OpenSRS and Parallels Announce Alliance plus 3 more

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• OpenSRS and Parallels Announce Alliance
• HC2011: This Mobile Moment
• HC2011: Impact of New TLDs on Hosting Companies
• HostingCon 2011 Starts Today

OpenSRS and Parallels Announce Alliance Posted: 09 Aug 2011 07:27 AM PDT This morning at HostingCon 2011, OpenSRS and Parallels announced a new partnership that will help Parallels and OpenSRS customers better serve their users with the web services and tools they need to effectively compete and grow. Direct Integration in Parallels PBA, PBAS and Parallels Plesk The net result of this new partnership is that OpenSRS will have a direct integration with Parallels Business Automation, Parallels Business Automation Standard and Parallels Plesk Panel billing platforms. The new Parallels integration will incorporate domain names as well as SSL certificates in the first release. We’re working to get all OpenSRS services fully integrated into Parallels, including email and goMobi as soon as possible. If you want to learn more about Parallels and OpenSRS, drop by our booth at HostingCon this week and we’ll be happy to tell you more. You can read the full news release here.

HC2011: This Mobile Moment Posted: 08 Aug 2011 04:29 PM PDT We’re at an inflection point with mobile Internet access right now, and hosters are in a unique position to take advantage of it. That was the key message today from Tucows CEO, Elliot Noss in his session, “This Mobile Moment,” given this afternoon at HostingCon. I won’t go too deeply into the content of the presentation, but Elliot’s point is this: mobile is exploding, current providers aren’t doing a great job serving customers, and customers are just waiting for a someone to come in and do things differently. Elliot suggests that hosters are uniquely positioned to take advantage for a number of reasons, like the fact that hosting companies are really good at customer service and are used working with small margins. Phone to Modem = Feature phone to Smartphone He also says the current situation with mobile access is analogous to the move from using our copper phone lines for telephone calls, to hooking up a modem and starting to use our phone lines for Internet access. He says the switch from feature phones used for voice calls and SMS to smart phones (pocket computers, really) represents a similar shift in technology use. The point is this: hosting companies should be thinking about how they can leverage their expertise in service, support and understanding the needs of their customers to identify and take advantage of the opportunity that this mobile moment provides.

HC2011: Impact of New TLDs on Hosting Companies Posted: 08 Aug 2011 12:08 PM PDT It’s presentations day for OpenSRS today at HostingCon 2011. We have a pair of speaking slots, and things got started with Adam Eisner’s talk about the impact of new TLDs for hosting companies this morning. Of course, not everyone is at HostingCon 2011 this week, so for the benefit of all of you not in San Diego, here’s a summary of what Adam talked about. If you are at HostingCon, and missed seeing the presentation live, then you missed out on your chance to win a pair of sweet noise cancelling headphones. Jeffrey Cohen of InternetLitigators was at the presentation and walked away with the prize – congrats to you, Jeffrey, and enjoy the prize. New TLDs Were Officially Approved at ICANN Singapore The approval of what are referred to as “New TLDs” was the big news out of the last ICANN meeting in Singapore a few months back. Basically, that decision paved the way for the creation of hundreds of new domain extensions – think .nyc or .eco, and even .apple, .canon and .coke and you get the idea about how far reaching this evolution will be. This profound change in how the domain name system works will have big impacts on hosting companies. If you are in that business, you’ll obviously want to be aware of what’s happening so you can make sure you’ve positioned yourself to take advantage of the opportunities that new TLDs may present. Here’s an overview of what Adam talked about (slides are below in the embedded Slideshare): Right now we have 22 gTLDs (and hundreds of country code TLDs). In the next few years, New TLDs will add as many as 500 new TLDs to the root. ICANN started talking about new TLDs years ago, and approved the start of discussions about adding new TLDs to the root in 2008. It took a long time, and a lot of discussion with various stakeholder groups to get to where we are today (and we’re not quite done yet). In June 2011, at the Singapore ICANN meeting, ICANN approved the Applicant Guidebook and officially launched the New TLDs program. There are three different categories of New TLDs to consider: Brand-based: .coke, .canon Generic: .search, .blog, .cloud Community/Interest Group: .eco, .gay, .toronto Key point: .XXX is not part of the New TLDs program. It’s a separate new extension that is launching this fall (and OpenSRS is accredited). Key dates: January to April 2012: applications accepted April 2012: Cards turned over November: Applications approved Sometime after that: first New TLDs go live in the root Maybe an additional application/approval round after that Opportunity: Improved end-user perception – having a New TLD raises your stature Get your own: no sharing the stage, your name on the right side of the dot, full control! All the good names are available on your own TLD. Costs: $185,000 US Application Fee (if approved) could be more (auctions, multiple groups after the same extension) Marketing, legal fees, etc. How to: Fill out the application, paying special attention to the Guidebook. Get a partner who has technology experience, and knows the their way around the ICANN world. The Other Opportunity: Reach new customers by selling others: hundreds of new TLD extensions to offer. New segments, new markets. .MUSIC, .LONDON, .SKI and more!!! It won’t be easy…look at .com vs. the other, newer gTLDs like .info, tel, etc. What makes a “sellable” extension? Priced smartly (less than $30/year) No wacky rules Follows the standards laid down by current gTLDs Resonates with end-users (or a segment of end-users) How to sell them? Most new TLDS will partner with Registrars Brands won’t offer names to the public Integration should be pretty much the same as current gTLDs. The takeaways: There’s an opportunity to secure a brand or community New TLDs represent new markets and new opportunities Having your own TLD means full control of the namespace and anything is possible. And here’s the full presentation for those who want the slides to go with the summary: HostingCon 2011 – New Top Level Domains View more presentations from opensrs.

