January 11, 2000 Web posted at: 8:27 a.m. EST (1327 GMT) by Carolyn Duffy Marsan

From...

(IDG) -- Starting on January 15, companies that register large numbers of Internet domain names can benefit from lower, wholesale pricing schemes as well as flexible registration terms ranging from one to 10 years.

Two newly accredited domain name registrars - TUCOWS.com of Toronto and register.com of New York City - announced this week plans to slash their prices and to offer single and multiyear registration terms. Until recently, the price of domain names was regulated at $35 per year, and the term of the registration was set at two years.

TUCOWS.com, a wholesaler of Internet domain names, says it will cut prices on its registration service from $13 per year to $10 per year as of January 15. The company will offer 10-year registrations for $100 - 70% less than competitors.

MORE COMPUTING INTELLIGENCE

IDG.net home page

URLs you can understand

Domain name bullying

NFL sues site for cybersquatting

IDG.net's network operating systems page

Reviews & in-depth info at IDG.net

E-BusinessWorld

Year 2000 World

Questions about computers? Let IDG.net's editors help you

Subscribe to IDG.net's free daily newsletter for network experts

Search IDG.net in 12 languages

News Radio

Fusion audio primers

Computerworld Minute

TUCOWS.com's Open Shared Registration Service is geared toward enterprises and ISPs, rather than consumers. To take advantage of it, end users must install special software on their servers to talk to TUCOWS.com's domain name registration database. The OpenSRS software provides several features designed for volume users including the ability to change contact information for multiple domain names with a single click of the mouse. Later in January, TUCOWS.com expects to ship Version 2.0 of OpenSRS, which will include easier administration.

End users of OpenSRS pay $10 a year for the service, including the server software and database access. While OpenSRS is designed for volume users, there is no minimum number of names that customers must agree to buy. Since its launch in October, TUCOWS.com has signed up dozens of enterprise customers for OpenSRS.

"I think we've got the most unique model of the new domain name registrars,'' says Ross Rader, director of the assigned names division at TUCOWS.com. "The focus of our company is doing volume transactions.''

	MESSAGE BOARD
Managing the net

Meanwhile, register.com says it also will offer discounts on multiyear registrations starting on January 15. Although register.com still charges $35 for a one-year registration, the company is offering a 10-year registration for $299.

"For companies looking for long-term security and domain protection, our 10-year registration will allow them to save 15% of the cost plus the worry of renewals,'' says register.com president Richard Foreman. "With one-year registrations, customers who don't want to make a multiyear commitment will be able to get domain names easily and less expensively.''

Officials at market leader Network Solutions of Herndon, VA. say they have no plans to react to these price cuts. "We have no plans to cut our fees,'' says spokesman Cheryl Regan. "We think that $70 for a two-year registration of an Internet identity is a good value.''

The price cuts and service innovations come two months after the Commerce Department signed a raft of agreements designed to open up the domain name registration marketplace to competition.

For six years, Network Solutions held an exclusive agreement with the Department of Commerce to register names in the .com., .net and .org domains and to collect fees for the use of those names. The Clinton Administration decided to break up Network Solution's monopoly back in 1997. In 1998, the Commerce Department chose a nonprofit organization called the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers to oversee privatization of this marketplace. Since then, ICANN has accredited nearly 100 companies worldwide to offer domain name registration services.

Under the terms of the agreements between the Commerce Department, ICANN and Network Solutions, accredited registrars can begin offering single and multiyear registrations.