 days (until May 31, 2008) to register an equivalent second level domain.

.RS - Registrations Now Available

2008-03-12T22:27:50Z

The Serbian National Register of Internet Domains announced the availability of ".RS" domain names. The current ".YU" domains will continue to be supported through September 30, 2009. There is no sunrise period for the; however current ".YU" domains have been reserved for 6 months under the ".RS" extension to provide current domain holders priority registration. New registrations are unlimited and unrestricted when registered through VeriSign Digital Brand Management Services, and available on a first-come, first-served basis.

.ASIA Land Rush Begins February 20

2008-02-15T14:23:53Z

The Land Rush Period begins on February 20, followed by the Go-Live, DotAsia's first-come, first-served registration process on March 26, 2008. To date, the registry has already received over 30,000 application requests during their Sunrise phases and DotAsia expects up to one million registrations within the first year of operations.

The Land Rush phase requires VeriSign customers to have a registration order pending in their Digital Brand Manager (DBM) Portal by March 7. Orders placed or approved after March 7 will be processed during the DotAsia Go-Live on March 26. No additional supporting materials will be required for the Land Rush or Go-Live. Domain names receiving more than one application during the Land Rush period will be auctioned between the applicants.

Reminder: Jan. 23 Deadline for .ASIA Applications

2008-01-07T20:00:49Z

As a reminder, the deadline to submit requests for Sunrise applications to VeriSign for .ASIA for Sunrise Phase 2B (General Registered Marks), Sunrise Phase 2C (Extended Protection) and Sunrise Phase 3 (Registered Entity Names) is January 23, 2008. This provides brand owners with the last chance to protect their brand names
in .Asia before the Landrush begins on February 20, 2008. DotAsia has appointed the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC) as the global official dispute resolution provider to handle disputes and challenges arising out of the launch of the .ASIA domain.

DOMAINfest Global Speakers Include John Batelle, Frank Schilling

2008-01-02T21:25:51Z

CircleID reports that the agenda for the second annual DOMAINfest Global conference, which is scheduled for January 21-23, 2008 in Hollywood, CA, has been finalized. A track for experienced domain industry professionals covers subject matter ranging from Aftermarket and Appraisals to Maximizing Revenue from Local Advertisers. Beginning and intermediate-level sessions focus on sessions that include a Domain Industry Bootcamp and Branding for Gold, Balancing Hype and Reality. The conference will also feature a panel presentation from noted industry leaders on best practices for brand management online.

A number of general interest sessions will bring attendees together to discuss top-level issues relevant to the industry as a whole, such as Domain Names and the Law: What's at Stake and Understanding the Big Picture, which focuses on macro-level online trends and how they will impact domain name values over time.

John Battelle, an Internet visionary, bestselling author and CEO of Federated Media, and Peter Hillary, an experienced mountain climber and adventurer as well as motivational speaker, will headline the event. Domain investor Frank Schilling will hold the first Domainer Town Hall Meeting and discuss the state of the industry and answer participants' questions.

Latest Domain Name Industry Brief Reports 146 Million Registrations

2007-12-20T01:36:02Z

The latest issue of the VeriSign Domain Name Industry Brief reports that the third quarter of 2007 ended with a total base of 146 million domain name registrations worldwide across all of the Top Level Domain Names (TLDs). This represents a six percent growth over the second quarter and 31 percent growth over the same quarter last year. The total base of ccTLD registrations was 54.6 million, a six percent increase quarter over quarter and a 38 percent increase year over year. Reviewing the total base of registrations in both global TLDs and ccTLDs, .COM has the highest base with the next two spots remaining unchanged with .DE (Germany) and .NET rounding out the top three. This quarter, .CN (China) moved solidly to the fourth spot. This leaves the fifth spot to be shared by .UK (United Kingdom) and .ORG with approximately the same number of total domain name registrations.

.ASIA Sunrise Continues Through January 31

2007-12-20T01:29:34Z

The DotAsia registry has extended the deadline for Sunrise Phase 2B (General Registered Marks), Sunrise Phase 2C (Extended Protection) and Sunrise Phase 3 (Registered Entity Names) through January 31, 2008. VeriSign will accept Sunrise applications through January 23, 2008, to ensure that all requests are submitted before the registry deadline.

VeriSign Now Offering Registrations for Tokelau Islands (.TK)

2007-12-20T01:28:56Z

Registrations for domain names for Tokelau, .TK, are now available via VeriSign Digital Brand Management Services. The minimum registration period is for three years. The DotTK registry is a joint venture of the Government of Tokelau, its communication company Teletok and BV Dot TK, a privately held company.

Sunrise Period for Second-Level Peruvian Domain Names Ends December 31 (.PE)

2007-12-20T01:28:00Z

The Sunrise Period for second-level .PE registrations will be open through December 31. During this period, all third-level .PE registrants can request a corresponding second-level .PE domain name. All applications will be approved based on an existing third-level domain. An IDN reservation period will be open from November 12 - January 12. Third-level registrants will be able to reserve the internationalized version of both the second-level and third-level domain name during this time.