HostingCon 2011 Starts Today Posted: 08 Aug 2011 08:30 AM PDT HostingCon 2011 kicks off today and it promises to be a very busy and exciting week. OpenSRS has a big presence at HostingCon as usual and we’re going to make sure that whether you are in San Diego this week, or anywhere else in the world, that you know what’s going on. Here’s just a taste of what’s happening over the next few days: Speaker Sessions Today we have a pair of awesome presentations that you’ll definately want to attend. First up is Adam Eisner, our Director of OpenSRS Product Management: WHAT DO NEW TLDS MEAN FOR YOUR HOSTING BUSINESS? with Adam Eisner Monday, August 8 at 11:00AM Thanks to ICANN’s New Top Level Domain program, hundreds of new domain name extensions like .WEB, .MUSIC, and your own .BRAND will soon be a reality. Learn how these new extensions will change Internet users’ perceptions of domain extensions and how to ensure your hosting business is prepared to profit. If you attend Adam’s session, you’ll have a chance to win some nifty noise cancelling headphones from OpenSRS. We’ll give them out after the session to one lucky attendee. Grab some lunch and take a breather, but make sure you don’t miss Elliot Noss, Tucows President and CEO in the afternoon: THIS MOBILE MOMENT with Elliot Noss Monday, August 8 at 3:00PM The meteoric rise of mobile computing has hosting companies scrambling to address new customer needs and leverage new market opportunities. Elliot revisits similar moments in the past 20 years looking for clues to how hosting companies can capitalize. If you aren’t in San Diego, or can’t make either of those sessions, we’ll post up a summary of each later today so you can still get the great content that Elliot and Adam are presenting. We’re Just Getting Started! The exhibit floor opens tomorrow morning at 11:00 A.M. and we’ll be all ready to say ‘hi’ to attendees and to tell them all about the many new things we have in store for our resellers in the next little bit. Drop by booth #439 to see us! You can’t miss it – look for waving Service Guy and the brightest, most colourful booth on the show floor. While you’re there, be sure to drop off your business card for a chance to win an Apple iPad 2 from Afternic and OpenSRS. They provide domain listing services for the domain aftermarket and are a key partner for OpenSRS, providing great quality domains for our Premium Domains service. We’d love to talk more about how you can start offering Premium Domains to your customers and help them find their perfect domain. Our good friends at Trustwave have a really cool contest going on at HostingCon. They’ve put together a really fun game for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch called MadLocks. Download it for free starting today and then play for a chance to win a 15″ MacBook Pro from Trustwave. More details on the game are available at their website. Of course, we’d love to chat with you about offering Trustwave SSL products through OpenSRS. And we have a special incentive program going on right now with Trustwave that gives OpenSRS Resellers a chance to win an iPad 2 courtesy Trustwave. But Wait! There’s Even More! Believe it or not, there’s still more to talk about! Stay tuned to the blog over the next three days for extensive coverage of HostingCon and for some more news from OpenSRS. And be sure to follow @OpenSRS on Twitter for more HostingCon news and info. Who knows, there might be some surprise giveaways and other fun stuff for our Twitter followers.

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