Afilias
 | |
Type of site | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Founded | October 2000 |
| Dissolved | June 2022 |
| Successor(s) | Identity Digital |
| Key people | Hal Lubsen, Ram Mohan, Roland LaPlante, Philipp Grabensee, Ken Stubbs, Jonathan Robinson, Steve Heflin, Scott Hemphill |
| Industry | Web domain registration |
| Parent | Donuts (since December 2020) |
| URL | www |
Afilias, Inc. was a US corporation that was the registry operator of the .info, .mobi and .pro top-level domain, service provider for registry operators of .org, .ngo, .lgbt, .asia, .aero, and a provider of domain name registry services for countries around the world, including .MN (Mongolia), .AG (Antigua and Barbuda), .AU (Australia), .BM (Bermuda), .BZ (Belize), .AC (Ascension Island), .GI (Gibraltar), .IO (British Indian Ocean Territory) .ME (Montenegro), .PR (Puerto Rico), .SC (the Seychelles), .SH (Saint Helena), and .VC (St. Vincent and the Grenadines). Afilias also provided ancillary support to other domains, including .SG (Singapore), .LA (Laos), and .HN (Honduras). It was merged into Identity Digital in 2022.
History
Afilias was formed in October 2000 by a group of 19 major domain name registrars.[1][2] CEO Hal Lubsen, CTO Ram Mohan,[3] and CMO Roland LaPlante[4] were the founding management team (2001).
In February 2010, Afilias acquired mTLD Top Level Domain Ltd., the sponsoring organization and registry operator for the .mobi top-level domain (known publicly as dotMobi). While dotMobi continues to operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary, Afilias is now the registered Registry Operator for the .mobi domain.[5]
In December 2012, Afilias acquired registryPro, the sponsoring organization and registry operator for the .pro top-level domain. While RegistryPro continues to operate as a wholly owned subsidiary, Afilias is now the registered Registry Operator for the .pro domain.[6]
In October 2015, Afilias acquired domain name registrar 101domain, with the registrar's CEO Wolfgang Reile stepping down and its COO and CFO Anthony M. Beltran leading operations under Afilias.[7][8]
In December 2017, Afilias was chosen by auDA to supply .au registry services. Afilias opened its Melbourne Australia branch to do this.[9] Under Ram Mohan's leadership, Afilias successfully completed the historic transition on July 1, 2018,[10] setting the Guinness World Records title for largest migration of an internet top-level domain in a single transition following its transfer of 3,153,979 .au domain names on Sunday, July 1, 2018.[11]
In November 2020, it was announced that Afilias was acquired by Donuts, the domain name registry operator.[12] In 2022, Afilias and Donuts were merged and brought under a single company, Identity Digital.[13]
Afilias was headquartered in Horsham, Pennsylvania, United States, with engineering and operations offices in Toronto, Canada, Dublin, Ireland, Beijing, China, Melbourne, Australia and New Delhi, India.
