auDA (.au Domain Administration Ltd) today announced the successful transition of over 3.1 million .au domains to the new Afilias operated registry platform. The previous record for a transition was 2.4 million domain names (.org), again transitioned by Afilias.
Afilias was selected as the new registry operator following a successful international tender process run by auDA. The transition to Afilias also facilitates 1 to 5 year registration terms, which have been in demand by registrants. According to a recent DNJ poll there was strong support for both 1 and 5 year terms.
The transition to Afilias will see a reduction of the wholesale prices of .au domains by 10%, and the creation of a new $12 million marketing and innovation program over 4 years to increase the awareness and use of .au. This will be the biggest investment in the .au domain space.
According to auDA:
The move to Afilias’ next-generation registry service will enable the .au domain to build a global reputation for reliability and security, based on the following:
- More, modern infrastructure: Afilias has built new, up to date infrastructure in every state of Australia which will make .au names respond faster and more locally.
- Better security: The .au namespace is a critical part of the Australian digital economy. By deploying state of the art technology and working closely with Australian cyber security authorities, Afilias is ensuring that .au has the best defences against foreign and domestic security threats.
- Abuse, Spam and Phishing Protection: Afilias is an industry leader in proactively tackling suspicious domains linked to spam and phishing activities. This experience will help auDA mitigate abuse in the .au namespace, enhancing trust and protecting the Australian internet community.
- Australian management and support team: .au will be supported in-country by a fully equipped Afilias registry office in Melbourne. This office is backed by Afilias’ experienced teams in North America, Europe and Asia.
- Competitive pricing: auDA has already announced a 10% reduction in wholesale fees for .au names. Additional savings are earmarked for other activities designed to ensure the .au namespace remains the preferred address for Australians.
The previous operator Neustar had provided registry services to .au for the past 16 years.
According to auDA CEO Cameron Boardman, who together with his team, oversaw the successful transition of the registry operator said:
“The transition to Afilias’ modern registry positions .au to meet the needs of Australia’s expanding digital economy, and offers all Australians the best possible service by ensuring the reliability and security of operations as well as the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data.”
While Ram Mohan, Executive Vice President of Afilias, said:
“Afilias is proud to support .au, one of the world’s leading ccTLDs, as it enters a new era of growth and vitality enabled by modern, high capacity, secure and resilient infrastructure. The .au Registrars have done a wonderful job working with us on the transition, and we look forward to supporting them and the entire Australian internet community for many years to come.”
The registry transformation project has been auDA’s biggest project which was successfully completed, despite the fact that auDA is at the same time undertaking enormous reforms in line with the recommendations arising out of the recent Government review.
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