KSregistry GmbH

Industry:	Back-end registry
Founded:	2012
Ownership:	Key-Systems GmbH
Headquarters:	St. Ingbert
Country:	Germany
Website:	KSregistry.com
Key People
Alexander Siffrin (CEO), Oliver Fries (CTO)

Key-Systems' KSregistry GmbH provides back-end registry solutions for ccTLDs and new gTLD applicants. Key-Systems has been offering registry services since 2001; in February 2012, they concentrated these services into the new KSregistry GmbH.

KSregistry is the back-end provider for 27 applications in ICANN's New gTLD Program. The company disclosed that it received 29 out of 30 possible points during the Initial Evaluation of its first application to go through the review (see also [1]). Only 22 points are needed to pass.

New gTLDs - New Generic Top Level Domains

The applications for new generic top level domains have passed in Initial Evaluation at ICANN and will presumably go live during the course of the next year. Among others, the following new TLDs will use the registry system of KSregistry GmbH as technical framework:

The term .BIO has diverse meanings as abbreviation or prefix, it can stand for biography, biology, biotechnology or as synonym for organic farming and products. Due to the diversity of its use, the registration of .BIO domains won’t be restricted to the organic food industry and farming sector only. The mission of the .BIO TLD is to implement national and international organic standards and legislations with the help of .BIO domain name registrants.

The generic top level domain (gTLD) .SKI will be the new domain extension for ski fans, ski sport businesses and ski related topics. The community TLD shall create a new domain name space for news, advice, products, services, and brands or shared experiences around the ski topic. The aim of .SKI is to create online new opportunities for the millions of ski sports participants and communities, to support the growth in the ski sports industry, to promote choice and competition for a global ski sports community as well as provide trusted and safe internet spaces for ski fans.

.ARCHI will be the new generic top level domain (gTLD) for professional architects to create new business opportunities for them. This new community gTLD will be reserved for community members to guarantee standards of professionalism, integrity, and competence. The mission of .ARCHI is to make it easier for Internet users to locate professional architects and give professional architects the opportunity to register domain names they were not able to register in existing extensions. Further, .ARCHI shall create a virtual place exclusively dedicated to architecture and regulated in collaboration with the International Union of Architects.

.IMMO will be the new domain extension for the real estate industry. The new community TLD shall provide an online platform restricted to real estate professionals. The mission of .IMMO is to provide a trusted source to the users searching for real estate information and to give real estate professionals the opportunity to register domain names they were not able to register in existing extension as well as create new business opportunities for themselves.

The generic top level domain (gTLD) .DESI will be the new domain extension to provide a unique platform to help the Desi Diaspora facilitate the distribution and exchange of information, products and services within the community. .DESI represents an informal term that is used by many members of the South Asian Diaspora to identify themselves. It refers to people, cultures and products from the Indian subcontinent and is used by the Diaspora to connote an origin or a connection with the Desi regions. Desi Networks, LLC, the organization behind .DESI, was formed in 2011 for the purpose of operating the DOT DESI gTLD.

The TUI AG, single applicant for .TUI, applied for this .brand TLD to create a comprehensive communications platform, serving its broad network of corporate affiliates, partners, agents, and clients. .TUI is intended to support the business and marketing objectives of the company. The new domain name space shall enable brand empowerment, self-determined domain allocation, and an extension of TUI’s brand protection and control through the creation of a unique TLD architecture. TUI AG is Europe’s leading travel company providing tour operators, retail shops, online portals, airlines and incoming services for over 30 million customers. The TUI company comprises three corporate divisions: TUI Travel, TUI Hotels & Resorts, and TUI Cruises.

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW), a publicly-held stock corporation located in Germany and one of the most successful manufacturers of automobiles and motorcycles in the world, will use the registry system of KSregistry GmbH for the TLDs .BMW and .MINI.

The dotSaarland GmbH (nic.saarland), which will be the registry for the .SAARLAND TLD, will work with the KSregistry GmbH, which will take over the technical backend of the new generic top level domain. “Saarland” is the name of a federal state within Germany. The company wants to provide a platform which serves the needs of the regional community, provide a common internet address to the community, and promote the region and its people, services and regional attractions to all who share an interest in it. The dotSaarland GmbH is a member of the non-profit organisation dotSaarland e.V., which was founded in 2009, and supports the activities of the association.

The Canton of Zurich, single applicant for the .ZUERICH TLD, will work with the KSregistry GmbH, which will provide the technical backend for the new generic top level domain. The .ZUERICH TLD is part of a new branding concept for Zurich started in 2011 and shall represent the Canton of Zurich, one of the largest of Switzerland’s 26 national districts, and the city of Zurich, the largest city in the country. .ZUERICH will be the new domain extension to promote the local industry, scientific interests, tourism and marketing, and to highlight the high standard of living in the Zurich region. .ZUERICH will be a restricted TLD.

In August 2012, the company was selected by AdamsNames to provide back-end services for the .tc, .vg, and .gd ccTLDs. They also provide back-end services for .dm, the Dominican ccTLD.

KSregistry's main components are set up as a cluster with a minimum of two servers, and all system backups are distributed to two different geographical sites. The complete design of their system is based on TIER III architecture, in order to guarantee maximum security for all services. By using their own SkyWay DataCenter the company is able to ensure fast reaction times and full process control.

With its Domain Store Ksregistry provides a white-label shop solution for domains. The Domain Store allows registries to offer their top level domains to end customers by using the turn-key retail sales platform for domains as a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) in the cloud.

The white-label shop solution is adaptable to the corporate desing of the client and allows the full automation of the domain selling process. Thanks to the user-friendly web interface, end customers can register and administer domains in an easy and target-group-specific manner. Furthermore, the distribution of additional products, such as web hosting packages or e-mail services is possible with the Domain Store. The flexible price administration, automated billing processes and the connection to established payment service providers complete the functionality of the all-in-one solution. The Domain Store offers the complete portfolio of ccTLDs, gTLDs and new top level domains.

Dispute at AdamsNames

In March 2013, KSRegistry was wrapped up in a dispute which seemed to arise from members of the executive management at [[AdamsNames [2]], the registries for .tc, .vg, and .gd, for which KSregistry is contracted to provide technical services. KSregistry continues its cooperation with the UK based head office of AdamsNames - www.adamsnames.com (corresponding to the whois information for the company); the websites www.adamsnames.net and adamsnames.co.uk are - according to the respective whois information - registered by a privat person in Turkey.

KSregistry wrote on its own site that; "KSregistry GmbH still provides the technical back-end services for the ccTLDs .TC, .GD and .VG authorized by AdamsNames Ltd., but this is currently hampered by the actions of the third party. In order to not endanger the integrity of the zone after addressing the issues, the Key-Systems GmbH as registrar has decided to not permit current modifications to domains under .TC, .GD and .VG. The resolution and renewal of the domains are not affected."