dot Brand - Your Company as a new TLD

Cultivating your business on the Internet

ICANN has announced a new assignment method for new generic top-level domains (new gTLDs). This development will allow even company and product names (e.g. .company, .product or .brand), names of cities and regions (e.g. .berlin or .africa) as well as generic terms representing a community (e.g. .shop or .web) to be registered as top-level domains. With this new approach, domain names such as product.companyname or buy.product or member.community will be possible.

Be a pioneer of this new development and apply for your own top-level domain. This new opportunity will enable your company or community to be uniquely identified on a global scale and to demonstrate your leading position in new technologies.

Benefits of your own TLD:

• Secure name space
• Unique addressing
• Protection and extension of your trademark
• Global, innovative branding
• Effective marketing tool
• Development of new markets
• Improved search engine positioning
• Stand out from the competition
• Greater independence
• own registry policies and procedures

The application window for new gTLDs will be open from January 12 to April 12, 2012. It is expected that the first domain names in new gTLDs will be available for registration in 2013.

ICANN has not yet approved plans for a second round of applications, and has not specified a time frame for when a second round would occur if approved. The time to act is now - Don't miss out on this opportunity!

More information about the gTLD program, the Applicant Guidebook and an official ICANN FAQ can be found on the right hand side in the box "More links about dotBrand".

BrandShelter™ is uniquely prepared to assist companies, trademark owners, governmental organizations, cities, regions and communities with the conception and realization of their own TLD including strategic consultation and project managing. Through partnerships with industry leaders, we are able to offer full support in understanding the new TLD opportunities, determining which name(s) to pursue, and submitting and tracking your application with ICANN.

Key-Systems™ provides you with all technical tools necessary for operating your own TLD on the Internet. We successfully ran a domain registry in the past, providing us with extensive knowledge needed to operate a registry system. We supported registries in the implementation of their systems as well. Furthermore, we are experienced in the handling of the various assignment phases such as Sunrise, Landrush and GoLive when introducing new TLDs.

We offer registry operation functions supporting all current standards including whitelabel registry and registrar interface - custom-tailored, modular solutions!

We welcome the opportunity to work with you on the selection of the most suitable top-level domain for your purpose and to advise you on the exciting possibilities to use your own name space.

Our services include:

• Consultation and design of your very own TLD
• Submitting the application to ICANN
• Support of your application through each application phase at ICANN

Technical implementation:

• Implementation and administration of all registry functions
• Operation of the core registry system according to the highest industry standard
• Connecting the registration process to work flows in the customer's company (as required)
• Telephone and eMail support and immediate troubleshooting

ICANN Video Explains New TLDs to the Masses: