Team Internet Group
 | |
| Type: | Privately Held |
| Industry: | Registrar and 3rd level registry |
| Founded: | London, England, 1995 |
| Founder(s): | Robert Pooke, Steve Dyer |
| Headquarters: | 35-39 Moorgate, London, EC2R 6AR England |
| Country: | UK |
| Employees: | 25 [1] |
| Website: | centralnic.com dotbrandsolutions.com |
| Facebook: | CentralNic Facebook |
| Twitter: |  @CentralNic
|
| Key People | |
| Robert Pooke, Founder & Executive Ben Crawford, CEO Steve Dyer, founder Joe Alagna, GM of NA markets Gavin Brown, CTO Mar Perez, Head of Business Development Joe Chui, TLD Account Director Lexi Lavranos, Marketing Director Jenny White, Domain Operations Manager Amy Repp, Strategy and Investment Executive | |
CentralNic is the longest-running global domain registry in the world.[2] Currently, they are the domain registration operator for the .la ccTLD; technically, this domain space is meant for Laos, though the company markets them as being Los Angeles domains.[3] Their headquarters is located in London, Great Britain.
Unlike traditional registries, CentralNic owns some very short (2 letter) second-level domain names, against which it sells third level names. They are made available through a worldwide network of over 1500 registrars.[4]
CentralNic currently manages 26 niche domain extensions including us.com, uk.com and eu.com, and is the only registry to have launched two new domain extensions in 2010, during which CentralNic also completed the largest deployment of DNSSEC of any registry to date.
In November, 2011 it was announced that CentralNic had become an ICANN accredited registrar. This was some of the first news of its kind following an earlier vote by the ICANN Board, to end vertical separation of registry and registrar functions.[5]
History[edit | edit source]
CentralNic was founded in 1995 under the initial name of NomiNation by Steve Dyer and Robert Pooke. The name of the company was changed from NomiNation to CentralNic in 2000. The idea to offer domains like .com.uk to compete with the existent .co.uk style domains was suggested by Jon Postel.[6]
Services offered by CentralNic[edit | edit source]
Their main area of activity is domain registry services offered for a total of 25 sub-domain (second level TLDs), such as:
- yourname.gb.net Great Britain
- yourname.us.com United States
- yourname.uk.net United Kingdom
- yourname.jpn.com Japan
- yourname.br.com Brazil
- yourname.cn.com China
and many others.
These domains are meant to be simultaneously global (through the use of popular extensions like .com and .org), and regional (through the use of regional extensions like .us and .uk). They are often marketed as providing relief from unavailable .com domains, and to those not wishing to brand themselves with a ccTLD.[7]
Partnerships[edit | edit source]
CentralNic recently launched Dot Brand Solutions, a service aimed at empowering CMOs, Brand Managers and Digital Marketing Executives to acquire, launch and manage their .brand TLDs.
In 2009, CentralNIC and Network Solutions announced a joint venture - Central Registry Solutions. It is a consultancy service offering help to those dealing with registries and the registration process. It is specifically poised to help those interested in taking advantage of the new gTLD process.[8]
They have noted their dedication to protecting and reserving the copyrights and Intellectual Property of international non-profit entities such as the Olympics.[9]
CentralNic has partnered with AfterNic to bring their domains to the secondary market since 2006.[10] They have also partnered with Sedo.[11]