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| Australia’s Instra Group to be acquired by UK company for AUD$33 million - 9 December, 2015, 9:48 amMELBOURNE – 9 December 2015 – Leading domain name retailer Instra Group announced today that it has agreed to be acquired by UK-based CentralNic Plc. Instra Group supplies companies in Australia, New Zealand and worldwide with domain names and other services to protect their brands online. CentralNic, one of the fastest growing companies on the London Stock Exchange, has agreed to pay consideration of A$33 million for Instra Group and related companies in Australia and New Zealand. CentralNic’s CEO Ben Crawford said: “Today domain names are just as important as intellectual property assets as trade marks and patents. Through services like instra.com and asiaregistry.com, Instra Group has made it possible for businesses to secure their domain names in every major country in the world, as well as under new Top-Level Domains, including in Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Hindi and Russian. “I have travelled the world looking for cutting edge companies to acquire, and Instra Group stood out among all the others. Many of the savviest businesses in Australia and around the world are already using Instra as their one-stop shop for online brand protection. It is a fantastic example showing that Australian innovation can serve customers worldwide.” “We are delighted to have Desleigh and the entire staff across Australia and New Zealand joining the CentralNic family,” said Ben Crawford. “They will ensure that local customers of Instra will continue receiving the great service and brand protection support Instra is famous for.” Instra Group CEO Desleigh Jameson added: “Instra’s new parent company CentralNic will be adding even more domain names from around the world, secured by their business development team on the ground globally. We will also be rolling out internet monitoring services to help brands with early detection of cybersquatting and other domain abuse, and adding new consulting and domain portfolio management tools to our service offering.” ENDS About CentralNic Group plc For further information, please visit: centralnic.com. The acquisition of Instra and affiliated businesses For further information, please visit: instra.com and onlydomains.com. For further information: CentralNic CEO Ben Crawford and Instra CEO Desleigh Jameson are available for interview. Desleigh Jameson is available on +64 27 665 5008 Media contact: .nz is coming September 30th - 23 September, 2014, 10:08 amThe new top-level country code for New Zealand is being released on September 30th. Following the success of both .UK and .ID, we expect this domain to be hugely popular amongst registrants around the world. For those who already own a second-level domain such as .net.nz or .co.nz, your existing domain will put you in one of two categories: Preferential Registration or Reservation (PRR) This gives existing second-level domain registrants the right to register or reserve the matching top-level domain. Registration can be done via Instra.com. To reserve your matching top-level domain for free for a period of up to two years, you will need to visit the Domain Name Commission at the site www.anyname.co.nz. Either option will require your UDAI which will be available via your customer portal in the days before launch. Conflicted domains This is when more than one second-level domain is registered with the same string. Eg: anyname.net.nz and anyname.co.nz. In this instance the following process applies: From 1pm, 30 September 2014 you’ll be able to use an online tool at on anyname.nz to let the Domain Name Commission know whether you: Once all those involved in the conflict have lodged their preference, the Domain Name Commission will contact you and let you know the outcome. If a clear outcome doesn’t result, the Domain Name Commission may offer a facilitation service. After that, if there’s still no agreement on who’ll get the name, it will be unavailable for registration. To use the online tool at anyname.co.nz after 1pm, 30 September 2014, you will need your UDAI code. As your domain registrar we will provide this for you via the customer portal on Instra.com closer to this date. The shorter and more memorable top-level .nz domain structure opens up a range of new possibilities for registrants. Due to the infancy of this domain, many great new strings will be available for those who get in early. Pre-register your new domain today with instra.com. Happy holidays, from Instra - 20 December, 2013, 11:02 amThank you all for helping to make 2013 such a great year. We are really looking forward to 2014 and the exciting launch of the new gTLDs! Over the holiday period some of our hard-working customer support team will be taking some well-earned holidays. Our staff will still be here to help you, however please be aware that our turnaround time will be longer than usual during peak times. If your enquiry is urgent, please do still call us. If we are unable to answer the phone immediately please leave a detailed message including your username and domain name and we will return your call as soon as possible. For non-urgent requests, please submit an email to us via the contact us page on our website and we will get back to you as soon as we can.
