Video content is the future: “If it moves, put it on .tv.” The .tv registry provider is VeriSign. They just relaunched the ccTLD with great tools to help you and your customers. The numbers speak volumes: every minute 20 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube. In the US, 80% of Internet users watch online video at least once a month. We are a culture embracing online media.

.tv is the preferred destination for video, film, animation, user-generated content and playable media of all kinds. It’s also a great choice for product demonstrations, how-to videos, keynote addresses, plus training and educational content. Whether you are in the business of creating videos or just use videos in support of your business, a .tv domain name is the natural place for your video content to live. Some of the most prominent .tv sites on the web include: Leo Leporte’s twit.tv, justin.tv, ustream.tv and blip.tv.

When you sign up for the .tv promo (until December 31, 2009), we’ll give you a complete package of .tv marketing materials (.tv logo, icons, animated banner ads and email templates).

Quick Facts:

• VeriSign is the Registry provider
• It is a TLD that is a statement about who you are. You can tell people to expect video on your web site by choosing a .tv.
• .tv is a ccTLD
• There are no residency restrictions.
• .tv was started by dotTV in 2000.

Available resources:

• VeriSign’s Watch.tv site
• Watch.TV Blog
• Watch.TV FAQs
• For more ccTLD context, Check out the VeriSign Domain Name Industry Brief (specifically p. 2 -3 for ccTLDs)
• Follow WatchTV on Twitter
• Facebook with WatchTV
• Watch TV’s YouTube channel
• Watch TV research with Delicious bookmarks

Looking to supercharge your SSL sales? Look no further.

One of the things we hear over and over again, is that it’s nearly impossible to sell SSL certificates in the face of companies like GoDaddy who seem to be more interested in moving as many units as possible, at the expense of the bottom line. But it’s simply not true–with the right information and techniques, you can effectively sell SSL by easily countering some common objections customers might have.

2010 is fast approaching and now is the time to start thinking about how to energize your SSL sales. And don’t forget that our GeoTrust $199 Extended Validation (EV) SSL Certificate promo is coming to an end soon as well. End 2009 with a bang and kickstart your SSL sales activities heading into the new year.

Get the Sale!

Bob Angus, Product Marketing Manager, VeriSign, will present “Get the Sale! Overcoming four common objections when selling SSL.” Bob will address the four most common objections that you’ll face when selling SSL certificates, provide you with the information that you need to address each one head on, and help you make the sale.

He’ll cover everything from objections over price, to how to handle questions about technology from customers who may have bought into some common misconceptions about SSL. In short, Bob will arm you with information and tactics that you can use when selling SSL to even the most sceptical of customers.

This is a free event for OpenSRS Resellers.

Details:

REGISTRATION IS FREE
What: Get the Sale! Overcoming four common objections when selling SSL
When: Thursday, December 3rd, 2009 at 11:00 A.M. EST (16:00 UTC)

Regular visitors to the OpenSRS.com website may have noticed a new addition to the bottom of the page this week. We’re experimenting with using Google’s translation service on our site as a way to offer our information in different languages. This is really something of a beta test and we like your help and feedback.

We have quite a few people in the company who speak different languages and we’ve been exploring some ways to expand the level of support for our Resellers who speak something other than English.

For example, if you saw us at any of the Parallels EMEA Partner Roadshow eventsv around Europe this past summer, you might have noticed that we had marketing materials in a number of different languages including German, Spanish and French. You may also have noticed a number of blog posts in the Registries series that were translated over the past month or two.

Using Google’s translation service is a way to quickly offer other language versions of our website, including the blog.

What do you think?

We’d love to hear from you–what you think about the quality of the translation that Google is providing for the website? Is it understandable in other languages? Do you think it’s a useful tool?

Drop us a line in the comments here on the blog. If possible, include the language or languages you looked at so we can evaluate which ones the translations might work for and which ones are less than ideal.

Change management is all about ensuring the stability of our services. In the last year, we made significant improvements to our Change Management processes.

In part one of the series, A.J. Mirani, Manager, Technical Operations, talked about how we analyze changes and manage risk. Creating categories for changes and risk is only part of a solid change management process. In part two, A.J. provides more context to the life-cycle of a change request:

You might also be interested in A.J’s introduction to the Technical Operations team that we posted a few months back.

Stay tuned for more videos about the Technical teams at OpenSRS. Also, if you have any suggestions for topics you’d like to hear more about, let us know.

Since returning from the ICANN meeting in Seoul, I’ve received a lot of good questions about the Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) announcement made there.

The announcement garnered a lot of attention from our resellers and international media alike. It essentially approves the introduction of IDNs “after the dot” for country code Top Level Domains (ccTLDs). Currently, IDNs are only available “before the dot”, so the extension “after the dot” (such as .CN or .IN) has to remain in latin characters. Not so under the new ccTLD IDN structure.

