Starting soon, new domain names will flood the Internet, changing how companies list themselves and how consumers find them online. In late January, the first new generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) – .bike, .clothing, .guru, .holdings, .plumbing, .singles and .ventures – went live and many more such as .bid, .science and .pub are expected to follow, as companies look to expand their presence on the Internet. Iron Mountain escrow protection has been chosen to protect the data for more than 70 percent of all new gTLDs.

A Top-Level Domain is the portion of the domain name appearing to the right of the dot. Over the past eight years, ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, has been working on the new gTLD program, which is intended to meet the demand for memorable web addresses, expand consumer choice and increase industry competition. 

Today, in addition to the 22 existing gTLDs, which include familiar suffixes like .com, .org and .net, more than 170 new gTLDs such as .careers, .movie and .futbol have been delegated and the registries supporting these gTLDs are starting to accept domain name registrations. ICANN forecasts more than 1,300 new gTLDs could be available in the next few years.

ICANN requires data escrow protection for the new gTLDs as a provision of its Registry Data Escrow Agreement. This agreement requires registries to periodically transfer registry data for their new gTLDs to a reputable escrow agent to be held securely in escrow. This is a safeguard to ensure business continuity of Domain Name System operations in the event of a physical, technical or business failure of a registry. Iron Mountain has a long history with ICANN and currently protects the data for the majority of existing gTLDs for both registries and registrars.

As the Internet expands, companies need to decide if they will utilize the newly created gTLDs to brand their businesses and tie them to a broad category such as .dating, a location such as .london, or their own brand such as .ironmountain. Firms also need to think about protecting their brands as these new domains roll out, and should consider registering names for their company or key products within relevant gTLDs before competitors or cybersquatters do so.

Iron Mountain is a sponsor of the upcoming ICANN 49 Meeting on March 23 - 27 in Singapore and will exhibit at booth #7. Iron Mountain will participate in discussions on many aspects of the Internet and its governance, including keeping the Internet secure and operable in the event of a physical or business failure. 

“As new gTLDs are being delegated and made available to the public, Iron Mountain’s registry data escrow services for new gTLDs are fully operational and already accepting data,” explained Mary English, vice president of operations for Iron Mountain’s Intellectual Property Management group. “With escrow protection from Iron Mountain, companies choosing to expand their presence with new domain names can have peace of mind that the data underlying these new domains is safe and secure.”

To learn more about Iron Mountain’s solutions for registry and registrar data escrow, visit www.ironmountain.com/dataescrow.