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Another
new gTLD
will be arriving next month and
while .icu
(shorthand for "I See You")
will be a new option for domain
registrants, the people behind it
are old hands in the
domain/tech industry. .icu is
being operated by the Luxembourg
based ShortDot SA registry
whose management team and board of
directors consists of Lars
Jensen, Kevin
Kopas, Mogens
Nielsen and Michael
Riedl. They have
selected CentralNic
as the backend service provider for
.icu which will go live with Sunrise
April 24, 2018, followed by General
Availability May 29.
When
ICANN opened their new GTLD
program in 2012, .icu was applied
for and delegated but ownership was
recently transferred to the ShortDot
registry who will now carry the flag
forward. Kopas, Co-Founder and
COO, joined the .icu effort after
previous stints with Moniker,
Radix and PIR
(administrator of the .org
extension). He told us, "I’m
excited to be part of shaping the
future of this industry. Many years
ago, I started as a broker and
I’ve seen the best and the worst
of what we can offer end users. New
domains are moving this industry
forward by allowing branding
opportunities across the globe,
especially within
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Kevin
Kopas
.icu Co-Founder & COO
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startups
and small/medium businesses. Our
goal is to reconnect with
registrars, show them we have skin
in the game and simplify their sales
processes. When we accomplish that,
we’ve made it."
Additional
information from the company details
how they plan to differentiate .icu
in a crowded market,
noting, ".icu is not just a
domain registry, with our innovative
and global marketing plans we are
transforming .icu into a true media
company. We help and encourage
our end users to promote their
businesses in all social networks
using the hashtags #icu #iculive.
We are keen to promote our end
users’ businesses globally and
thus created a 21 day manual for .icu
end users on how to run their
social media and attract the target
audience. Our marketing strategy
involves a powerful boost of
promotional campaigns for registrars
and end user outreach with the goal
if driving end user interest back to
the registrar, essentially driving
business up the sales funnel and
creating more end user demand and
usage."
.icu
expects to be live and available for
registration at most internet
registrars around the world and to
be priced below most other
extensions on the market. In the
Sunrise period trademark holders
will be able to register a .icu
domain that matches their existing
trademark, then when General
Availability begins anyone can
register .icu domains. For more
information about launch dates,
pricing, availability and more visit
www.nic.icu.
.icu can also be found on Facebook
here.
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