Global presence to reach worldwide demand

https://media.centralnic.com/img/banners/newtlds/xyz/infosheets/xyz-publicity-flyer.pdf

May 13, 2014 .xyz is the affordable and flexible alternative to .com for the next generation of internet users. .xyz has already made a splash before launch with its event participation, sponsorships, and distinctive marketing. Read more.

The Next Generation of the Internet Begins Now

http://www.wnd.com/markets/news/read/26763938/the_next_generation_of_the_internet_begins_now

March 24, 2014 .xyz – the Domain Extension for Every Website, Everywhere – is Now Available for Registration

Los Angeles, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/24/2014 -- Internet users worldwide will soon see web addresses ending with .xyz - the first truly generic domain extension - as Brands are invited to register and secure their marks in the .xyz namespace during the trademark-exclusive Sunrise Registration Period.

"With its universal appeal and competitive pricing, .xyz is destined to be a high volume seller. We advise brands to take this opportunity to register the names that are important to them, before the general public start registering," said Ben Crawford, CEO of CentralNic, the distribution platform exclusively supplying .xyz domains to registrars worldwide.

The .xyz Sunrise Period began on March 20th and ends on May 20th. During this exclusive one-time event, trademark holders that have registered their marks with the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) have the opportunity to register their corresponding .xyz names before the general public. This ensures that trademark holders are able to protect their marks in the .xyz namespace, which is critical given the flexibility and global reach of this particular domain.

This is the opportunity for brands to connect with their audience all over the world on an innovative new platform. With .xyz, businesses can develop a cohesive online presence for their products, promotions, and microsites. This gives their customers a unique but immediately recognizable browsing experience.

Following the sunrise, .xyz will have a special 14-day Landrush Period where individuals, businesses, and trademark holders alike can priority register domain names which were not taken during sunrise. This period also allows trademark holders to register variants of their marks, such as acronyms, slogans, or alternate spellings, while also offering a continued window for those who missed their sunrise TMCH registration.

Led by Daniel Negari, the youngest registry operator in history, .xyz continues to innovate the namespace by allowing trademark holders to reserve their .xyz names that have been blocked by ICANN. In this unprecedented move, registrants in the Sunrise and Landrush Periods can reserve their marks or variants until they have been removed from the collision list.

With nearly 200 partnering registrars all over the world, .xyz domain registrations are now available through retailers such as GoDaddy, Network Solutions and 123-reg. Registrations are also available through brand protection agencies such as Corporation Service Company (CSC) and MarkMonitor. A list of featured registrar partners can be found at www.nic.xyz. You can follow .xyz on Twitter and Instagram at @XYZ, and on Facebook at facebook.com/dotxyz.

About .xyz
.xyz, the newly launched domain extension for every website, everywhere, is led by Founder Daniel Negari, a visionary Internet entrepreneur with years of experience in the domain name space. .xyz caught news headlines when they announced their partnership with NameJet for the first-of-its-kind Advanced Auctions. Prior to launching, deals.xyz sold for a record $8,100, indicating a strong demand for .xyz domain names. Located in Las Vegas and Beverly Hills, the innovative registry operator is bringing new unrestricted global domain extensions including .xyz, .College and .Now to the Internet.?

Beginning on May 20th, the general public will be able to priority register .xyz domain names for a one-time premium application fee. Open registration will be treated on a first-come-first-served basis starting on June 2nd. For more information about .xyz, visit www.nic.xyz.

Rockin' Day for Domain Registries! Neustar Buys .CO, TLD Registry Takes Bow in Macau & Sun Rises on .XYZ

http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2014/dailyposts/20140320.htm

March 20, 2014 Wow! What a big news day for domain registries - one that culminated late this afternoon, right after the stock market closed, when Neustar (operator of the .biz and .us registries) announced they have entered into a definitive agreement to acquire .CO Internet S.A.S., the administrator of .CO domains. for $109 million.

Neustar already had an existing partnership with .CO Internet to provide back end registry services and infrastructure support - a contract that earned Neustar $4 million in revenue last year. It was also reported that .CO exited 2013 with an annual revenue run-rate of $21 million, so you can see why Neustar valued .CO so highly.

Since its global launch in 2010, the number of .CO domains has grown to more than 1.6 million with registrants in over 200 countries and territories worldwide.

The remarkable growth of .CO (a TLD assigned to Colombia that re-launched as a global offering in 2010) is a credit to the masterful marketing job done by CEO Juan Diego Calle, VP Lori Anne Wardi and and the entire management team and staff at .CO Internet. We have often pointed to it as the "textbook" example of how to launch a new TLD.