We wish you all a happy and safe holiday. And again, thank you for helping 2013 to be such a success. We are looking forward to continuing our partnerships with all of you into 2014 and beyond! New gTLDs…what is happening? - 27 November, 2013, 11:08 amYou may have heard that over the next year or so, a whole raft of new top-level domains (TLD’s), such as .Shop, .London, and .Bike, are being released. But what does this all mean? Is it really as big of a deal as some people are making out? And what does it mean specifically for brands, website owners, and people hacking around in their garage hoping to be the next Internet billionaire? What is a Top Level Domain? A website’s address (the URL) can be thought of as the opposite of a phone number, in that the most important part of the address hierarchy comes at the end…except for the forward slashes. These forward slashes, to continue the phone number analogy, can be thought of as extensions to get through to a particular desk after you have already reached the building that you are calling. Think about calling overseas. You dial the country code first, then area code, then the local number, which is unique to the individual who you are calling. The country code is the most important part of the number’s convention. Now scan your eyes left to right across the website address at the top of this page. After the brand or company name, (CNN, StopPress, Coke, etc) you will see a dot (maybe 2) and a short word or two right before any forward slashes. The short word between the dot and the forward slashes is the Top Level Domain, or TLD. gTLD vs ccTLD There are a few different kinds of TLDs, but most of us only ever see two kinds: Country Code Top Level Domains (ccTLD) and Generic Top Level Domains (gTLD). ccTLDs are assigned to a country/region like .co.nz for New Zealand, .co.uk for the United Kingdom, and .com.au for Australia. Some interesting ccTLDs are .Co which is assigned to Columbia, .TV which is assigned to the Pacific island of Tovalu, and .Me which is assigned to Montenegro. gTLDs are everything else – anything that does not suggest a country or location. The most commonly used gTLD is .com. Some others include .net, .biz, .museum, and .mobi. So what is happening next? ICANN is the authority that administers TLDs. A few years ago they had some pressure put on them to introduce more gTLDs – particularly from both sides of the adult entertainment debate who agreed that .sex or .xxx would help to keep porn away from children. ICANN decided to open up applications for new TLDs and received over 2000 applications, many of which have been approved for release over the next year or two. This means you will be able to secure domain names for your website like internet.guru or reallyfast.bike or even coke.sexy. We will be continually updating our site to show what is coming up on our Launch Diary. Brands and companies have a unique, once only opportunity to register a full domain address that will perfectly align with their personality. We are yet to see how these domains will increase Google search rankings, but bets are on that a search for “really fast bike” will return ReallyFast.bike above ReallyFastBike.com in results. Maybe. We shall see. Regardless of this possibility, brands and companies are now having to consider which gTLD’s they will need to reserve and register to protect their brand’s IP, and stop nefarious characters doing ill. Nike.Sport for example will be secured by the sportswear giant, but may not be used for anything other than a redirect, purely as a “defensive registration”. Then again, they might decide to use it as their main domain, or a space on the net dedicated to their sports sponsorship, leaving the .com free for apparel sales. For regular internet users hoping to be the next “big thing” on the internet, the future holds a bit more promise, as they now have an opportunity to grab their dream website name – one that as a .com, .net, or even .co would have been long gone. The average person now has a once in a lifetime chance to secure the perfect web address to represent them or their brand. And once they get it they can hold it for life. Brands everywhere have a right to be nervous about this prospect. This could be a hugely important land-grab or this could be an insurance policy for your brand’s IP. We will all see just how important this fundamental change is once registrations are open to the public. Instra and the Professional Web (.PW accreditation) - 18 June, 2013, 10:16 amAs a matter of constant practice, Instra is announcing yet another accreditation. “The Professional Web” is the aim for the .PW extension, and the concept is catching on very quickly. As you are undoubtedly accustomed to, Instra is staying on top of the global domain marketplace and growth in the name space has shown to be steady. If you want to establish or maintain your personal brand/identity, the .PW name space is the perfect way to accomplish this. If you’re a Doctor, Lawyer, Web Designer, Consultant, Musician, or Artist, a .PW will help you secure your personal brand looking to establish a professional online presence – .PW is for you! “.PW is growing at a steady pace and it’s time for professionals to take notice” says Instra’s VP of Business Development, Dennis Kittrell. “The need for individuals to have an online identity and presence is growing faster than ever. And .PW is poised to carve out a nice space for professional individuals.” And .PW is not just for individuals. If your business offers professional services, or you simply want to protect your company’s brand in the name space, Instra has you covered. Headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, Instra is one of the world’s leading domain registrars and IT firms specializing in Domain Name services. Instra has established presence throughout the world in order to provide their consumers with a genuine global product offering. Media Contact: Dennis Kittrell MEGA Limited appoints new CEO - 7 February, 2013, 9:16 pmToday, interim CEO of MEGA Tony Lentino announced the appointment of former CEO of InternetNZ, Vikram Kumar as the new CEO of MEGA. Mr Lentino will maintain a seat as a Director with MEGA.
