Neustar, the Sterling, Virginia based tech services giant that operates the .biz, .us and .co registries and provides backend services to many other TLDs, just became an even bigger player in that space with one bold stroke. Neustar announced today they have acquired Australia's  Bombora Technologies Pty Ltd  for  approximately USD $86.9 million. Bombora and its subsidiaries, which include ARI Registry Services, provide registry services for .au, .melbourne, .sydney and over 100 new TLDs. The deal expands the number of TLDs Neustar services to over 300 now.

The 2016 NamesCon conference (coming up January 10-13 at the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas) is still over five months away but preparations have been ongoing since the day this year's event ended. With the 3rd annual event drawing closer, Producer Richard Lau has geared up for another growth spurt by adding a key new member to the full-time NamesCon staff. Marketing and Communications whiz Terri Potratz has come on board and will be based at the conference's home office in Vancouver, Canada. 

Lau said, "Terri is a highly experienced professional with a BA from the University of Victoria. Her most recent position was based out of 

New NamesCon team member Terri Potratz (left) seen with Webanmes.ca Founder Cybele Negris on a recent visit to the  registrar's headquarters in Vancouver.

Montreal where she was  producing a print magazine, daily web content and several conference events per year within the airline industry.

Among her other duties Ms. Potratz will also oversee a new NamesCon affiliate program that has just launched. The ticket sales program is open to anyone. When you sign up you will be given a special NamesCon registration link that you can share with others via email, social media or posts on a website of your own. You will earn a 5% commission on every 2016 NamesCon registration that comes through your link. 

With the arrival of hundreds of new gTLDs over the past year the always popular major ccTLDs probably haven't been getting as much press as they deserve, especially since they continue to thrive in what has become a very crowded domain extension marketplace. A good example is Australia's venerable .AU ccTLD that reached a major milestone this week when it passed 3 million domains registered. 

A joint press release issued by auDA (the non-profit company responsible for operating the .au registry) and AusRegistry (the custodian of the technology that powers the .au namespace) marked the occasion with an honor roll of .AU highlights on the TLD's road to 3 million:

• In June 2015, AusRegistry processed 41.2 billion DNS queries for .au domain names,  an average of approximately 1.4 billion DNS queries per day in the .au zone. 

• Almost 40% of all .au domain names have been registered for between 2-6 years. 7% have been registered for more than 10 years. 

• Approximately 86% of all .au domain names are registered under .com.au (other .au options includes .net.au and .org.au among others)

• New South Wales accounts for the largest number of .au registrations (1 million), followed by Victoria (800,000) and Queensland (600,000).

•  .au domain name registrations grew at a rate of 6% over the past 12 months.

• Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) is now available for .au domain names, which is a security extension that facilitates the digital signing of Internet communications, helping to ensure the integrity and authenticity of transmitted data. 

After drawing approximately 350 attendees to their successful inaugural show last summer in Hyderabad, organizers of India's DomainX conference are experiencing explosive growth as they prepare for their 2nd  annual show coming up August 7-8, 2015 at the Taj West End Hotel in high tech hotbed Bangalore, India. I  got an update on how things are progressing from DomainX Founder Manmeet Pal Singh who told me over 700 registrants have already signed up for the show and with two weeks to go attendance could approach the 1,000 mark.

That's impressive growth by anyone's standards but it's not a huge surprise to me. India's domain community has been growing by leaps and bounds and the country is producing successful entrepreneurs at an unmatched rate. Just last week I read that the number of millionaires in India grew by 27% in the past year, the fastest rate in the world. Last spring CNN Money reported that India has the world's fastest growing major economy. Indian companies and individual investors have been key players in our industry for years now and their numbers and influence are only going to increase, so DomainX has come on the scene in the right place at the right time.

Manmeet Pal Singh
DomainX Founder & CEO 

DomainX has assembled an impressive list of speakers and sponsors and having the support of the latter group has allowed them to keep the cost to attend extraordinarily low. You've heard the old saying "there is no such thing as a free lunch?" - well, At DomainX there is! Free tickets too (August 8 only) for those who register in advance online. Those who show up at the door will still pay only $49 and to attend both days (including the special August 7 networking day) - the cost is just $99 and that includes lunch both days. You can see the schedule of activities here. 

A new addition to DomainX this year will be an Awards presentation. Nominations are now being accepted in two categories - DomainX Rising Star (to recognize an up and coming Indian domain investor) and Domain Name Magazine.

The Domain Name Association (DNA), a non-profit industry trade association whose members include many of the biggest players in the space (including giants like Google and Go Daddy) just rolled out an interesting concept. From the start the DNA has said part of its core mission is to "build trust, exchange ideas, educate, and raise awareness of domain related issues." Toward that end DNA Executive Director Kurt Pritz announced in a post at Circle ID the launch of a new DNA University that will "offer stakeholders an opportunity to share their experiences, learn from each other and provide a forum to incubate concepts that will advance the domain name industry."

Pritz wrote, "One of the first initiatives of the DNA University will be to roll out a webinar series that will offer expert insights across a wide range of topics." Pritz said the new series follows and builds on a highly successful TLD Operator Webinar that was recently organized and moderated by Tony Kirsch, Head of Global Consulting at ARI Registry Services. That webinar attracted more than 300 registrations and 40% of all new TLD operators. That obvious hunger for information and advice prompted the DNA Board to invite Kirsch to bring his webinars under the DNA University banner and serve as the inaugural "Dean" of the DNA University and Kirsch has accepted the challenge.

DNA Executive Director Kurt Pritz

Hard to believe it has already been five years since .CO domains entered General Availability with a bang on July 20, 2010. Within 30 minutes of the launch .CO registrations had passed the 100,000 mark. Now here we are - on the extension's 5th birthday - looking at more than 1.8 million registered .CO domains across more than 200 countries and territories.

As we have said many times before,  much of the credit for that success goes to the original .CO management team (including then CEO Juan Diego Calle and Vice President Lori Anne Wardi) who orchestrated a phenomenal marketing effort that 

became a textbook example that others have since taken more than a few pages from. They and their teammates made the franchise valuable enough to convince Neustar to buy the registry last year for $109 million.

A press release marking .CO's 5th birthday noted that in addition to high volume the TLD has attracted a lot of quality registrants, pointing out "The .CO domain has been adopted by high growth startups, such as Twitter® (T.co and Vine.co), AngelList® (Angel.co) and 500 Startups® (500.co), as well as by innovative Fortune 500 companies, such as Google® (G.co) and American Express® (amex.co)."

Nine months ago Mike Robertson (who previously  gained fame at Fabulous.com and DomainGuardians.com) moved to America from his native Australia to take on a new role as Director of Business Development for DNC Holdings (the parent company of several Internet enterprises including popular registrar Directnic.com.)  Our December Cover Story detailed what Mike and another industry vet, Kellie Peterson (then DNC's President), were building from their base in Tampa, Florida. Since then Kellie left to fulfill a long time dream to live in Oregon's wine country, a move that happened when she took a new position with Neustar. Rob Alfonso (also featured in our Cover Story) took Kellie's place and he, Mike and the DNC team have kept the ball rolling with the launch of several new services. I connected with Mike this week to get the lowdown on those. 

DNC Holdings Director of Business Development 
Mike Robertson at DNC's Tampa, Florida office. 

The first is a VIP Program for qualified clients designed to attract domain investor/portfolio owners to the Directnic registrar.  Robertson said, "We understand that domain investors require a different approach when they need customer support. VIP status allows them to "jump the queue" and receive quality support in a timely fashion." Robertson said the program also allows Drectnic to reward and build on the kind of customer loyalty the business has thrived on. "47% of our active customers have been with us 10 years or longer," Robertson noted, adding, "We're confident that the level of customer service will help us retain this market."

Asked what criteria is used to determine VIP status Mike told us, "Applications are reviewed case by case. Our main selling point is that we are very aggressive/competitive on price. To do this, we are looking for volume, so the size of the portfolio is one of the main factors we take into consideration."

Robertson also told us, "We recently acquired the domain business of NatNames, adding 2,000 domains (and over 100 customers) to those we have under management. We're also looking at other similar opportunities to increase our growth and solidify Directnic as a leading registrar."

While catching up with Robertson we were also curious to know how he was adjusting to life in the United States since his move from Down Under. "I've really found my feet here now in Tampa," Robertson said. "I'm working with a really great group of people, which is key. We've initiated a "Fun Friday" policy, where the first Friday of the month we finish up early and do something as a team; ten pin bowling, laser tag, movies, etc."

Before saying goodbye we thanked him for the warning. We happen to be located in Tampa too and as many of you know Australians drive on the left side of the road while we drive on the right. While we are always happy to run into Mike, we would just as soon not have it happen in a head on collision!

Well that didn't take long! Yesterday, when we told you about Greenberg & Lieberman acquiring the escrow platform developed by EscrowHill.com, we noted that EscrowHill Founder Andee Hill intended to stay in the domain industry and that an announcement about her next stop was expected soon. That announcement came this morning when Donuts, the largest operator of new gTLD registries, revealed that Ms. Hill officially joined their staff Monday (July 6) as Director of Business Development. 

At Donuts Andee will report to Dan Schindler, the company's Executive VP for Business Development.  Word came in an email from Donuts Communications VP Mason Cole who noted Andee would have "specific responsibility for relationships with the domain investor community. Cole added, "Donuts has long believed domain investors are a critical element of the industry, one deserving of an emphasis in time and

Donuts Executive VP for Business Development Dan Schindler and the company's new Director of 
Business Development Andee Hill. 

resources. Andee's leadership will be critical in developing these relationships and leveraging investors' interest in new domain names."

