Afilias Successfully Transitions .BZ Domain

Afilias to provide state-of-the-art technology to improve speed, reliability and security of .BZ domain names

May 3, 2006; 01:50 AM
DUBLIN, Ireland - Afilias Limited announced that it has expanded its existing agreement with University Management Ltd.(UML) to provide a full suite of advanced registry services to support the .BZ Internet domain for the country of Belize. Previously, Afilias provided Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) resolution services for .BZ. Afilias successfully completed the transition of registry services from .BZ's previous provider - VeriSign Global Registry Services (NASDAQ:VRSN) on 26 April 2006.

"We are pleased to expand our relationship with Afilias to now include an entire suite of reliable, and secure registry services for the operation of the .BZ domain," said Juan Carlos Namis, General Manager of University Management Ltd. "Afilias has been an excellent partner and we believe they will bring excellent registry services to the .BZ domain. Further, Afilias has strong relationships with global registrars, and can help them fully capitalize on BZ's potential as a home for businesses on the Web."

Afilias successfully completed the transition of more than 35,000 .BZ domains from UML's existing provider on 26 April 2006 and has assumed responsibilities for all back-office registry services. This includes providing a shared registration system enabling registrars to submit real-time registration requests, a public WHOIS service, and DNS resolution. Afilias will also help .BZ expand its presence in the global domain market, enabling all ICANN-accredited and Afilias-authorized registrars to offer a variety of ccTLD's through a common EPP interface.

".BZ is an excellent addition to Afilias' growing family of domains," said Hal Lubsen, President & CEO of Afilias. ".BZ is a domain that signifies business around the world, and Afilias is pleased to be able to provide this domain and its users with world-class technology to suit the needs of the business community for reliable and secure domains upon which they can build their Internet brand."

About .BZ

.BZ is the dedicated country code top-level domain for the country of Belize, a Central American/Caribbean nation. It is an unrestricted domain that is available for anyone to register. .BZ domains are inherently useful for anyone looking to promote their "business" on the Web. The letters "BZ" internationally signify business and therefore make a .BZ address a useful, and affordable solution for individuals, organizations, or other groups to promote their "business" on the Internet.

About University Management Ltd.

UML is a private commercial registry established to manage Belize's ccTLD "dot.BZ". UML also provides other Internet services such as Web hosting, e-mail, co-location servers and IT training. University Management Ltd. is a joint proprietorship between Wind & Sea Ltd. and the University of Belize. For more information please visit http://www.bz

About Afilias

Afilias Limited, a leading global provider of domain name registry services, maintains international headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, sales offices in London, England, sales and operational facilities in Toronto, Canada, 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 and sponsored TLDs.

For more information please visit http://www.afilias.info

Afilias, Heather Read, 215-706-5777, [email protected]