The end of last year saw an important milestone: The transition period for the United Kingdom leaving the EU ended on December 31st, 2020. The so-called Brexit also had an [impact on registrants of .eu domains| Link alte P3 News]. In order to keep their .eu domains, registrants in the UK had to either prove their EU citizenship or change the registrant's data to an address within the EU, for example a different business site. Otherwise, the affected domain registrations would have become invalid. According to EURid, the registry for .eu, over 81,000 .eu domains were suspended. All affected registrants now have time until March 31st, 2021 to update their data and restore their domains.

Our team was able to save all .eu domains registered with us from suspension. Thanks to early actions taken and contacting affected customers individually and in time, we were able to make all necessary changes in a timely manner.

ironDNS^® the DNS infrastructure from our Knipp product family, has a new interface. It now offers a REST API. You can use it in addition to the already existing SOAP interface. "Having more variety and a bigger choice of interfaces allows our customers to use their own infrastructure and to communicate with ironDNS^® via already existing systems", explains Dr. Michael Bauland, the Senior Systems Architect of the Knipp product. Thus, automatically managing your zones with ironDNS^® becomes even easier and offers you even more flexibility.

The new REST API comes with an extensive technical documentation including all requests and allowed parameters as well as numerous hands-on examples. The REST API Guide helps you to implement the REST API easily within your own infrastructure. können Sie das REST-API unkompliziert an Ihre eigene Infrastruktur anbinden.

Visit www.irondns.net for more information or contact our team directly at info@irondns.net.

Knipp passes the reduction on to their end customers

Starting today, Germany's temporary value added tax (VAT) reduction becomes effective. We want our end customers to benefit from that, which is why we voluntarily and fully pass the tax reduction on to them.

From July 1st, 2020 to December 31st, 2020, the VAT rates drop to 16 percent instead of 19 percent and to five percent instead of seven percent. We will pass on this tax advantage directly to our end customers. In that way, they can benefit from even better prices in all our business areas: IT-Enterprise-Services as well as Domains and Print.

Since fiscal law is a complex thing, some special rules apply to the domain business. Domain registrations usually have a duration of at least one year. Whether the tax reduction applies to a domain registration or domain renewal does not depend on the date of commissioning but rather on the date of complete service delivery. For domains, that key date is the end of the registration period. This means that for domains that are newly registered or renewed between July 1st, 2020 and December 31st, 2020 the regular VAT (19%) applies. Domains with registration periods that end in that time frame, however, are eligible for the reduced VAT rate of 16 percent.

Our customers will receive credit notes for all domain services that are eligible for the reduced taxes. One-time services such as recovering expired domains (RGP), which are usually completed within a couple of days, will of course also be billed with the reduced VAT rate of 16 percent.

For more information on our domain prices, please visit our Price Overview .

 

Knipp is Still on Top

In this year's ISO 27001 audit, Knipp has yet again proven that their information security concept complies with highest international security standards. The IT service provider, based in Dortmund, is compliant with the strict requirements, which earned the company a recertification.

"The ISO 27001 standard is defined by a comprehensive measure catalog in order to define and guarantee an international standard for highest information security. Therefore, the auditor examines all our security concepts, our risk analysis, all measures taken as well as all relevant documentation", says Björn Mönikes, Knipp's Data Protection Officer (DPO). This year, Knipp passed a so-called surveillance audit. Those are scheduled on a yearly basis, whereas companies also need to pass an even more comprehensive recertification audit every three years, which Knipp succeeded last year.

How well is information protected? Were there any security incidents? If so, how were those treated? Did the overall situation and risk change? All of these and other questions are part of the risk analysis – and of everyday practice. Knipp's team for information security works according to the mantra "Plan Do Check Act": they need to plan, implement and check measures and constantly adapt and improve the processes. It is crucial to be flexible in order to react to new technical developments, new laws or... a global pandemic. "Most of our employees are now working from home. This is why we had to create the completely new infrastructure for everyone to do so. Of course, we had to consider new potential security risks that come with working from home, which we have taken into account and for which we have also raised the awareness of our employees", explains Damian Lusiewicz, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Knipp.

ISO 27001 is the leading international standard for defining and guaranteeing information security. Complying with highest operational standards in this area is crucial for companies like Knipp who handle information as their core business. With the renewed successful certification, Knipp has proven to handle information accordingly with highest care and awareness for security. Damian Lusiewicz is content because "this confirms our customers who have shown us long-lasting trust in all operational fields, from our data center to software engineering and our print department." The certification also includes Knipp's software products: the registry back-end TANGO Registry Services^®, the nameserver infrastructure ironDNS^® and the domain portfolio management tool mambo⁺.

For more details, please visit the ISO 27001 page on our website.

Our Services Continue!

The new coronavirus challenges all of us in unforeseen ways. One thing that you can rely on: our business hours have not changed, we are available for you as usual. Of course we cannot predict the future. However, we will do our best to keep up our services running smoothly in all our business divisions, including the domain business, our IT-Enterprise-Services as well as our print shop.

We implemented extensive precautionary measures in order to minimize health risks for our employees and customers. Our employees are all able to work from home while all meetings take place virtually. Strict rules of conduct regarding hygiene and distance assure a safe, continued business activity on site. In that way, we can keep providing our services as usual.

Stay healthy and safe!

Domain pulse 2020 is coming up and Knipp is pleased to announce that our team will be present.

Domain pulse is the yearly forum organized by the German-speaking registries DENIC, nic.at and SWITCH. This year's Domain pulse takes place on February 20 and 21 in Tyrol – nic.at invites participants to Innsbruck. Thematically, the event will discuss questions about the future of technology, Internet Governance as well as the future of work.

Meet our team in Innsbruck and get to know our services. Learn about our software products in more detail, for example with live demonstrations of our name server infrastructure ironDNS^®, the domain analysis tool mambo⁺ and our Registry back-end solution TANGO Registry Services^®. Profit from getting a demo account to check out all functionalities of mambo⁺ and ironDNS^® during and after the event.

You may make an appointment with us or simply come and talk to us directly at our booth.

See you there!

Knipp at ICANN's Annual General Meeting 2019

Knipp will be present the next ICANN meeting. ICANN66 takes place November 2 to 7, 2019 in Montréal in Canada. Meet representatives of all our teams and get to know our products and services on the spot.

We will present our domain portfolio management tool mambo⁺, our registry back-end TANGO Registry Services^® as well as our domain name infrastructure ironDNS^®. Our experts can show you live demos of the software and answer all your questions. We can also set up free trial accounts so that you can look into ironDNS^® and mambo⁺ in more detail.

You can schedule an appointment with us now directly talk to us on the ground.

We are looking forward to seeing you!

 

Information on our full product suite

The 65th ICANN conference takes place from June 24 to June 27 in Marrakech. The provincial capital in the southwest of Morocco is one of four former imperial cities and often referred to as the »Pearl of the South«.

It goes without saying that a team of Knipp will be present at the meeting. So use the opportunity to contact us and make an appointment. We would love to demonstrate ourpremium products ironDNS^®, mambo⁺, TANGO Registry Services^® and our Domain Registrierungs System.

Our experts are also ready to answer your questions around your domain strategy and your portfolio.

Simply get in touch! We are looking forward to meet you.

 

We will again have a booth at the job fair REALITY in Dortmund. On June 5, we will present ourselves to students and graduates who are looking for job opportunities.

What exactly does a network administrator do? What are chances and challenges in agile software development? And what possibilities do you as students have to start your career at Knipp? We are happy to answer all of your questions at our booth over a cold and refreshing beverage. Come and get to know us.

Our student assistant Marvin Rensing will give you a first-hand insight into his work life as a student at Knipp. His talk "die Arbeit statt nur dabei - Berufseinstieg als Werkstudent bei Knipp" will take place at 10:35 am in room 1.026.

By the way: We are currently looking for new team members for both our software engineering department as well as the network administration center. You can find more information on our current job offers on our career site, or come to our booth E10 in the tent.

We are looking forward to meeting you!

Wednesday, June 5 2019, 10 am to 5 pm
Computer Science Facilities of the TU Dortmund, Otto-Hahn-Straße 12, 44227 Dortmund

REALITY is a job fair for Computer Science in Dortmund. It is organized by the Department of Computer Science of the TU Dortmund University. Both students as well as graduates and IT professionals are welcome.

Knipp has successfully renewed its ISO 27001 certification. The recertification proves that Knipp's information security concept and the way information is handled comply with highest international security standards.

Knipp was first certified in 2016. At that time, the ISO working group had designed a comprehensive security concept. It follows a so-called full scope approach and includes all business services, infrastructures and processes, but it doesn't stop there. "It is essential to question existing structures and to continously develop and improve the security concept", explains Damian Lusiewicz, Knipp's Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), "We keep observing the latest trends and developments and assess how we can implement them. A good example is the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that became effective last year." Constant development also calls for regularly training employees so that they are aware of the latest requirements of information security. After the first certificate was valid for three years, it now had to be renewed.

ISO 27001 is the leading international standard for defining and guaranteeing information security. Complying with highest operational standards in this area is crucial for companies like Knipp who handle information as their core business. With the renewed successful certification, Knipp has proven to handle information accordingly with highest care and awareness for security. Damian Lusiewicz is content because "this confirms our customers who have shown us long-lasting trust in all operational fields, from our data center to software engineering and our print department." The certification also includes Knipp's software products: the registry back-end TANGO Registry Services^®, the nameserver infrastructure ironDNS^® and the domain portfolio management tool mambo⁺.

For more details, please visit the ISO 27001 page on our website.

The toolkit implements an interface to DENIC's Real-time Registry Interface (RRI) for the Java programming language. It represents DENIC requests and responses, contact and domain data as well as messages as Java objects, allowing an easy access to the registry functionality.

The main feature of this new release is support for the DENIC RRI specification in version 3.0. At the same time, the support for previous versions has been removed. Other changes include an updated test application, additional help output, a new message visitor and updated error codes.

The Knipp RRI Toolkit is available for download on the Knipp Labs page.

Knipp will be present with a booth at this year's Domain pulse.

The event takes place on February 18 and 19, 2019 in the Swiss capital Bern. The meeting will focus on topics such as Internet governance and resilience, digital identities as well as Internet architecture security. Meet our team and get to know our products and services on the spot.

We will present our domain portfolio management tool mambo⁺, our registry back-end TANGO Registry Services^® as well as our domain name infrastruktur ironDNS^®. Our experts can show you live demos of the software and answer all your questions. We can also set up free trial accounts so that you can look into ironDNS^® and mambo⁺ in more detail.

You can schedule an appointment with us now, or directly talk to us at our booth.

We are looking forward to seeing you!

At the 63rd ICANN Conference in Barcelona, Knipp is an official sponsor.

At the six-day conference held from October 20th to 25th in the capital of Catalonia and second largest city of Spain, Knipp will be present as a sponsor with its products ironDNS^®, mambo⁺ and TANGO Registry Services^®.

A great opportunity for you to get presentations of the most important Knipp developments of the recent years. Experience our products in revealing practical demonstrations: Our premium name server technology , the abuse monitoring tool ironDNS^®, the abuse monitoring tool mambo⁺ and the world-class TLD solution TANGO Registry Services^®.

We also offer individual testing accounts on request with which you can put ironDNS^® and mambo⁺ to the test – not only directly during the conference, but also afterwards back at home.

