A map shows the new country of Sint Maarten
(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) – OpenRegistry (www.openregistry.com) and SX Registry SA announced on Friday that they have established an exclusive agreement with the government of the new country Sint Maarten to manage and operate its .SX country code top level domain.
According to a report by DomainIncite, this will be OpenRegistry’s first top level domain deal. The report suggests that this deal may make the company more appealing to other new TLD applicants.
The report says SX Registry SA is a new company and a joint venture of OpenRegistry and MediaFusion, a Canadian registrar. MediaFusion’s president, Normand Fortier, will serve as CEO of the new company.
DomainIncite reports that OpenRegistry’s CEO, Jean-Christophe Vignes says “the plan is to have a completely open, gloabl ccTLD, along similar lines to the recently relaunched .co domain.”
The .sx domain was assigned to Sint Maarten in December. The country is new, and is one of the three that formed following the breakup of the Netherlands Antilles.
“When our country became autonomous in October 2010, we knew an Internet country code Top Level Domain would play an essential part in our economy, both locally and internationally,” H.E. Franklyn Meyers, Minister of Telecommunication of Sint Maarten said in a statement. “Recently, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) attributed the “SX” two-letter code to our country, which was the first step in putting us on the digital map. Having SX Registry managing our Internet domain will undoubtedly provide Internet users across the world with an unparalleled safe and robust technical environment within which they can securely interact and transact.”
According to the press release, OpenRegistry will manage the technical infrastructure of the TLD.
“All members of our team have a ccTLD background. Helping a newly formed country to expand its presence on the Internet is both an extraordinary opportunity and an honor for all of us,” Jean-Christophe Vignes, CEO of OpenRegistry said in a statement. “In cooperation with the government of Sint Maarten, we will help develop innovative domain name registration policies. These policies allow us to create a completely open but secure Internet extension in which anyone can register while preserving the rights of third parties and ensuring the extension is not misused.”
OpenRegistry says it has already appointed the ClearingHouse for Intellectual Property to ensure a secure start-up of the .sx TLD.
“We would like to see .SX on the Internet as soon as possible,” Meyers added. “Sint Maarten’s businesses and visitors would immediately benefit from using the country’s identity on the Internet. By relying on the combined expertise of OpenRegistry and its partners, the continuity of the .SX TLD will be ensured.”
The .sx TLD could be a way to brand the country, and subsequently create awareness since it is less than six months old.
According to the statement, registry policies and accreditation procedures for registrars will be announced in the coming weeks. OpenRegistry is encouraging registrars to meet with its team during the ICANN 40 meeting in San Francisco to discuss the extension.
About Nicole Henderson
Nicole Henderson writes full-time for the Web Host Industry Review where she covers daily news and features online, as well as in print. She has a bachelor of journalism from Ryerson University in Toronto, and has been writing for the WHIR since September 2010. You can find her on Twitter @NicoleHenderson.
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