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DotBERLIN

From ICANNWiki
Type: Public
Industry: Internet
Founded: Germany, 2005
Founder(s): Dirk Krischenowski

Alexander Schubert

Ownership: 90 shareholders
Headquarters: Akazienstr 28

10823 Berlin

Country: Germany
Website: dot.berlin
Blog: dotberlin
Facebook: DotBerlin Facebook
LinkedIn: DotBerlin LinkedIn
Twitter: @dotberlin
Key People
Dirk Krischenowski, Founder & CEO

Katrin Ohlmer, CEO

dotBERLIN GmbH & Co. KG is a company administering a new GeoTLD that creates a new regional domainspace through identification with the city of Berlin. The company successfully applied within ICANN for the creation and allocation of the .berlin name space, through the implementation of the new gTLD process. The company predicts that in the future, private individuals, companies, and organizations will register their Internet addresses with .berlin domains; such as painter.berlin, zoo.berlin, etc.[1][2] The .berlin domain is meant to represent the community of Berlin, which distinguishes it from the other international Internet addresses. The .berlin domain was introduced into the Root Zone on 8 January 2014.[3]

dotBERLIN's mission is to give Berlin identity to Berliners, their organizations, their companies and their locations by supporting them with the .berlin domain name.[4][5]

Advisory Board[edit | edit source]

dotBERLIN has an advisory board that fulfills a consultative and supporting role for the company. It is necessary for approval activities, and the overall operation of the TLD. The board brings together members with a variety of experience and backgrounds who are dedicated to anchoring the TLD to its city in a socially responsible manner, and carrying out their business fairly and transparently.[6]

Other Geo-Top-Level-Domains[edit | edit source]

dotBERLIN has been the inspiration for starting .nyc and .paris domain names for New York and Paris respectively.[7][8][9] Tokyo, Sydney and Barcelona also followed the suit. It has been said that dotBERLIN has done the most of any proposed GeoTLD to further their cause and prepare their proposal and implementation process.[10]

DotBerlin's Vision[edit | edit source]

  • Helping Berliners to communicate more efficiently, thereby strengthening the community feeling; paving the way for development and innovation among the Berliners.
  • Local, available, and concise addresses; creating a common identity for institutions, companies, and citizens.[11][12]

DotBERLIN & ICANN[edit | edit source]

The company was founded in 2005; at that time ICANN's new gTLD application process was expected to begin in 2009.[13] This process took longer to develop and was finally approved in June, 2011. Because of this delay, and the fact that dotBERLIN was prepared for a 2009 launch, they have been asking for special consideration from ICANN in the delegation process. The fact is that despite dotBERLIN's efforts and plans, ICANN could always award the proposed .berlin extension to another company. Thus, DotBERLIN has asked that "One extra point in the Community Priority Evaluation should be given if the organization behind an application was already established before the approval of the new gTLDs program by the ICANN Board on 26 June, 2008, or before the first communicated application window in March, 2009".[14]

The reason they are asking for such special consideration could be due to the fact that specific threats to their proposal have appeared. That is, Minds + Machines has launched a Unite Berlin initiative, which is itself lobbying for the .berlin namespace, some 6 years after dotBERLIN had already declared its intentions.[15]

However, the delegation of a GeoTLD requires government approval, and while both Unite Berlin and DotBERLIN seemed to be competing for that approval for some time, it was only DotBERLIN that applied for the TLD, demonstrating their successful partnership with the local government.

Limited Partners[edit | edit source]

Over 100 organizations or individuals tied to the city of Berlin are partners or sponsors of the .berlin initiative;[16] these include:

Registrars and ISPs[edit | edit source]

Others[edit | edit source]

  • Lotto Berlin
  • Berlin guild Association
  • Arbeitsgemeinschaft City e.V. (www.berlin-citywest.com)
  • Several Craftsmen Guilds
  • BFB Branchen-Fernsprechbuch GmbH (www.bfb.de / www.gelbeseiten.de)
  • Berlin Tourism Marketing GmbH (www.btm.de)
  • Physicians
  • Several Hotels
  • Lawyers
  • Others

Awards[edit | edit source]

dotBERLIN GMbH & Co. KG was awarded the ECO Internet Award[17] by the German Internet Industry in June, 2007.

References[edit | edit source]

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