Hong Kong – January 13, 2014 //TLD Registry Ltd the owner-operator of the Chinese New gTLDs Dot Chinese Online (.在线) and Dot Chinese Website (.中文网) announced today its starting roster of registrars. The registry’s international network of partners comprises 26 leading domain name registrars serving every continent and major region of the world.
“According to our research, we have made domain name history”, said CEO Arto Isokoski from Hong Kong. “No other Chinese language New gTLD registry has acheived such a substantial global distribution network. We’re very proud of our performance, and even more proud of our fantastic registrar partners in China and around the world.”
The 26 registrars which have signed Registry-Registrar Agreements (RRAs) with TLD Registry are listed with principal offices in brackets:
101domain (USA)
35.com (China)
Ascio/NetNames (Denmark, USA, UK, Sweden, France, Switzerland, Norway, Germany)
BizCN (China)
CSC Digital Brand Services CSC Digital Brand Services (USA)
Dynadot (USA)
EachNIC (China)
Encirca (USA)
eNom (USA)
EuroDNS (Luxembourg)
Hexonet (Germany, Canada)
HiChina/Net.cn (China)
Instra Corp (Australia, New Zealand)
IP Mirror (Singapore, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, United Kingdom)
Key-Systems (Germany, USA)
Lexsynergy (UK, South Africa, Australia, Austria, Tanzania, USA)
Macaria (Spain, Chile, USA)
Mailclub (France, Canada)
MarkMonitor (USA, UK)
name.com (USA)
Nawang (China)
Net-Chinese (Taipei)
Openprovider (Netherlands, Spain)
Service Development Center of SCOPSR (China Central Government)
SuperRegistry/Momentous (Canada)
XinNet (China)
Dot Chinese Online and Dot Chinese Website’s Sunrise period begins this Friday, January 17, 2014, and runs for 60 days. A VIP celebration event hosted at the Finnish ambassador’s residence in Beijing will mark the end of Sunrise on March 17. Following a 2-day quiet period, the Landrush period will begin with a major Chinese “feng shui” ceremony in China’s Macau on March 20. An international hybrid-online/live auction of valuable premium domain names in the registry’s TLDs will be held at the Galaxy Macau on the following day, March 21. The Landrush period will run through the weeklong ICANN meeting in Singapore (March 23—27) and China’s Qing Ming festival (April 4—6) and conclude on Thursday April 24. A three-day quiet period will immediately follow. General availability of domain names in Dot Chinese Online and Dot Chinese Website will begin on Monday 28 April, 2014.
All of the landmark days in the go-live schedule has been set to coincide with auspicious days in the ancient Chinese almanac. The almanac was created during the Han Dynasty around 200BC, and continues to be an important guide to the lives and businesses of more than a billion Chinese people.
“Domain names in Dot Chinese Online and Dot Chinese Website are the clear leaders amongst the Chinese language New gTLDs”, said the registry’s CMO, Simon Cousins. “Our TLDs have generated more than 1,000 media stories in China and worldwide since our public announcement in Arpil 2013. The high level of interest in our domains from China’s and the world’s leading registrars is testament to their relevance to Chinese speakers everywhere.”
TLD Registry’s Senior Marketing Manager, Lillian Zhang said from the NamesCon domain name conference in Las Vegas, “By collaborating with a renowned feng shui master we have ensured that our domain names will be viewed as auspicious by hundreds of millions of potential registrants. Our philosophy has always been to bring the benefits of Chinese language domain names to the entire world of Chinese speaking people, and we anticipate fast uptake of our premium and general domains.”
Pinky Brand, TLD Registry’s Director of Registrar Relations said, “I see the same market potential for Chinese domains as I did for ccTLDs 18 years ago. As a part of the .mobi launch team in 2006, I know it is no small feat to launch a TLD and achieve the global #6 position in under four years. I’m utterly confident that Dot Chinese Online and Dot Chinese Website will occupy the top positions in the Chinese speaking world.”
Back-end DNS services for Dot Chinese Online and Dot Chinese Website are managed by Afilias, and premium domain name sales are managed by Sedo.
For more information about Dot Chinese Online and Dot Chinese Website, please visit the TLD Registry website at http://internetregistry.info, http://nic.在线 or http://nic.中文网
About TLD Registry Ltd
TLD Registry Ltd is a trans-national internet domain name registry which holds the exclusive rights to manage the essential new Chinese internet top level domains Dot Chinese Online (.在线) and Dot Chinese Website (.中文网). TLD Registry Ltd was founded by Finnish internet entrepreneurs, is incorporated in Ireland, and employs expert personnel and domain name industry veterans in Beijing, Hong Kong, Helsinki, New York City, Austin and Oslo. TLD Registry’s principal investor is Finland’s Vision+ Fund in addition to business angels.
Media enquiries in English: Simon Cousins (simon.cousins@internetregistry.info)
Media enquiries in Mandarin Chinese: Lillian Zhang (lillian.zhang@internetregistry.info)
Source: TLD Registry Ltd