Afilias Selected to Provide Registry Services For .IN Domain

Afilias India to provide enhanced technology for liberalization of .IN domain

December 20, 2004; 01:11 AM

DUBLIN, IRELAND - 20 December 2004 - Afilias Limited today announced that it's wholly owned subsidiary, Afilias India Pvt. Ltd., has signed an agreement with the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) to provide registry services for the .IN country code Internet domain. Afilias will assist NIXI in the creation of the .IN Registry to implement the recent liberalization of domain registration policies by the Indian Government's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, by broadening the domain's distribution channel, implementing new, state-of-the-art registry technology and enabling near real-time registration of new names.

"Afilias was selected as our services provider based on its superior technology, international domain expertise and a shared vision for the proliferation of the .IN domain," said Amitabh Singhal, CEO of NIXI. "With a platform built on Afilias' proven technology, .IN will have a fast, stable and secure foundation for its revitalization. Individuals, businesses and organizations will now be able to establish their online presence in a way that uniquely symbolizes their identification with the global Indian community. And as an added benefit, .IN names are expected to go live faster than even .COM, and are much more likely to be available in the exact name desired. We anticipate that Afilias, as our registry services partner, will help us grow the .IN domain into the hundreds of thousands of registrations within a few years."

Under terms of the contract, Afilias will provide a shared registration system enabling registrars to submit real-time registration requests, a public WHOIS service, DNS resolution, and will enable all .IN Registry-authorized registrars to offer second and third level registrations. Afilias will also provide advice on policy, marketing and other relevant matters for the .IN domain.

Afilias India Pvt. Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Afilias Limited that will provide the required operational and support staff to run the registry-service operations for the .IN registry. All data will be housed and operated under current Indian law. The deployed technology will be based on Afilias' industry leading registry services that currently support the fifth and sixth largest generic TLDs in the world in addition to seven other country code domains.

"Afilias is pleased to be selected by NIXI as the technical services partner for the .IN domain," said Hal Lubsen, President & CEO of Afilias. "The combination of our expertise in registry systems, DNS services, and internationalized domain names will power the growth and expansion of the .IN domain to registrants in India and around the world. Afilias' fast, reliable and secure technology will provide industry leading service for .IN domain owners, helping make .IN a preferred domain worldwide."

Afilias and NIXI are currently developing a transition and launch plan for the .IN domain. Organizations interested in becoming registrars may obtain more information at www.nixi.org. Additional information on the .IN domain may be found at www.nixi.org.

About NIXI
The National Internet eXchange of India (NIXI) has been entrusted with the responsibility of setting up and operating the Registry for the .IN ccTLD . The technical and business activities of the .IN Registry will operate from New Delhi, India. NIXI is managed and operated on a Neutral basis, in line with the best practices for such initiatives globally and is a Not-for-Profit operation. NIXI has ambitious plans to provide impetus to .IN domain registrations in the country.

For more information please visit www.nixi.org

About Afilias
Afilias, a fully integrated global provider of domain name registry services, maintains international headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, sales offices in London, England and Düsseldorf, Germany, sales and operational facilities in Toronto, administrative offices in the U.S. near Philadelphia, PA, and operational offices in New Delhi, India. Afilias provides a full range of registry services leveraging proven technology that is fast, reliable and secure. Afilias provides registry services support to the .ORG gTLD (under contract to Public Interest Registry), the .INFO gTLD and several country code TLDs.

For more information please visit www.afilias.info