List of Afilias-operated domains
| Domain | Owned or operated? | WHOIS creation date |
|---|---|---|
| .adult | operated | |
| .aero | operated | |
| .ag | operated | |
| .archi | owned | 2014-03-20 |
| .asia | operated | |
| .au | operated | |
| .bet | owned | 2015-07-16 |
| .bio | owned | 2014-05-15 |
| .black | owned | 2014-03-20 |
| .blue | owned | 2014-01-23 |
| .bz | operated | |
| .eco | operated | |
| .gi | operated | |
| .global | operated | |
| .green | owned | 2014-06-12 |
| .info | owned | 2001-06-26 |
| .kim | owned | 2013-12-19 |
| .lc | operated | |
| .lgbt | owned | 2014-06-26 |
| .llc | owned | 2018-02-16 |
| .lotto | owned | 2014-06-05 |
| .ltda | operated | |
| .me | operated | |
| .mobi | owned | 2005-10-17 |
| .ngo | operated | |
| .ong | operated | |
| .onl | operated | |
| .org | operated | |
| .organic | owned | 2014-05-29 |
| .pet | owned | 2015-07-16 |
| .pink | owned | 2013-12-19 |
| .poker | owned | 2014-09-04 |
| .porn | operated | |
| .post | operated | |
| .pr | operated | |
| .pro | owned | 2002-05-08 |
| .promo | owned | 2015-12-18 |
| .red | owned | 2014-01-16 |
| .rich | operated | |
| .sc | operated | |
| .sex | operated | |
| .shiksha | owned | 2014-01-16 |
| .ski | owned | 2015-05-14 |
| .srl | operated | |
| .vc | operated | |
| .vegas | operated | |
| .vote | owned | 2014-02-13 |
| .voto | owned | 2014-02-13 |
| .xxx | operated |
Mobile and web services
- DeviceAtlas
- goMobi
- mobiForge
- mobiReady
Awards and honors
- Guinness World Record for largest ever TLD transition, July 2018[14]
- CIO 100 Award for the highest level of operational and strategic excellence in information technology (IT), June 2014[15]
- Ram Mohan - IDG World's Top 25 CTOs, June 2010[16]
See also
- auDA
- Country code top-level domain
- Generic top-level domain
- ICANN
- Internet Society
- Public Interest Registry
References
- ^ "GMO Internet Group History". October 3, 2000. Retrieved February 4, 2016.
- ^ Portal, Presse (October 3, 2000). "World´s Leading Internet Domain Name Registrars Unite to Create Top Level Domain With Global Appeal". Press Relations Presse Portal. Archived from the original on April 8, 2014. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
- ^ "Afilias Appoints Chief Technical Officer to Run First "Thick" Domain Name Registry: .INFO; Former Infonautics executive oversees first global implementation of an XML-based "thick" registry system". The Free Library. October 29, 2001. Archived from the original on April 8, 2014. Retrieved March 19, 2011.
- ^ "Afilias Appoints New Chief Marketing Officer to Build .INFO Brand Worldwide; Former McGraw Hill Exec. to Spearhead Brand & Marketing Strategy for .INFO". The Free Library. July 9, 2001. Archived from the original on April 8, 2014. Retrieved March 16, 2011.
- ^ Hamilton, David (February 11, 2010). "Afilias Acquires .Mobi Domain Registry dotMobi". Web Host Industry Review. Retrieved October 6, 2012.
- ^ LaPlante, Roland (January 17, 2012). "Afilias Acquires Registry Services Corporation, .PRO". Circle ID. Retrieved January 21, 2014.
- ^ Allemann, Andrew (October 16, 2015). "Afilias acquires 101Domain". Domain Name Wire.
- ^ Silver, Elliot (October 16, 2015). "101domain Acquired by Afilias". DomainInvesting.com.
- ^ "Afilias Chosen to Supply .au Registry Services". auDA. 18 Dec 2017. Retrieved 19 Dec 2017.
- ^ ".au Completes Historic Transition to Afilias". MarketWatch. Archived from the original on 2018-09-20. Retrieved 2018-09-20.
- ^ GmbH, finanzen net. "Afilias Sets GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ Title: Largest Migration of an Internet Top-Level Domain in a Single Transition | Markets Insider". markets.businessinsider.com. Retrieved 2019-07-09.
- ^ Neylon, Michele (November 19, 2020). "Donuts to Buy Afilias". InternetNews.me. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
- ^ Allemann, Andrew (2022-06-22). "Donuts rebrands to Identity Digital". Domain Name Wire | Domain Name News. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
- ^ "Afilias Sets GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ Title: Largest Migration of an Internet Top-Level Domain in a Single Transition". Retrieved 2018-09-20.
- ^ "Afilias selected for CIO 100 award". MarketWatch. Archived from the original on 2018-09-20. Retrieved 2018-09-20.
- ^ "Afilias' Ram Mohan Named to IDG's InfoWorld CTO 25 Awards for DNSSEC Leadership". PRWeb. Archived from the original on June 7, 2010. Retrieved 2018-09-20.