Our team of experts in Barcelona will happily answer your questions and help you with your individual requirements and wishes. Please make an appointment for a non-binding consultation, or contact us directly on the spot.

The Knipp team looks forward to meeting you!

Official Sponsor of the 63. ICANN Conference in Barcelona

Our form for the processing of online payments via credit card has moved. From now on, you can find this function on a separate sub page of your personal account administration.

Pay easily, quickly and safely: Online Payment at Knipp

Accepted cards are American Express, Mastercard und Visa.

As every year, we will attend the job fair REALITY in Dortmund. On June 6th (10 am to 5 pm) we will present ourselves and our businesses to interested students and graduates. Come and visit us and get to know us as an employer!

Die REALITY wird von der Fakultät für Informatik der TU Dortmund organisiert und richtet sich sowohl an Studierende als auch an Absolventen und IT-Professionals. Sie können den Arbeitsalltag in der IT-Branche erkunden und so den richtigen Arbeitgeber finden.

Auch wir haben freie Stellen für Studierende und Vollzeitkräfte. „Wir sind ständig auf der Suche nach guten Leuten, die unsere Leidenschaft für IT teilen“, erklärt Dr. Jan-Hendrik Lochner, Gruppenleiter und System-Architekt bei Knipp. „Momentan suchen wir zum Beispiel Verstärkung für unsere Softwareentwicklung und die Netzwerkadministration“.

Im Vortrag „Beyond Scrum – Agile Softwareentwicklung in einem dynamischen Umfeld“ erhalten Sie erste Einblicke in unseren Arbeitsalltag. Am Messestand beantworten wir gerne Ihre Fragen. Wir freuen uns auf spannende Gespräche mit Ihnen!

Sie schaffen es nicht zur Messe und wollen trotzdem wissen, welche Stellen gerade bei uns frei sind? Dann schauen Sie doch mal in unserer Übersicht der offenen Stellen.

Meet us at the REALITY 2018: Informal Registration

Mittwoch, 06. Juni 2018, 10 bis 17 Uhr
Computer Science Facilities of the TU Dortmund, Otto-Hahn-Straße 12, 44227 Dortmund

At the 60th ICANN Conference in Abu Dhabi, the Annual General Meeting 2017, Knipp is represented as an official sponsor.

At the seven-day conference held in the capital of the United Arab Emirates from 28 October to 3 November 2017, Knipp will be present as a sponsor with its products ironDNS^®, mambo⁺ and TANGO Registry Services^®.

This is a great opportunity to get presentations of the most important Knipp developments of the recent years. Experience our products in revealing practical demonstrations: Our premium name server technology ironDNS^®, the abuse monitoring tool mambo⁺, and the world-class TLD solution TANGO Registry Services^®.

On request, we also offer individual testing accounts with which you can put not only ironDNS^® to the acid test, but also mambo⁺ – calmly, during breaks or after the conference.

Our team of experts will also be happy to answer specific questions about your individual requirements. Please make an appointment for a non-binding consultation, or contact us directly.

The Knipp team looks forward to seeing you!

Official Sponsor of the 60th ICANN Meeting in Abu Dhabi

The continuous improvement of mambo⁺ goes on. The enhanced abuse monitoring offers compliance with Spec 11 3b of the ICANN registry agreement. Further to that, mambo⁺ now provides additional business intelligence functionality for registries, registrars and registrants.

By analysing technical information and usage data of domain names the users gain important insights for operative and strategic decisions. Concretely, mambo⁺ helps to improve services, to determine the demand and market potentials of new functions, and last not least to enhance reputation and customer support.

Besides these improvements a lot of further innovations have been added to mambo⁺. The user interface has been redesigned to become even more comfortable, and a new app (for iOS and Android) has been developed which provides instant user notifications on mobile devices and tablets about new or omitted abuse cases.