So the question is, what has changed since the announcement? The answer is: nothing yet. ICANN’s announcement only opened the door for applications, and did not actually result in any new extensions being introduced to the domain name system just yet. Individual country representatives and ccTLD operators still have to apply for their IDN extensions, and systems will need to be adjusted (both by registrars and registries) to make the names available. As a registrar, we will start evaluating them as the ccTLDs we support start introducing them, but there are few time-lines available just yet. As we get more information, we’ll definitely be providing details.

In the meantime, ICANN has more information on the IDN fast track process for those looking to learn more.

Image courtesy of The WHIR

Last month we attended the cPanel Conference and we are happy to announce our prize winner. Congrats to Lenny from Codero for winning our iPod shuffle. This year’s conference was the biggest cPanel conference yet with over 180 attendee registrations and with folks traveling in from all over the world. It was a fun and educational environment, and a must-attend event for cPanel users! Thanks to the organizers for a great conference and also to everyone that stopped by our booth to say hello.

With another successful WHIR networking event taking place last week in Seattle, that wraps up our OpenSRS events schedule for the year. However, we are already busy planning for next year. I wanted to tell you about about a couple of exciting conferences that are coming up in the new year.

Parallels Summit 2010 – February 22-24

I don’t think you’ll be disappointed with the Parallels Summit 2010 new venue – the iconic Fontainebleau Miami Beach Resort. The Parallels Summit gives you a chance to meet industry peers and get inspired to build better Cloud Services based businesses. The Parallels Summit has become the premier conference for industry leaders to discuss how to drive innovation, create differentiated service offerings, and build businesses that profit from the Cloud.

The conference is free for Parallels’ partners, customers, invited guests, and other industry professionals. If you register before November 13, 2009 you’ll be entered to win your choice of an iPod Touch or Microsoft Zune HD.

WebhostingDay 2010 – March 17-19

WebhostingDay is the largest web hosting event in Europe and possibly the world. Last year they had 2,000 attendees.  It takes place in Phantasialand, an amusement park near Cologne, Germany. It offers a great mix of concentrated industry knowledge, networking events, and fun!  Check out some of our WebhostingDay 2009 coverage. We will have free conference passes, and we’ll let you know how to register with them in the coming months.

We are really hoping that some of you are planning to attend these conferences not only because they are some of the best in our industry, but also because there is nothing better than connecting with our resellers, partners and industry peers face-to-face. As we get closer to these events, we will keep you posted. Follow us on  twitter for event updates.

We’re accountable to you to provide stable, reliable services. To meet that goal our Technical teams have made significant improvements to our Change Management processes.

In our last video, A.J. Mirani, Manager of Technical Operations, provided us with a brief overview of the Technical Operations team. He joins again with two videos explaining the OpenSRS/Tucows Change Management processes.

In this first part, A.J. talks about how we analyze changes and manage risk using our version of ITIL/ITSM: (5 minute video)

Next week, we’ll post part 2 of our conversation on Change Management.

I’m back from Seoul, which played host last week to ICANN’s 36th International Meeting. As far as ICANN meetings go, this one was extremely busy, well-attended and led to several significant decisions on a policy level.

The decision which garnered the most international attention was ICANN’s approval of a “fast track” process for certain Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs). This will allow certain ccTLDs to introduce internationalized versions of their extension in native language scripts. Historically, IDNs have only been available “before the dot”, while the actual extension had to remain in Latin characters. IDN ccTLDs, however, will allow the extension “after the dot” to be entered in native language scripts as well. With the approval of the fast track process, ICANN will now begin accepting IDN ccTLD applications. Stay tuned for more developments on this new process in the coming months.

For those interested in the approval of new Top Level Domain names, the Seoul conference had both positive and negative developments. On the plus side, coming away from the conference, it is very clear everyone is committed to new TLDs. However, it is also now clear that the original time-line, which would have seen the first applications submitted in the first quarter of 2010, is now obsolete. Instead, there are no longer any clear time-lines for the approval of new extensions. On a positive note, ICANN did approve a motion to explore allowing those interested in operating a new TLD to submit an “expression of interest”. These submissions would be accompanied by a deposit, and would theoretically allow ICANN to gauge how many serious bids currently exist and help them garner additional support.

The next ICANN conference takes place February 2010 in Nairobi, Kenya. By that time, we should have some additional clarity on just how long the new TLD process is going to take. But will we see dates and time-lines before then? If we do, you can be sure we’ll discuss them in this space.

With a renewal rate of 74% and an annual growth rate of 20%, .CA serves value for your Canadian domains customers. The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) operates the .CA domain.

Disponible en Français au-dessous

Started in 1988, Growing Strong

The first .CA domain name was upei.ca, registered in 1988 by the University of Prince Edward Island. Back then, .CA was run by a group of volunteers at the University of British Columbia. In 2000, control of .CA was transferred to CIRA, a non-profit corporation that manages the .CA domain space on behalf of all Canadians.

