Today, we’ve announced that we’ll be providing registry and DNS services for Minds + Machines Group Limited’s (LSE:MMX) 28 top-level domains (TLDs), including .london and .work, subject to the normal ICANN and client approvals. It’s the largest transition of gTLDs to date, a significant step forward for Nominet in the Registry Service Provision (RSP) market and one which catapults us into the top ten RSPs globally.
The partnership with Minds + Machines builds on our world-leading expertise in running domains. From our work helping brands like the BBC, Comcast and Bentley build their personalised online spaces; to our experience in geographic TLDs such as .cymru and .wales; today marks our expansion into gTLDs. We have credibility as an RSP in both brands and now generics, so we’ll be actively pursuing other opportunities in this space.
Quality and technical excellence is at the heart of what we will be delivering to Minds + Machines; we have consistently invested in our infrastructure, systems, operational capabilities, and customer service. For the last two decades, we’ve been successfully running one of the world’s largest, most trusted and recognised country codes: the .UK registry with over 10 million domains. We’re known internationally for our quality, flexible, back-end service provision.
Furthermore, ICANN selected us as one of their few emergency back-end registry operators (EBERO) for new gTLDs and we are the only one to have done a live test to date. This experience ensures we can successfully manage what we believe is the largest migration of gTLDs to a new back-end registry services provider so far.
Earlier this year, I discussed our decision to build a new, long-term strategy to expand the range of products and services we offer. Expanding our presence in the RSP market is a logical next step for us. It puts us in pole position to grow one of the things which we’re great at – our registry services – and positions us well to open up exciting new opportunities for our registrars.