Oli Hope
Director of Registry Services
Doing the same thing for over twenty years tends to make you pretty good at it. If you are also a growing business with a passion for improving and refining the service you offer, chances are you’d have some sharp skills and a decent product by the time you’ve got two decades under your belt.
And so it is with Nominet. We’ve been the registry for the .UK Domain for over twenty years, managing what has grown into one of the largest country code top level domains (ccTLDs) in the world, despite our diminutive geographic size.
We have over 12 million domains under our management within the .UK family, with more being added as we speak. Our expert in-house team works constantly to not simply maintain the security and integrity of the country’s namespace, but to explore new technologies that might help improve our work and the services we offer. We are also passionate about helping everyone access the benefits of being online. Our marketing and content teams work hard to educate and support small businesses to get themselves online and feel confident in using digital tools to grow their business and engage with their customers.
Running a registry is our core business, but it is not all of what Nominet does. In recent years, the skills and expertise we have honed over 23 years, combined with our impeccable track record, have attracted the interest of other top level domains (TLDs) looking for a third party to manage their registry services. We have become one of the largest registry services providers in the world and work with some of the major names in the domain name industry. One of these is MMX, for whom we manage the back-end services for 25 of their TLDs.
Our work with MMX helped us prove our expertise in handling large scale portfolio transitions – we transitioned the full MMX stable of TLDs in one project. Our industry colleagues will understand the scale of such a task, and it was believed to be one of the largest transitions ever done. With that in mind, it is with a surge of pride that I can confirm that, thanks to the capabilities of Nominet, our team pulled it off without a hitch. This allows us to approach an upcoming, even larger transition with confidence, safeguarding these new TLDs through their journey to Nominet.
It’s not all about size though. While one of the largest TLDs we handle has almost one million registrations, we are just as capable of working with small TLDs. Importantly, our pricing and service is tailored to suit the size and needs of each, ensuring personalised and appropriate treatment. No matter the time difference or cultural boundaries, our team are known for the personal attention and support they provide to all customers; we even work with our clients to provide marketing assistance, helping them to grow the number of domains under management.
While our strong and impressive heritage in the industry holds us in good regards with those seeking a registry service provider, there is additional appeal in our organisational commitment to public benefit. Nominet is a profit with a purpose company – a proactive commitment and not just rhetoric. We invest a portion of all our profits into supporting tech for good projects, and our work ranges from entering partnerships with organisations such as the Samaritans, to running digital skills training courses for young people. There is a real sense of satisfaction for our clients in knowing that beyond a great service, their money also goes to support our work, ensuring no one is left behind in the march towards a digital society.
Technology is not going anywhere, and the medium of communication, of seeking work or services, of staying in touch or advertising your business is increasingly ‘digital’. That means that owning a piece of internet real estate will only become more important as we rush towards a digital future. Anyone considering joining the party and purchasing a top level domain will want to put their investment in the hands of an organisation with the heritage, the expertise and the track record – with a good heart to boot. Nominet will be able to help you with that.
Find out more about Nominet’s registry services on the website.