“MEGA is delighted to welcome Vikram Kumar as its new CEO”, said Lentino. “I have assisted MEGA since its inception, putting time and energy into finding investors, setting up support staff and general overview of the company in its initial stage. Now MEGA runs on a day-to-day routine and I am pleased to hand the role of CEO to Vikram who is an experienced leader in the Internet industry.”
“MEGA is an exciting business and one that I am delighted to be joining”, said Vikram Kumar. “Since launch just over two weeks ago, the company has had some stellar successes, with over two million subscribers joining MEGA.co.nz. I look forward to building on this initial success to develop MEGA into a significant company on the international Internet stage.”
Until recently, Vikram has been Chief Executive of InternetNZ, a non-profit organization promoting the vision of an ‘open and uncapturable Internet’. In New Zealand, he has earlier worked for central government (State Services Commission) as well as Telecom in a variety of roles covering management, strategy, innovation, policy and programme management.
Vikram brings a diverse range of skills and insights to MEGA. He takes great interest in the economic, social and cultural opportunities that the Internet provides and the challenges the Internet is facing such as privacy, security and openness.
Mr. Lentino – owner of INSTRA Corporation and shareholder at MEGA – will maintain a seat as a director with MEGA and will continue to provide his entrepreneurial spirit and skills to the enterprise. “In addition to running the INSTRA business, I am happy to work alongside other MEGA executives, combining our abilities to create a global success”, Mr Lentino says.
Contact:
About MEGA Limited MEGA.co.nz is a revolutionary cloud storage service providing up to 50GB of free space, on-the-fly encryption and extremely fast file transfers thanks to our innovative in-browser multiplexing technology. MEGA is the most secure service in the industry as it encrypts user’s data in the browser ‘on the fly’ and decrypts only when using keys which are solely in the hands of our users. With over 2.5 Million registered users internationally, MEGA has become a serious contender in the cloud storage arena after only 2 weeks of operations. MEGA.co.nz was launched on Jan 20, 2013 in New Zealand.
About Instra Corporation Pty. Ltd Formed in 1997, Instra Corporation is a privately-owned company based in Auckland, New Zealand and Melbourne, Australia. Instra has expanded its initial domain name business from New Zealand and Australia into a leading, worldwide domain registrar. Instra Corporation supplies over 300+ country domains worldwide and has direct accreditations with over 100 registries. Many companies and household brand names from around the world take advantage of Instra’s unique and sophisticated Domain Management System to actively manage their online intellectual property. Instra has customers in over 160 countries. Australian Domain Registrar Powers Mega.co.nz - 18 January, 2013, 6:13 pmMelbourne Australia, January 18, 2013 As Mega prepares to launch their new cloud storage service on January 19, According to Tony Lentino, CEO of Mega, the new cloud storage service will Instra Corporation supplies over 300+ country domains worldwide and has direct Media Contact: Instra Corporation Announces .CO Accreditation - 13 April, 2012, 11:32 amOffers a memorable, available and global option for its customers to find their ideal digital personality Instra just keeps getting better and better. Today Instra has announced it is one of the accredited registrar partners for the .CO extension. As one of the world’s top domain name providers, this is just another way to extend the global footprint and offer a piece of the web to everyone. The .COM name shortage has been visible in the last few years. With domain investors buying up premium domain names, this announcement comes during a fresh new era for the millions left without the ability to find available options in a global domain to get online. More importantly, becoming a .CO accredited partner illustrates Instra’s effort to identify with the needs of their consumers. CEO Brian Clarkson states, “We have taken extensive steps to ensure our company’s cyber footprint is in line with our consumers’ needs. We also realize that it is becoming difficult for entrepreneurs and small businesses to find domain name options available to them. Our hope is to provide an identity for those who have been left in the dark for so long.” Instra anticipates that the .CO movement will continue to build momentum as its popularity steadily increases with startups, entrepreneurs and small businesses all over the world. While the demand is high, the importance of keeping global domain name options available to their customers represents the main focus. The corporation already carries more