Another technical innovation is the new smart mambo⁺ bulb. These LED RGB Bluetooth bulbs signal status updates of domain abuse cases within a domain portfolio, supplementing to the automated reports and e-mail alerts that mambo⁺ provides out of the box. This allows to respond to domain abuse cases even quicker.

The first public presentation of the smart mambo⁺ bulbs will be on the upcoming ICANN meeting in Copenhagen from March 11th to March 16th. There, interested registries have the possibility to get sample devices for free.

For more information, visit mambo.plus and contact our team directly: info@mambo.plus

Last week Knipp announced its new product at the ICANN meeting in Helsinki: The monitoring tool for domain portfolios — mambo⁺.

mambo⁺ is an acronym for „monitoring and management beautifully organized“. The simple and user-optimised business intelligence tool for domain portfolios provides a variety of sophisticated features that fulfill the needs of different user groups. Registrars, resellers and registrants can watch their domains to identify important trends over time or track changes within seconds of their occurrence. Individually configured reports and state-of-the-art statistics help to gain an extensive overview. In addition, alerts ensure that the user is informed immediately in the event of relevant incidents.

Registries can achieve ICANN compliance concerning Spec 11 3b of the Registry Agreement by using mambo⁺ to detect domain name abuse. Additionally, the in-depth analysis functionality of mambo⁺ empower users that need specific information, e.g. journalists, to gain extensive insights into domain names and their history.

Data protection is of outstanding importance. mambo⁺-data is stored on servers located in Europe and the data storage complies to the high standards of European Data Protection. Furthermore, Knipp as the provider of mambo⁺ is ISO/IEC 27001-certified which reflects the comprehensive security concepts.

Visit mambo.plus for more details and feel free to contact us directly: info@mambo.plus mambo.plus

ironDNS^® offers an easy option to check the criteria

The German federal IT security law (the so-called IT-Sicherheitsgesetz) became effective in July 2015. It was supposed to enhance the security of home IT infrastructures. However, many telecommunication service providers as well as web server and web shop operators are not aware of the fact that they since have to comply with stricter standards concerning data and IT system security.

On May 3 2016, the IT security law was supplemented by an ordinance regulating all branches supplying the general public. This includes, for example, the so-called critical infrastructures in the areas of information technology and telecommunications, energy, water and alimentation. The areas transportation and traffic, health as well as the financial system and the assurance industry will be covered by 2017.

System operators and service providers thus need to establish a single contact point to the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) within six months and implement a minimum IT security standard within two years. In addition, reporting obligations for security relevant incidents, such as cyber attacks, phishing or IT-based attempted extortion, are effective. These obligatory reports serve to provide an insight into the current threat potential in Germany and to plan preventive measures accordingly.

The so-called „BSI-Kritisverordnung“ provides a list of criteria that helps to define critical infrastructures. For web-based DNS services for example, the definition is based on the amount of daily requested IP adresses. However, the operators themselves are obliged to determine whether their facilities classify as critical infrastructure. The problem is that many operators are not aware of these obligations and the possible consequences. Not complying with the new standards might result in fees as high as €100,000.

This is why every company working in the mentioned fields should check the list of criteria. The time for implementation is already running out.

The „Online-Test Critical Infrastructure“. is an easy and comprehensible tool to check whether your infrastructure are classified as critical. This online tool is an interactive questionnaire created by the DNS specialists at ironDNS^®. Furthermore, you will find short and clear explanations, instructions for the next steps and further information via the link below.

„Online-Test Critical Infrastructure“: https://irondns.net/kritisv

With the enormous increase of data available in all fields of daily life, for many people the question about the security of the processed data becomes more and more pressing. In order to permanently guarantee IT security, the international standard ISO 27001 has been developed. The Dortmund based Internet system house Knipp Medien und Kommunikation GmbH has now been awarded the ISO/IEC 27001 certificate for its comprehensive security concepts.