That should be music to the domain investor community's ears as many in it have often felt their financial support of the industry was often undervalued and under appreciated. While every registry operator needs end users to develop their domains to increase recognition of their extensions, they also need (but don't always acknowledge) investors who often buy (and renew) hundreds, thousands or even tens of thousands of domain names. From the standpoint of registration revenue - the life blood of any registrar - one customer who buys 1,000 domains is worth just as much as 1,000 customers who buy only one name each. While developers may bring more public recognition, it is a lot easier to handle one account and personal relationship than a thousand different ones - making both camps - end users and investors - equally important in our view. 

In Ms. Hill Donuts has brought on board someone who already has a very high number of investor relationships in place after her many years with Escrow.com, then with her own shop, allowing her to hit the ground running. Given the job description for the position Donuts wanted to fill, Ms. Hill should fit the bill.

Greenberg & Lieberman (G & L) has long been of the best known and most often called upon intellectual property law firms in the domain industry. The Washington D.C. based firm's high profile in our business can largely be credited to attorney Stevan Lieberman's presence at key  domain conferences ever since they began with the first T.R.A.F.F.I.C. show in 2004 right up through this year's NamesCon conference (where the photo at right was taken).

What you may not have known is that Greenberg & Lieberman have been providing escrow services more than 20 years. The main reason you may have been unaware of that is the firm seldom handled transactions under $100,000. That has now changed with the firm's acquisition of the software platform that had been developed by EscrowHill.com - a company that was founded by Andee Hill early last year. Ms. Hill reportedly plans to remain in the domain industry and we've heard rumors she will begin work with another company in the near future. 

Lieberman told us the software automates much of the escrow process making it possible for G & L to handle transaction of any size. The 

Attorney Stevan Lieberman
Greenberg & Lieberman, LLC
APLegal.com

system can be accessed at escrow.aplegal.com. While  EscrowHill branding is still on the  page, Lieberman said that will likely go away over time as the brand is closely associated with the former owner rather than G & L. The law firm bought only the software application with no employees or system other business assets included (since the sale the EscrowHill.com domain has been pointing to the escrow information page at G & L's APLegal.com).

There was already considerable excitement surrounding the debut edition of THE Domain Conference (TDC), coming up in Fort Lauderdale, Florida this fall, when a one-day DOMAINfest event was added to the show schedule a couple of weeks ago. The anticipation for the first event run by the Neu family since the pioneering T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conference (co-founded by Howard Neu) ended its 10-year run last fall following the retirement of Neu's partner Rick Schwartz has just been turned up yet another notch.

Today we learned that veteran conference producer Jodi Chamberlain's company, 32Events.com, will stage a major two-day Women's Meet Up for "business women of the digital era" (not just domain industry ladies) on September 25th and 26th, 2015 at the same hotel - The Hyatt Regency Pier 66 - where THE Domain Conference will run September 27-29 (with pre-show cabana networking opening September 26). TDC's $109 a night room rate will also be extended to Women's Meet Up attendees.

Ms. Chamberlain, who has played a key role in staging previous T.R.A.F.F.I.C.,  NamesCon and Domaining Europe conferences, as well as many events in other fields, said the new Women's Meet Up will bring together some of the most inspiring and influential women in business - all successful female professionals, entrepreneurs and experts in different fields. Jodi said, "Attendees will get to hear their inspirational stories and experiences, learning and acquiring valuable advice from women who have been there and done that. Join us, register and get ready to be empowered!"

The registration fee of $399 covers all of the business sessions, luncheons and parties. For those who can't attend during the day it is also possible to buy just tickets for one or both of two major social events - a VIP Little Black Dress Party Friday night (September 25) and a VIP M&V Magazine Party Saturday night (September 26).

Jodi has already lined up some impressive speakers including TalentDirect.com Founder Bianka Krausch, performance catalyst and effectiveness coach Mia Hewitt (who has been featured in the Huffington Post, New York Times, USA Today and Inc. Magazine, to name a few) and renowned keynote speaker and executive coach Roy Assad, a founding partner of Muses & Visionaries Magazine who will also be speaking at TEDx Miami in August.

Jodi Chamberlain
32Events.com

M&V Magazine Co-Founder, Keynote Speaker and Executive Coach Roy Assad will be the 
Opening Keynote Speaker at the Women's Meet Up in Fort Lauderdale Sept. 25, 2015.

Jodi noted, "The objective for this meet up is to inspire business women by setting up a conference style agenda which will allow effective communication leaders the opportunity to enlighten and transform our gals. We're going to give them the tools they need to make  the 4th quarter it's very best!" Jodi added that a full show agenda will by posted at 32Events.com within the next couple of weeks. Also, some sponsorship opportunities are also available. You can email Jodi at 32Events.com if you would like to know more about that.