CentralNic signs new gTLD agreement

Registry service CentralNic has combined with Domain Venture Partners (DVP) to manage new and existing generic top-level domains (gTLDs).

The partnership, announced today, February 18, has been set up by DVP, an investment company.

Under the partnership, CentralNic will provide registry services for and manage DVP’s acquired gTLDs, some of which are already live.

Ben Crawford, chief executive at CentralNic, said the partnership presented a “fantastic new opportunity” for the company.

“This agreement not only fits well with our stated strategy to increase the inventory of gTLDs carried by our platform, but also confirms CentralNic’s position as market leader in providing registry services.”

Charles Melvin, chief operating officer at DVP, said the company had been “impressed” by CentralNic’s experience in operating registry back-end services as well as its ability to market and distribute domain names in a “strategic and creative” manner.

Antony Gold, partner at Harrison Goddard Foote LLP in London, said the partnership may be of “little concern” to potential registrars.

“The ownership and day-to-day operations behind a registry is not really a matter of interest to most Internet users,” said Gold.

“The primary concern would be an assurance that there are effective ways of tackling abuse and fraud. Who owns and runs a domain is not usually where the issues arise.”

Gold added that it remained an “open question” as to what impact the influx of new gTLDs would have on consumers and registrars.

“In the past we have seen domain names including .biz and .info launch, each time people have been told that it’s going to re-brand the Internet and it’s not happened.

“The stranglehold of .com has meant new domain names have never had much traction, as .com or .co.uk have always been the trusted domains.”