Universal Domain Registry
| Type: | Privately Held |
| Industry: | Domain Registry |
| Founded: | July 2014 |
| Founder(s): | Maren Leizaola, Thomas Charlesworth |
| Headquarters: | 806 Kam Chung Building, 54 Jaffe Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong |
| Country: | Hong Kong |
| Website: | udr.hk.com domains.hk.com |
| Facebook: | UDR Facebook |
| Twitter: |  @UDRegistryHK
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Universal Domain Registry (UDR) is a private domain name registry for second-level ccTLDs in Hong Kong.[1] Launched in July 2014, UDR is the only other domain registry for Hong Kong specific domain names apart from HKIRC. UDR distributes domain names to businesses, organizations, and individuals in Hong Kong through its network of registrars and their resellers.[2]
History
UDR was founded with the vision of increasing the choices of domain names available to all the people of Hong Kong, by allowing registrations under a new set of Hong Kong focused domain names. Domain names under .hk.com were already in use since March 2000 under a closed registrar system maintained by SARNic Ltd.[3] After SARNic ceased operation in mid-2013, UDR took over the maintenance of the .hk.com domain name registry, adding to its existing portfolio of Hong Kong focused namespaces, which includes .hk.org, .ltd.hk, and .inc.hk.[4]
Services
UDR provides domain registry services for the second level CcTLD .hk.com, .hk.org, .ltd.hk, and .inc.hk:[5]
- Maintenance of registration and administrative data
- Generation of zone files containing name server addresses
- Accreditation of registrars to sell domain names and monitoring of performance
- Sales support to channel registration traffic to registrars[6]
- Provision of technical and infrastructure support to registrars
- WHOIS service to supply the public with registration data[7]
Usage of Domain Names
UDR’s states its intentions for the use of its second level ccTLDs as follows:[8]
- .hk.com – for commercial entities and private use
- .hk.org – for not-for-profit entities and private use
- .ltd.hk – for limited liability HK companies
- .inc.hk – for HK companies incorporated elsewhere