1&1 Internet, Ltd.: Difference between revisions

'''1&1 Internet, Ltd.''' is a German company that offers web hosting, domain name registration services, e-mail and messaging services, as well as cloud solutions and dedicated servers. It is a subsidiary of [[United Internet AG]]. 1 & 1 Internet's main headquarter is located in Germany and its main office in the United States is located in Pennsylvania and it has a data center in Kansas. The company also maintains offices in Austria, France, The Philippines, Romania, Spain and The United Kingdom.

[[Ralph Dommermuth]] founded the company in 1988 and it started as a marketing company. 1 & 1 Internet's first major and innovative project was to revitalize the online service offerings of BTX, which became successful by using new technology for its advertisements, and changed its name of BTX to T-Online. 1 & 1 also provided content for T-Online and partnered in developing new technologies and services. The company developed the Kits Standard, a core software for intelligent terminals and the decoder or browser for T-Online.<ref>[http://order.1and1.com/xml/order/History;jsessionid=8B0A412F310F9979CA5C087E143E6704.TCpfix142a?__frame=_top History]</ref>

In 1992, [[IBM]] became one of the company's major clients after launching is Customer Care Division to provide support for PC users. By 1998, [[United Internet AG]] went public and the proceeds of the company's Initial Public Offering, worth $60 million, were used to expand 1 & 1 Internet into a group of internet companies by bringing in [[Schlund + Partner]].<ref>[http://order.1and1.com/xml/order/History;jsessionid=8B0A412F310F9979CA5C087E143E6704.TCpfix142a?__frame=_top Initial Public Offering]</ref>

1 & 1 Internet introduced Puretec, an affordable web hosting service, GMX, e-mail and messaging services and domain name registration services during the latter part of 1998. The company also developed its data center. In 2000, the company launched its 1 & 1 e-Shops and e-commerce suites, and by 2001 the company introduced its dedicated server packages. The company's 1 & 1 Web Hosting service received recognition as market leader in Europe.<ref>[http://order.1and1.com/xml/order/History;jsessionid=8B0A412F310F9979CA5C087E143E6704.TCpfix142a?__frame=_top Introduction of New Services]</ref>

The company started to expand its web hosting business internationally by opening an office in the United Kingdom. In 2003, 1 & 1 Internet opened its business in the United States and offered its services free of charge for three years to US customers to explore the company's potential. By 2004, 1 & 1 Internet launched its complete service offerings. In 2008, the company opened its data center in Lenexa, Kansas and it also announced that its 10 millionth domain has been registered. By 2010, 1 & 1 Internet established its business in Poland and expanded its services to Canada in 2011.<ref>[http://press.1and1.com/files/portfolios/1and1_Company_Backgrounder.pdf USA 1 & 1 Internet Backgrounder]</ref>

== 1 & 1 Internet and .Info==

1 & 1 Internet is one of the 18 consortiums comprising [[Afilias]], LLC., the entity delegated by [[ICANN]] to manage the operations of the [[.info]] registry on November 2000.<ref>

[http://www.afilias.info/news/2001/05/03/afilias-discuss-policies-protecting-intellectual-property-new-info-domain www.afilias.com]</ref>.nfo is the second unrestricted top level domain ([[TLD]]) that was introduced, following the [[.com]] TLD. In 2001, 1 & I internet was one of the registrars which offered the real time registration of the .info domain names during its launching in 2001. The company also provided its technical expertise to Afilias to help build a technical strategy to win the bid to operate the .info registry.<ref>[http://press.1and1.co.uk/xml/article?article_id=157 Top Level Domain .INFO Available In 2001 From 1&1 Internet]</ref>

In June and July of 2002, 1 & 1 Internet launched a promotional campaign and offered the .info to registrants for free for two years. In addition, registrants who bought web hosting during that period were eligible for a lifetime .info registration as long as they remain customers of 1 & 1 Internet.<ref>[http://press.1and1.co.uk/xml/article?article_id=169 1&1 Champions .INFO Domain With Free Registration]</ref>

== 1 & 1 Internet and ICANN==

In 2005, 1 & 1 Internet, through its domain expert [[Eric Schaetzlein]], led a group of 30 registrars in objecting the draft proposal by [[ICANN]] to give [[Verisign]] exclusive control to manage the [[.com]] [[gTLD]]. Schaetzlein argued that under the new proposed agreement, Verisign is given the authority to raise domain fees as much as 7 percent per year without any justification. According to him it would negatively affect the competition within the Internet industry and domain registrants worldwide.

1 & 1 Internet developed strategic business partnerships with [[Sedo]], [[Microsoft]], [[Google]], [[City Search]], [[Afilias]], [[Symantec]],