The ISO 27001 norm specifies requirements and procedures to maintain the availability, integrity and confidentiality of information in a sustained manner. These include, for example, technical and physical means such as data encryption and redundancy of critical system components. Moreover, the security awareness of employees is of central importance. A permanent risk analysis of business-critical processes additionally ensures that threats are identified early and appropriate measures are taken.

For Knipp, the security of the handled information has always been an integral part of its corporate culture. The ISO 27001 certificate now proves that the security measures established at Knipp fulfill the sophisticated international standards. The certification of Knipp was carried out following the so-called full-scope approach and comprises all services, infrastructures and processes. This confirms the longstanding trust that Knipp customers like alltours, Daimler, Evonik, SAP or Deutsche Telekom have grown in the services around the data center, the custom software development and the print production.

In addition to the immediate customers of Knipp, many Internet users benefit from the outstanding level of safety: With its products „TANGO Registry Services^®“ and the nameserver service „ironDNS^®“, Knipp is the technical operator of a variety of top level domains and of important infrastructure components for the Internet.

„We have always considered information security and privacy as highly valuable assets and have invested accordingly in the necessary technical and organisational requirements. With the ISO 27001 certification, we now have the official confirmation that this commitment pays off. This is a pleasant appreciation to us, and for the users of our services it is the assurance that their data are securely protected at Knipp.“ (Elmar Knipp, Managing Director)

Further information is available on our ISO 27001 page: ISO 27001 Certification

Knipp's DNS infrastructure technology ironDNS^® is continuously getting better. During the first quarter of 2015, a two factor authentication was introduced that allows ironDNS^® customers to secure a zone's content even before it gets signed.

In addition to that, ironDNS^® also supports signed and forgery-proof DNS responses based on the innovative encryption technology DANE/TLSA. With DANE (DNS-based Authentication of Named Entities) it is possible to verify the authenticity of a certificate before establishing a secured connection to a server. This is achieved with the help of DNS Resource Records of type „TLSA“ which conatin the necessary information to verify certificates.

By additionally applyling DNSSEC technologies, the authenticity of the sender of the DANE information can be ensured so that any manipulation of the data during the transport is prevented and a reliable authentication can be guaranteed. Wiretapping data from supposedly secured connections with the help of falsified certificates, as hackers or intelligence agencies would use them, is effectively circumvented in this way.

In the meantime, the ironDNS^® user base is constantly growing. New in July 2015 are the new top level domains for Moscow, for example. Both TLDs, the western version and the one in Cyrillic writing (.moscow and .москва, respectively) are now using the sophisticated ironDNS^® infrastructure.

This reflects a pleasing trend, since the number of IDN domains and, more recently, IDN TLDs as well, is steadily increasing. (Also see the link at the end of this news.) This development is only logical, however, since the major part of the Internet Community speaks languages that can not or at least not entirely be represented in US-ASCII form.

We are especially happy about the fact that we can observe this same trend among our ironDNS^®-customer base, which not only includes the Cyrillic .москва (.moscow), but also .сайт (.site) and .онлайн (.online) and the Arabic بازار. (.bazaar).

Further information on our ironDNS^® services: http://www.irondns.net

Example of an ironDNS^® customer who actively uses DANE/TLSA to offer secure e-mail communication: https://mail.de

Interesting facts and background information on the development of Internationalised Domain Names (IDNs): IDN World Report 2014

The number of new top level domains that are operated on Knipp's Registry platform TANGO Registry Services^® is growing even after the first ngTLD application round has closed. Besides the originally settled partnerships, an increasing number of TLD owners is aiming at a reorientation and would like to benefit from the technical possibilities that TANGO offers.

To further improve the performance of the existing instances and to increase capacities for the operation of additional TLDs, Knipp has upgraded the available resources. The Amsterdam location alone has been upgraded with server hardware providing the computing power of 512 processor cores and more than 1.1 Terabyte of RAM.