than 120 top-level domain accreditations, with more to come in the near future. “It’s our job to find innovative domain name solutions and offer them to everyone. We recognize that every business is different and the same can be said for current corporate culture, so we provide the opportunity for our clients to determine just how they want to be positioned on the web via a unique address and extension which clearly reflects their digital personality,” states Clarkson. Instra by comparison provides reliable services to its customers and by positioning themselves for the .CO boom they are making a huge statement. Their vision to succeed is setting the bar for competitors and their awareness of the domain name shortage is right on point, in regards to exceeding their customers’ expectations. The possibilities are endless and we can only imagine what’s next for the corporate giant. Crystal Peterson, Director of Channel Marketing with .CO Internet, states, “We are proud to include Instra Corporation in our list of directly accredited registrar partners. Their focus on assisting entrepreneurs, small businesses and individuals throughout the world in getting their ideal memorable and available web address in a globally recognized extension made a perfect fit with our overall mission.” Headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, Instra is one of the world’s leading domain registrars and IT firms specializing in Domain Name services. Instra has established presence throughout the world in order to provide their consumers with a genuine global product offering. Media Contact: Samantha Frida FREE .Brand Package by Instra for Top Level Domains - 6 December, 2011, 7:21 pmInstra Corporation, a global domain brand protection company, has launched its gTLD flagship website, http://www.newtlds.com. In a bid to attract the premium top level domain market, Instra CEO Tony Lentino is unveiling targeted TLD promotions in an aggressive new marketing campaign. “Our initiative is to offer free or reduced-cost Instra application processes for those companies who wish to apply for a .Brand TLD through http://www.newtlds.com,” explained Lentino. While the approval of generic top-level domains (gTLDs) by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has been causing excitement among IT aficionados worldwide, those companies with global branding exposure are now at their most vulnerable, according to Lentino. “NewTLDs is our answer to the growing hype surrounding the new top-level domain movement. We are targeting .Brand TLDs in particular at the moment, as we strongly believe that international companies need to secure and protect their global online identities. Although current ICANN TLD application protocol indicates a significant brand protection strategy, it is still a risk that well-recognized company brands could become the target of parasitic enterprise from within the domain industry.” Instra has built an enviable reputation in global corporate domain management and is excited about the next phase of development and strategic partnerships. “The thrust of our marketing campaign for newtlds.com is simple,” says Lentino. “Our domain industry experts, while offering an attractive application pricing package which is completely transparent, will guide all applicants through the ICANN process, but also to offer a unique level of corporate after-care service. “Instra’s pricing is extremely competitive and upfront, our technical and industry experience is without equal, and we intend to make our application process an intensely secure and actively client-focused package.” About Instra Instra Corporation is a leading global domain registrar, brand protection and services company with offices around the world. Instra supply over 300+ country domains worldwide and have direct accreditations with over 100 Registries. Many companies and household brand names from around the world take advantage of Instra’s unique and sophisticated Domain Management System to actively manage their online intellectual property. Our customers come from over 160 different countries. Media Contact: Roy Crane .XXX Sunrise period commences September 7 2011 - 5 September, 2011, 11:31 amThe registry will be accepting live Sunrise applications starting September 7 2011. Applicants that hold an existing adult domain name or trademark should apply to register their brand during the sunrise period to ensure that they have the best possible chance of securing their name in the .XXX name space. Trademark holders that want to perform a defensive registration of their brand can also apply for a permanent defensive registration during the Sunrise period. The Sunrise period will run from September 7 2011 through to October 28 2011. Act today to secure your future. For more information, please visit: http://www.instra.com/en/domain-names/xxx/xxx-domain-registration/xxx |
