Minds and Machines, LLC

Type:	Private
Industry:	Registrar
Founded:	USA (2008)
Headquarters:	3100 Donald Douglas Loop North Hangar 7, Santa Monica, CA 90405 USA
Website:	http://www.mindsandmachines.com
Key People
Antony Van Couvering, CEO Elaine Pruis, VP of Client Services Clark Landry, VP of Business Development Robin Jonas, Director of Corporate Partnerships Ilona Margolis, Director of International Business Caspar von Veltheim, Director of European Operation Levente (Levi) Ferencz, Accounting Manager

Minds + Machines is a TLD (top-level domain) registry service provider company. Minds + Machines is known for offering the Espresso CCregistry services technology platform for new TLD applicants. According to Minds + Machines's official website, the platform is integrated with more than 20 top-level domains and over 150 registrars, including most major ICANN registars.

Founded in 2008, this Santa Monica, CA based company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of TLDH (Top Level Domains Holdings), Ltd.

History

• In 2008, Minds + Machines was founded by recognizable IT and domain expert Antony Van Couvering (CEO) and Jothan Frakes (COO). . Prior to Minds + Machines, Antony Van Couvering had been the Director of Marketing & Technology at VeriSign and the founder and CEO at NameEngine and NetNames Jothan Frakes had been ICANN Registrar Representative at Top Level Domain Holdings and Vice President at Name Intelligence, inc. among other IT and domain industry related jobs .In November 2010, Antony Van Couvering was appointed as CEO of Minds + Machines parent company, Top Level Domain Holdings.

• February 28, 2009, Minds + Machines was launched during the ICANN meeting in Mexico aiming at assisting companies and organisations navigate the new gTLD application process.

• In March, 2009, Minds + Machines signed an exclusive agreement with CoCCA, a widely deployed open-source registry platform for country-code extension granting the rights to the CoCCA registry software and the CoCCA brand for generic top-level domains to Minds + Machines.

• In June, 2009, Minds + Machines Signed long-term agreement with Packet Clearing House (PCH),a DNS service provider company, to provide DNS services for Minds + Machines.

• In June, 2009, Wolfgang Puck,the internationally renowned chef, author, and entrepreneur, announced partnership with Minds + Machines to create .FOOD web address. . In September, 2009, Minds + Machines Sued Wolfgang Puck and His Wife for $5 Million Over "Failed .food Deal". . In october 2010, Minds + Machines was reported to Settle the "Food Fight" with Wolfgang Puck though nature of the settlement was undisclosed.

• In August, 2009, TLDH (Top Level Domain Holdings}, Ltd, a publicly-traded holding company from London AIM, announced that it had completed a merger with Minds + Machines. Minds + Machines has been acting as a wholly-owned subsidiary of TLDH since.

• In September, 2010, Minds + Machines migrated all domain names ending in .FM to its newly opened network operations center at One Wilshire in Los Angeles, California.

• On November 5, 2010 ICANN passed the resolution that enables registries can buy registrars and allow registrars to apply for and run new top-level domains. To help finance the new TLDs for Minds + Machines, Top Level Domain Holdings was reported to be planning to raise $4.7m (£3 million). Antony van Couvering is quoted as saying, "Having reviewed ICANN’s Final Proposed Applicant Guidebook, and in view of the ICANN Board’s historic decision to do away with cross-ownership restrictions between registries and registrars, we believe that the timing is right for additional investment by TLDH."

Products and Services

Minds + Machines mainly provides TLD (top-level domain) registry service. According to the official website, the company also helps with the business plan, funding, application writing, business networking, staffing, sales and marketing etc.

Minds + Machines also has an extensive list of partners who provide options for registration services, DNS services, auction services, escrow services, network security, Trademark and Validation, public relation, web design, business and finance, dispute arbitration providers etc.

External links

• Minds + Machines.com
• Top Level Domain Holdings