The improvements do not only target the underlying hardware, however. The software is also actively being worked on. In development cycles of three weeks each, errors get fixed and improvements or new features are introduced. These are, for example, extended customisation options for the White Label Interface (ranging from the Control Panel via the Web WHOIS output to the templates used for e-mail generation), a Reporting Server to provide registrars with various automated reports, or a new e-mail interface for TANGO's the integrated Issue System.

You are the operator of a top level domain and looking for the most suitable platform for its operation? Then get in touch with us: (Mr. Swen Wojciechowski) +49 231 9703-233

Further Information: TANGO Registry Services^®

The new .swiss TLD is backed by the Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM) which regulates the assignment of the .swiss domain names on behalf of the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC). OFCOM contracted CORE Association to run the .swiss TLD. For all technical matters CORE, on the other hand, contracted Knipp to develop and run the necessary Registry platform.

The new .swiss TLD is backed by the Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM) which regulates the assignment of the .swiss domain names on behalf of the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC). The technical operation, on the other hand, is managed by Knipp's Registry platform TANGO Registry Services^®.

ICANN, the organisation responsible for managing internet addresses, has already confirmed that the infrastructure meets the criteria imposed on TLD operators in regards to reliability, stability and security, after submitting the technical environment to a comprehensive series of tests which all were successfully completed.

So, from a technical viewpoint, there is nothing to prevent the implementation of .swiss scheduled for this autumn. In the meantime, the Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM) is responsible for defining the business processes required for registering and managing domain names.

Knipp, in turn, is responsible for the user-friendly implementation of these processes and of the administrative tasks involved. This is where the Registry platform can display one of its greatest strengths: its flexibility. Thanks to the diverse extensibility and the comprehensive configurability all .swiss-specific features can be realised in a custom-tailored fashion. This once again proves that selecting Knipp for the operation of .swiss was the right decision.

The official Homepage of .swiss can be found at the following link: http://www.dotswiss.ch

Starting today, Germany's largest federal state North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) has its own top-level domain. The TLD .nrw is now available to the general public.

Previously, only trademark holders could register for the .nrw TLD during the so-called Sunrise Period. This allows trademark holders to secure their rights according to the requirements of ICANN. Now all individuals as well as legal entities that have their place of residence or business in the state of Northrhine-Westphalia can register a .nrw domain.

When Garrelt Duin, minister of economic affairs, presented the new domain the day before, he explained that „economy, tourism, health, traffic and administrations, basically everyone in NRW can now benefit from the possibility of being easily found on the world wide web and having a clear regional connection“.

Several of the much sought-after domains are already taken. Soccer club Borussia Mönchengladbach of the German Bundesliga for example secured the domain borussia.nrw. Düsseldorf Airport registered airport.nrw and the State Government of NRW, the so-called Land, is now found online under land.nrw. All interested parties should register their domain as quickly as possible as domains are assigned on a first-come, first-served basis.

Both the Minds+Machines GmbH and Knipp Medien und Kommunikation GmbH are responsible for securely operating .nrw. Knipp's software TANGO Registry Services^®serves as technical platform. In addition, Knipp's own nameserver service ironDNS^® guarantees that .nrw domains are highly available all around the world.

.nrw powered by TANGO Registry Services^®

For further information concerning the launch and the launch event in Düsseldorf, please see the „BLOG NRW“ on the TLD's official website: http://nic.nrw/blog/

Das Ruhrgebiet schreibt Internetgeschichte: Am 11.12.2013 hat ICANN die Top-Level-Domain .ruhr als erste deutsche Top-Level-Domain seit der Einführung von .de in 1986 in den Rootserver eingetragen. Ab Anfang 2014 sind die neuen .ruhr-Domains registrierbar.

Zum ersten Mal seit der Einführung von .de im November 1986 ist mit .ruhr heute eine deutsche Top-Level-Domain live geschaltet worden. Damit ist .ruhr technische Realität und unter www.nic.ruhr die erste .ruhr-Website aufrufbar. Ab Anfang 2014 können die „Ruhris“ nun ihre lokalen .ruhr-Domains registrieren und sich ihr eigenes Stück Netz im Revier sichern.