.CA Today

With over 1.2 million .CA domains in existence today, .CA easily ranks in the top 20 of ccTLDs worldwide. According to CIRA, more than 400,000 times every minute someone initiates an action online that involves a .ca domain name. CIRA has a new campaign to help Resellers leverage this activity. It’s called “Get my Own .CA” and features great Canadian small businesses and organizations such as Midnight Poutine and Blade Tape (hockey stick tape). CIRA has targeted the small business market with ads appearing in Marketing Magazine, The Globe and Mail, CBC.ca and Yahoo Canada.

Why .CA? CIRA’s Annual Report has more statistics to help your customers when they consider .CA:

• 70% wanted to show their site was Canadian
• 60% of Canadians prefer .CA for online shopping
• 35% use their .CA for personal use
• 64% use their .CA companies/organizations

Adam Eisner, Director, Domain Services for OpenSRS on .CA and the Canadian Market:

Quick Facts:

• The .CA registry is CIRA, a not-for-profit corporation
• .CA domain names are reserved for Canadian people and organizations that meet CIRA Canadian Presence Requirements
• Started by UBC researchers in 1987 and became available for the general public in December 2000
• .CA, a ccTLD, has over 1. 2 million domains registered
• Registering a .CA means you can apply to become a voting member of the organization

Available Resources:

• Visit CIRA’s news portal
• Get some .CA facts
• See CIRA Announcements
• View CIRA Policies
• Get answers to FAQs
• Understand CIRA Canadian Presence Requirements
• View CIRA’s Annual Report
• Read “Public Domain” – the CIRA blog
• Follow CIRA on Twitter
• View videos on CIRA’s YouTube channel
• Slideshare

Avec des renouvelements de 74% et une croissance annuelle de 20%, point-ca offre vos clients une aubaine. L’Autorité canadienne pour les enregistrements internet (ACEI) est le registre des noms de domaine .CA. En opération depuis une vingtaine d’années, le ccTLD .CA gère au-delà de 1,2 millions de noms de domaine:

Au moins 400,000 opérations chaque minute passent au cours de domaines point-ca. L’ACEI a récemment lancé « Get My Own .CA » , un projet démontrant des entreprises et organisations canadiennes, entre autres Midnight Poutine et Blade Tape. l’ACEI cible les petites entreprises avec ses annonces dans Marketing Magazine, Globeandmail.com, cbc.ca et Yahoo.ca.

Pourquoi point-ca? Le rapport annuel de l’ACEI pour 2009 offre quelques renseignements pour vos clients:

70% désire montrer aux visiteurs qu’il s’agit d’un site Web canadien

60% de canadiens préfèrent les domaines point-ca pour la commerce électronique

35% utilise point-ca pour tâches personelles

64% utilise point-ca pour compagnies ou organisations

Adam Eisner, Directeur de Domaines, au sujet de point-ca et le marché canadien:

Données:

• Le registre point-ca est l’ACEI, un société du secteur privé à but non lucratif
• Créé in 1987 par des bénévoles de l’Université de la Colombie-Britannique et ouvert au publique en Décembre 2000
• Point-ca, un ccTLD, gè au-delá de 1,2 million domaines
• Comme titulaire, vous pouvez devenir membre de l’ACEI et aider à façonner l’avenir du Canada sur l’Internet
• En Octobre 2009, l’ACEI a lancé un banc d’essai pour le DNSSEC, technologie importante pour avertier l’usurpation de sites web

Resources Disponibles:

• FAQs
• Nouvelles
• Votre passeport au domaines point-ca
• Gérez vos informations ACEI
• Annonces Publique
• Mise à jour des politiques
• Connexion des titulaires de noms de domaine
• Exigences en matière de présence au Canada
• Rapport Annuel 2008-2009
• blog ACEI (anglais)
• Twitter (anglais)
• Youtube
• Slideshare

Special thanks to Ben Zanin, Senior NOC Analyst, OpenSRS for providing his translation assistance.

Here at OpenSRS we take Halloween very seriously. Each year, Tucows HQ in Toronto becomes a place filled with wacky costumes wandering the halls. It’s a sight that’s sure to put a scare in each of us!

“Best Decorated Service Guy” Competition

This year we’re holding a “Best Decorated Service Guy” competition as part of the fun. We’d love for you to take part–if you have one of our Service Guy action figures, you too can join in the scary fun! This Friday, October 30th, 2009, dress him up, and then take a picture and send it to halloween@opensrs.com or post it on Twitter or Flickr. Be sure to tag it #serviceguy so we can find it. We’ll post all entries right here on our blog!

Fear not if you don’t have a Service Guy. We would still love to see what you are doing at your company to celebrate Halloween–send those pictures our way too!

There’s prizes!

A special prize will go to the person or company with “Best Decorated Service Guy” as well as the company or group with the most spirited photo.

In the meantime, I’m off to track down some eye of newt and toe of frog for my witches brew.