Russell Haworth
CEO
We’re pleased to share the news that Automattic, the parent company of WordPress.com, will offer the .blog domain extensions through its subsidiary, Knock Knock, WHOIS There (KKWT), starting later this year. Moreover, we are delighted that Nominet will provide the registry services, as well as technical support to the registrar channel.
The .blog gTLD will be available via ICANN accredited registrars across the world. With its popular appeal attracting quality registrants, the .blog name is expected to activate 250,000 new names in 2016, and we’re looking forward to the smooth launch of the domain on our platform.
This latest partnership follows our recent deal with Minds + Machines (MMX) to provide registry and DNS services for its 28 top-level domains (TLDs), including .london and .work – the largest transition of gTLDs to date. That deal was a significant step forward for Nominet in the Registry Service Provision (RSP) market and together with the Automattic deal, confirms our spot in the top ten RSPs globally.
Today’s announcement also secures our position as a provider of world-leading expertise, and an unrivalled offering in registry services. Evidence of these attributes include our ongoing expansion into gTLDs and work assisting leading brands such as the BBC, Comcast and Bentley to develop their online presence. In addition, we have sound experience in managing geographic TLDs such as .cymru and .wales. We’ll continue to actively pursue other opportunities that complement the various services we offer and strengthen our position internationally – always with delivering a quality, flexible, registry service provision in mind.
As such, delivering quality and technical excellence will be our focus for Automattic. We have consistently invested in our infrastructure, systems, operational capabilities, and customer service, and for the last two decades, we’ve been successfully running one of the world’s largest, most trusted and recognised country codes: the .UK registry with over 10 million domains.
We’re excited to be a trusted part of what’s sure to be a very popular new top-level domain. Blogging is all about a personal point of view and with the perpetual rise in popularity of blogging, the launch of .blog opens up exciting new opportunities for everyone, not just our registrars.
So if you’re a blogger and you’ve been thinking about how to add the final piece of the puzzle to your online identity, watch this space – .blog domain extensions will be available to all websites later this year.