„Bislang gab es nur nationale und globale Namensräume im Internet. Eine Domain-Endung wie .ruhr bietet dagegen regionale und individuelle Identität, eine eigene Heimat für die Ruhris im Netz. Und das viel besser, als es länderspezifische Endungen wie .de je vermögen“, kommentiert Anja Elsing, Geschäftsführerin von regiodot, den historischen Moment.

Sei es die Möglichkeit, seine Verbundenheit zur Region auch online auszudrücken, der Wunsch nach einer lebenslangen, individuellen E-Mail-Adresse mit Bezug zur Heimat oder die optimierte Platzierung im Suchmaschinen-Ranking – die Argumente für eine .ruhr-Domain sind vielfältig.

Während der ersten Registrierungsphase von .ruhr können Inhaber von Marken- und ähnlichen Schutzrechten ihre Domains bevorrechtigt registrieren. Voraussetzung dafür ist, die Marken im Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) zu hinterlegen. Weitere Informationen zum TMCH finden Interessenten auf den TMCH-Seiten von Knipp.

In den weiteren Phasen können Einwohner des Ruhrgebietes und im Anschluss alle Deutschen Domains unter .ruhr registrieren.

Zum Betrieb von .ruhr setzt regiodot das Knipp-Produkt TANGO Registry Services^® als technische Plattform ein. Außerdem trägt mit der ironDNS^®-Technologie ein weiteres Produkt aus dem Hause Knipp zum ausfallsicheren Betrieb der .ruhr-Domains bei.

Knipp – neue Technologien für neue Domains.

That's what friends of the ruhr area waited for. The application for the new Top Level Domain .ruhr successfully passed ICANN's initial evaluation and will go live this summer. From that time on companies, organisations and private individuals will be able to even better express a local connection to their region by using a .ruhr domain.

For a reliable technical operation, regiodot (the registry of .ruhr) decided to use Knipp's product TANGO Registry Services^® for their own Top Level Domain. Failsafe operation of .ruhr domains is assured by the underlying ironDNS^® technology – another product powered by Knipp.

The many year long experience of Knipp with the technical operation of Top Level Domains was not the only reason for regiodot's decision to work together with Knipp, but also the location of Knipp's head office, which is right within the Ruhr Area at TechnologiePark Dortmund. That way Knipp provides the essential technical know-how as well as the geographical reference, which was important for regiodot.

Knipp – a powerful partner for the Top Level Domain of a powerful region.

The Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH), which was established by ICANN as part of the launch of new generic Top-Level-Domains (ngTLDs) to protect the rights of trademark owners, will begin its operation on March 26, 2013. From that date, trademark holders or their agents can register brand names at the TMCH to prevent unsolicited domain registrations under the new TLDs.

In order to incorporate a trademark into the register, an application has to be filed with the TMCH first. After a successful review of the claimed rights, the trademark is added to the central database of the Trademark Clearinghouse. Since the operators of any new top-level-domain are obligated to check against the TMCH register during the Sunrise Period and for later domain registrations, the enlisted terms are protected against registrations by third parties and trademark violations can be avoided.

With incorporation into the TMCH repository, the trademark owner also get the possibility to register the corresponding domain names during the Sunrise Period of every new top level domain.

Furthermore, holders of enlisted trademarks will get notified by the Clearinghouse if an identical domain name or a close match to their trademark is applied for under one of the new TLDs.

For brand protection and also to prevent possible legal costs e. g. for trademark rights violation lawsuits, trademark owners are well advised to register their marks with the TMCH.

As a matter of course, Knipp is ready to assist trademark holders in this process and offers to conduct the registration of brand names with the TMCH. Do not hesitate to contact us. We are pleased to inform you in detail about this topic. Simply send an e-mail to sales@knipp.de.