.top
| Status: | Delegated |
| Registry Provider: | Applicant-run Registry |
| Type: | Generic |
| Category: | Lifestyle |
More information: 
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.top is a GTLD that was proposed in ICANN's New gTLD Program. The applicant and now Registry Operator is Jiangsu Bangning Science & Technology Co.,Ltd..[1] The application succeeded and .top was delegated to the Root Zone on the 3rd August 2014.[2]
Application Details[edit | edit source]
The following is excerpted from the applicant's response to question #18:
"Jiangsu Bang Ning Technology Co., Ltd (“the Applicant”) was founded in 2008 with the mission of providing high technology Internet solutions and value added services for the governments, companies and individual customers.
Currently, it is at the forefront of data storage and product development with respect to the Cloud services. By the end of 2011, its cloud data storage technology quality is ranged number 1 in the Eastern China district, number 4 in China and has progressively expanded internationally.
As of 2010, the Applicant’s revenue is RMB 10,260,592 on 22% gross margin. The Applicant has about 10 patents granted and has 20 patent pending expected to be granted in the next 2 years. Registrar service is one of the Applicant’s core business, with it operating the website www.bizxun.com and www.55hl.com. The Applicant obtained ICANN accreditation, and received award from CNNIC as the Golden Registrar.
The Applicant is applying for the top level domain name “.top”. For ease of reading, “top” will be referred to as “STRING” in the remaining part of this application.
The vision for “.STRING” is to be connected namespace for all companies and individuals that want to attract and serve selective groups of the Chinese internet population and help promote innovation, participation and collaboration among them. . To the Chinese user, “top” with its literal meaning is synonymous to the Chinese characters “排行榜” (which means “ranking” in English). It is used commonly in daily conversations when discussing about ranking of things like industries, entertainment and cities etc. The average Chinese user has a craze for rankings and competitions and one can almost find a reason to compete and rank for any type of thing or phenomenon. Each quarter or year, various rankings will be released to commemorate the best players in various industry sectors.
For example, Baidu, the most popular search engine in China, via the link http:⁄⁄top.baidu.com , displays the various rankings that it tracks. In total, there are about 90+ different categories. Sina online, the most popular online portal in China also uses a similar named link http:⁄⁄top.sina.com.cn to rank online games. Tudou.com, one of the leading online video sharing website, ranks it most popular videos via the link http:⁄⁄www.tudou.com⁄top.
“.STRING” objective is to make it easier for the Chinese Internet population to access and use the Internet to brand themselves and be associated with a premium domain name, Using the proposed “.STRING”, registrants would be privileged to using a “.TOP” domain name for the purpose of promotion and outreach.
..
A specialized space for rankings The “.STRING”, with its literal meaning “TOP” will be used as a specialized space for ranking and other competition purposes. By using the proposed “.STRING”, registrants would be privileged to using a “.TOP” domain name for the purpose of promotion and outreach. Internet users accordingly, would know the domain names indicating the top players, hence can have a trust when visiting the domain names.
Trust and Secure: When interacting with “.STRING” domain names, Internet users will be sure that the registered domain names are managed by the top players thus is trustworthy. Naturally Internet users will also have faith in the services using the “.STRING” domain names.
Provide a complete description of the applicant’s intended registration policies in support of the goals listed above.
In summary, the registration policy for “.STRING” TLD will be designed as such to reflect the mission and purpose of this specialized domain:
Registrant eligibility Requirement
“.STRING” can be registered by prospective registrant who is listed on the official ranking list of the industry or who is the producer or publisher of a ranking list."[3]
Contract Signed[edit | edit source]
On the 20th March 2014, .top received a Registry Agreement signed by ICANN for .top after passing the Initial Evaluation.[4]
Delegation and Availability[edit | edit source]
.top was delegated to the Root Zone of the DNS on the 3rd August, 2014, completing the successful application for the string.[5]
Sunrise[edit | edit source]
The Registry announced that the Sunrise Period for the string would begin on the 15th October 2014, and end on the 15th November 2014. [6]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Reveal Day 13 June 2012 – New gTLD Applied-For Strings
- ↑ ICANN delegated strings Retrieved 5th December 2014
- ↑ Application Download, gTLDresult.ICANN.org Retrieved 21 Feb 2013
- ↑ Registry Agreements, ICANN.org Retrieved 05 December 2014
- ↑ ICANN delegated strings Retrieved 5th December 2014.
- ↑ TLD Startup Information, ICANN.org Retrieved 5th December 2014