Posted on December 7th, 2011
The domain registry, Afilias has warned leading brands to refrain from delaying their registry for the imminent ‘dot brand application which is set to take place in 40 days.
As announced before, ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) will initiate a 92-application window on January 12 in 2012. This will allow companies and businesses to purchase and manage their very own “dot Brand” Web extensions; a step forward since 2003, when a mere seven TLDs were provided approval. In fact, the CEO for ICANN, Rod Beckstrom also revealed that there will likely be more than 4,000 applications for the dot brands.
ICANN is not revealing when it will be announcing the next application round. This has set companies scrambling to get their hands on one of their own, thus driving up demand for brands.
The CMO of the registry program, Roland LaPlante had this to say,”businesses need to get moving now if they are going to take advantage of this opportunity. With the opening of the application window in just 40 days, brands need to start their dot Brand domain applications as soon as possible. And given the short preparation time remaining, it’s more important than ever for potential dot Brands to team with an experienced provider, like Afilias.”
The registry service, Afilias, has also launched an education program to include other businesses into the dot Brand fold. This involves informing them regarding the benefits of the dot Brand phenomenon, namely the strength it can provide to branding as well as online security in general. Dot Branding will also aid companies to meet the 22 technical requirements ICANN laid out.
A few months ago (in September), ICANN launched a mini website for the new gTLDs. These provide information about the program via an Applicant Guidebook approved by ICANN along with access to the TLD Application System.