Web Drive to be NZ’s first ICANN accredited domain registrar

Web Drive to become NZ’s first ICANN accredited domain registrar

Kiwi customers set to benefit from lower domain pricing and broader domain availability

Auckland, November 2nd, 2011 – Leading New Zealand Internet Services company, Web Drive, announced today it has become the first New Zealand based company to gain ICANN accreditation, putting it on a level footing with international domain registrars such as GoDaddy and NetworkSolutions.

CANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is a non-profit corporation that has global responsibility for managing Internet Protocol (IP) address space allocation and domain name system management.

Web Drive provides wholesale domain name registration services to New Zealand-based domain name resellers through its white-label “Domain Agent” service, and to retail services to its end-user customers in New Zealand and Australia through its “Domains4Less” brand.

To date in excess of 80,000 domains have been registered through Web Drive’s services on behalf of more than 20,000 global customers, making Web Drive New Zealand’s largest domain registrar.

Robin Dickie, Web Drive’s Operations Manager, says seeking ICANN accreditation was a highly involved, lengthy and expensive process, but worth it because it allows the company to bring a new level of pricing, service and reliability to New Zealand domain resellers.

“Currently if New Zealand domain name registrars are not using Web Drive already to provide their registration, they’re either using international providers or they’re reselling domain name services from another upstream reseller which is itself purchasing services from overseas ICANN accredited registrars.”

“That’s a lot of links in the chain,” says Dickie, “which means added cost for resellers, and a greater risk that things can go wrong with a upstream provider: leaving domain holders high-and-dry when they weren’t even aware there was a upstream provider in the mix.“

Dickie says the ICANN accreditation will enable Web Drive to provide better pricing, speed and flexibility to its customers.

“Many of our wholesale customers stand to save literally thousands of dollars a year in domain registration charges. Because we’re now able to get better pricing ourselves we’re able to pass this on to our wholesale customers. They can choose to pass the savings on to their customers or keep the extra margin. Either way, it’s a considerable windfall for them,” says Dickie.

For companies not already using Web Drive’s domain name services who are looking to take advantage of the lower pricing, Dickie says Web Drive can help with bulk transfers.

“We can do all that for them, so it becomes a completely painless, quick and transparent process to make the shift,” he says.

According to Dickie, the ICANN accreditation process is extremely rigorous. Companies applying for accreditation have to satisfy a due diligence process that looks at everything from financial stability and indemnity provisions, to technology systems and processes.

“For Web Drive, gaining ICANN accreditation demonstrates we’ve been able to meet these stringent requirements. Now, for the first time, local domain registrars can deal with a fully accredited company right here in New Zealand. That means access to local support, internationally competitive pricing and knowing exactly who they’re dealing with – instead of having a chain of upstream providers to worry about. If there is a problem, the buck stops with us and we’re right there to fix it.”

In addition to better pricing and local support, Dickie says Web Drive customers will also gain access to a number of new domains (TLDs) – such as .ASIA, .TEL, .MOBI, .TRAVEL, and the newly launched .XXX – that ICANN accreditation now enables the company to offer.

About Web Drive

Established in 1997, Web Drive is a 100% New Zealand-owned and operated Internet Services company based on Auckland's North Shore. The company’s primary services include Website Hosting, Server Hosting, and Domain Name Management.

Web Drive is now a multi-million dollar business with continued year-on-year growth, and in 2006 and again in 2008 was ranked as one of New Zealand's 50 fastest growing companies in the Deloitte Fast 50.

ENDS

© Scoop Media