Tucows
| Type: | Public |
| Industry: | Internet, Registrar |
| Founded: | Flint, Michigan (1993) |
| Founder(s): | Scott Swedorski |
| Headquarters: | 96 Mowat Avenue, Toronto, ON M6K 3M1, |
| Employees: | ~200 (2010) |
| Website: | http://www.tucowsinc.com/ |
| Twitter: |  @tucows
|
| Key People | |
| Elliot Noss, President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Cooperman, Chief Financial Officer | |
Tucows, an acronym for The Ultimate Collection of Winsock Software, is best known for its popular website directory of shareware, freeware, and demo software packages available for download.
History edit
- 1993 Tucows began in Flint, Michigan. It was originally started by Scott Swedorski as a website to offer software on a freeware or shareware basis.
- 1999 Tucows is accredited by ICANN as a domain name registrar.
- 2000 Tucows launched an OpenSRS platform and began accepting domain name registrations from ISPs and web hosting companies.[2]
- 2001 Tucows merges with Infonautics, Inc., an internet information services company.[3]
- 2006 Tucows acquires NetIdentity. At that time NetIdentity owned 68 percent of all US and European surnames.[4]
- 2007 Tucows acquires ItsYourDomain.com,, a privately held ICANN accredited wholesale registrar offering domain services through a network of over 2,500 affiliates with over 700,000 domains under management.[5]
- 2008 Tucows launches Hover.com. Tucows discontinues ItsYourDomain.com, NetIdentity, and DomainDirect, merges them, and forms Hover.[6]
- 2008 Tucows announces the launch of Butterscotch.com, an online video network with video tutorials to explain internet technology.[7]
- 2010 Tucows announces that it has undertaken a "Dutch auction" to purchase 3.9 million shares of its stock for a $.70 per share. [8]
Business edit
Apart from Tucows.com, Tucows also owns many other sites:
- http://www.opensrs.com/ : A platform for resellers.
- http://www.ispbilling.com/ : Platypus billing system for ISP, WISP and Web Hosting Business.
- http://www.butterscotch.com/ : An online video network with video tutorials to explain internet technology.
- http://www.yummynames.com/ : Domain name registration service.
- https://www.hover.com/ : Domain name registration service.
Products and Services offered by Tucows edit
According to their official website, Tucows provides domain names, email and other services through an extensive reseller network, called OpenSRS. They sell these services directly to consumers and small businesses through a retail group known as Hover.
OpenSRS manages over ten million domain names, millions of mailboxes for a network of over 10,000 web hosts, ISPs, and other resellers around the world.
YummyNames oversees the tens of thousands of domain names owned by Tucows. YummyNames offers domain name consulting services specifically designed for marketers, along with sales and leasing of premium domains from the Tucows portfolio through the YummyNames website.
Platypus Billing System is specifically designed for ISP, WISP and Web Hosting business.
Butterscotch.com is an online video network with video tutorials to explain internet technology.