MelbourneIT
 | |
| Type: | Public |
| Industry: | Registrar, Hosting |
| Founded: | Australia (1996) |
| Headquarters: | Melbourne, Australia |
| Employees: | 690+ |
| Revenue: | $200.1 million (AUD) (2009) |
| Website: | http://www.melbourneit.com.au/ |
| Key People | |
| Theo Hnarakis, CEO & MD Bruce Tonkin, CSO | |
MelbourneITis a web hosting and internet domain register company which also provides related online business solutions products and services. This Australain company was founded in 1996 by The University of Melbourne to work with the private sector on IT projects. [1]. MelbourneIT listed on Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) from December 1999.[2].
As a domain registrar, MelbourneIT had a de facto monopoly on '.au' domain for several years and it was the source of half of its profit. It was one of the first five testbed Registrars for the competitive Shared Registry System announced by ICANN in 1999 and started register domain names under .com, .net and .org .[3]
Head quartered in Sydney, Australia, MelbourneIT has 18 offices in 10 countries and over 690 employees worldwide. [4]. As of October 25, 2010, MelbourneIT has about 4,291,483 domain names registered under its management. [5].
History[edit | edit source]
was founded in 1996 by The University of Melbourne to work with the private sector on IT projects.Professor Peter Gerrand was appointed as the CEO of the company.[6].
The company enjoyed a monoploy on 'au' domain registration for several years. After they were selected for competitive Shared Registry System announced by ICANN in 1999, started register domain names under .com, .net and .org.
From December 1999, MelbourneIT have been listed on Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) with a ticker symbol of MLB. [7]. The company formed an alliance with American telecommunications group NeuStar about that time.
In October, 2009, CEO Gerrand quited MelbourneIT and was replaced by chief operating officer Adrian Kloeden.
In 2003, MelbourneIT acquires New Zealand's domain name registrar, Domainz, for NZ$2 million. [8]. By that time, Domainz had more than 2.3 million domain names under management.
Melbourne IT acquires European digital brand protection company, Cogent IPC for $4.5 million in 2004.[9].
In 2006, Melbourne IT acquires the Webcentral Group for about $61.2 million.[10]. It also acquires adigital recording services for justice and public safety venues providing comapny called For The Record in the same year.
MelbourneIT to enter domain registration[edit | edit source]
The name MelbourneIT came from "Melbourne Information Technology International Pty Ltd" which was a commertial subsidary of The University of Melbourne. The initial objective of the company was not merely to registrater domain but to demonstrate the University’s strategic leadership in working with industry and government in selected areas of IT. Robert Elz, senior system administrator in the University of Melbourne’s Computer Science Department was in charge of the registration process of .au domain back then.
An article published in "Australian Financial Review" by Charles Wright made the authority interested about the commercial values of domain name registration. Eventaully the condition demanded that the process of .au domain registration to be tranfared to a capable commercial instution. Thus the administration of com.au names to the University’s subsidiary Melbourne IT by a non-exclusive licence, to be reviewed after five years. [11].In 1996, Government of Victoria awarded a grant of $100,000 in return for registering the backlog of over 2,000 com.au applications free to the applicants. This money was used to build its first domain name registration software platform.
References[edit | edit source]