Webnames.ca
 | |
| Type: | Private |
| Industry: | Registrar |
| Founded: | 2000 |
| Founder(s): | John Demco Stephen Smith Cybele Negris Matthew Lane |
| Headquarters: | Suite 333 - 333 Terminal Ave Vancouver, BC V6A 4C1 |
| Country: | Canada |
| Website: | Webnames.ca |
| LinkedIn: | Webnames |
| Key People | |
| John Demco, Founder Stephen Smith, Founder | |
Webnames.ca s the original domain registrar for the .ca ccTLD. It was first conceived in 1987 by John Demco, who at the time was working as a Computer Facilities Manager at the University of British Columbia, personally administering and registering .ca domain names from his UBC office. He was soon joined by Stephen Smith, who worked in Technology Transfer for UBC, who proposed the building of automated systems and hiring students to help fulfill demand for .ca domain names. These events eventually led to the founding of the official Webnames.ca team. In 2000, Demco and Smith were joined by management consultant Cybele Negris and web and application developer Matthew Lane; together, they assembled a team of thirty and led the company in earning $2.5 million in revenues its first year.[1][2]
Webnames.ca's goal is to connect clients with the necessary tools to create, protect, and promote their online presence, and they lean on bilingual unlimited toll-free technical support, advanced domain management tools, and an array of free services such as domain forwarding, parking, email channeling, and metatag tools for driving traffic.[3]
According to Webnames.ca, more Canadians presently prefer using .ca over .com in numerous notable industries, including online banking (86% vs. 14%), online shopping (85% vs. 15%), and searching for news and current events (85% vs. 15%). The company also prides itself in being 100% Canadian-owned and operated.[2]