Domain name buyers are often among the first to react to huge international news events. We documented this earlier in the year by highlighting a notable surge in domain names related to the announcement of a new Pope.
The news this week about the birth of the new Prince of Cambridge to William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, is no exception. The Domains observed there has been a surge in royal baby related domain name registrations since the birth announcement was made.
The composition of the internet’s population has seen a dramatic shift over the last two decades. In 1996, the majority of end users were based in the U.S.; according to a 2012 Comscore report, the non-English speaking internet population has grown to 87 percent, with more than 40 percent based in the Asia-Pacific region. In order to embrace this population shift, we believe the internet must become multilingual so it can be accessible and relevant to the majority of end users today.
This “second screen” effect is a relatively new phenomenon that has taken off like wildfire among today’s modern consumers who watch their favorite TV shows with smartphones and/or tablets in hand. Chances are, you’ve looked up a URL or tweeted about or searched for something you saw on a show or commercial while you were watching it. If you haven’t, chances are you will.
It is no secret that there is a rush to register relevant domain names after any highly publicized event. We saw it with the Royal Wedding, the death of Whitney Houston and Hurricane Sandy. There are few events so widely publicized as the election of a new Pope, and as expected there was an enormous rush to register domains moments after the names “Jorge Mario Bergoglio” and “Pope Francis I” became known around the world. It has been estimated that well over 600 domains related to the Papacy were registered in the hours following the announcement.
As much as the world has become more connected, so that people across the world can collaborate online at any hour of the day (even in the midst of weather events like Sandy), there’s still an important role for conferences that bring people together in person at a specific time and place.
I’ve been reminded of the value of this technical “networking” as I’ve attended some key events related to my own work in recent weeks.
In mid-October, I spent some time at the ICANN 45 meeting in Toronto, the triannual focal point for industry work on domain names (as well as IP “numbers”, the second “N”). Pat Kane, senior vice president and general manager of Verisign’s Naming Services, describes his experiences at this important series as exemplifying “hard work and collaboration.” Good technical consensus, as I’ve learned through my past years in industry forums in cryptography and security, starts with trust. The many introductions and conversations that I enjoyed throughout my visit built on this value.
Earlier this year, Verisign announced its 2012 Internet Infrastructure Grant program, which called for proposals for basic research with “potential to improve the availability and security of internet access in all parts of the world.” Two proposals would be selected based on criteria of relevance, innovation, feasibility, and overall quality.
It’s my honor now to announce that the program’s distinguished judging panel has reached its decisions. The awards will go to:
In recent interviews about World IPv6 Launch I’ve been asked by several different people whether or not I think there needs to be some kind of a “Flag Day” on which the world all together switches from Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) to the version 6 (IPv6).
I don’t think a flag day is needed. World IPv6 Launch is just the right thing.
It’s worth looking at some previous flag-type days to get a better sense of why.
As a technology leader whose career objective is to help build a connected digital world, it’s hard for me to envision a better place to be at this time in internet history than Verisign.
That’s what I needed to be convinced of earlier this year when I decided to leave a good job with great people at another leading IT company to become Verisign’s CTO. Seven months later, I haven’t been disappointed.