Lisa Hook, President and CEO at Neustar said, "The acquisition of .CO Internet is a natural fit for us given our successful partnership over the past four years and our domain name expertise. By combining .CO Internet's innovative domain marketing capabilities with Neustar's distribution network and technical resources, we will be able to broaden our registry services and the .CO brand worldwide, while creating shareholder value."

The acquisition is subject to standard closing conditions and is expected to close within one month. Following the acquisition, .CO Internet, as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Neustar, will continue to manage the .CO domain extensions from its headquarters in Bogota, Colombia.

While Neustar and .CO Internet S.A.S. are celebrating their deal, the TLD Registry team is in Macau throwing a big party of their own surrounding the launch of their two new Chinese TLDs, Dot Chinese Online (.在线) and Dot Chinese Website (.中文网). The festivities there include a two-day Landrush celebration and a live/online hybrid premium name auction tomorrow (March 21). .CLUB Domains (their strategic partner) and Afilias are sponsoring the auction event with all auction lots online now at Sedo.

The new TLD Registry extensions got a very nice jump start earlier this week when an agreement was reached with the the Chinese central government's own registrar that agreed to buy 10,226 domain names in each of TLD Registry's Chinese TLDs, one meaning "online" (.在线) and the other "website" (.中文网).

The domain names sold by TLD Registry include the names of every city in China with populations of over 200,000 people, all 3,000 counties, all provinces, all municipalities, all Special Administrative Regions, and a number of key locations such as mountains. In addition, names such as "Invest in [Name of Place]", "[Name of Place] Tourism", "[Name of Place] Information" and "Place [Transportation]" were included.

While TLD Registry was getting their launch party underway in Macau, the new .XYZ Registry, founded by Daniel Negari, celebrated the start of .XYZ's Sunrise registration period for trademark holders today. The .XYZ Sunrise period, that ends on May 20, 2014, gives companies that have registered their marks with the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) the opportunity to register their corresponding .XYZ names before the general public.

Following the sunrise, .XYZ will have a 14-day Landrush Period where individuals, businesses, and trademark holders alike can priority register domain names which were not taken during sunrise.

With hundreds of new gTLDs coming online this year, one of the biggest hurdles for new registry operators is getting "shelf space" at the leading registrars, especially industry giant Go Daddy. Negari has done very well on that front with nearly 200 registrars around the world agreeing to offer .XYZ domains, including Go Daddy, Network Solutions and 123-reg. Registrations are also available through brand protection agencies such as Corporation Service Company (CSC) and MarkMonitor. A list of .XYZ's featured registrar partners can be found here.

CentralNic Launches .XYZ and .WIKI gTLD Sunrises

http://www.domainpulse.com/2014/03/20/centralnic-xyz-wiki-sunrises/

March 20, 2014 The Sunrise periods have commenced for the .xyz and .wiki gTLDs, with .xyz commencing on 20 March.

The .xyz gTLD is being touted by CentralNic as "for every website, everywhere" with a mass market global appeal, low cost and a multi-million dollar promotional budget. The Sunrise is a 60 day end date Sunrise with .xyz an opportunity for corporate clients to secure their trademarks and protect their brands under the new generation generic domain.

And .wiki, unsurprisingly, is being touted by CentralNic as being for businesses to build their own Wiki pages.

Coming up in April, CentralNic is launching the Sunrise periods for .bar and .rest among others on the 9th aimed at bars and restaurants globally. The Sunrise will close on 7 June, followed by a Landrush from 9 June to 8 July and General Availability on 10 July.

And commencing 31 March is the Sunrise for .ink for the tattoo and ink related industries. Sunrise closes on 2 June, then a Landrish from 5 to 19 June followed by General Availability on 23 June.

.XYZ starts Sunrise today

http://www.thedomains.com/2014/03/20/xyz-starts-sunrise-today/

March 20, 2014 The .XYZ Sunrise period opened today and will run to May 20, 2014.

The company put out a press release with all the details;

Beverly Hills, CA (March 20, 2014) — Internet users worldwide will soon see web addresses ending with .xyz – the first truly generic domain extension – as Brands are invited to register and secure their marks in the .xyz namespace during the trademark-exclusive Sunrise Registration Period.

"With its universal appeal and competitive pricing, .xyz is destined to be a high volume seller. We advise brands to take this opportunity to register the names that are important to them, before the general public start registering," said Ben Crawford, CEO of CentralNic, the distribution platform exclusively supplying .xyz domains to registrars worldwide.

The .xyz Sunrise Period began on March 20th and ends on May 20th. During this exclusive one-time event, trademark holders that have registered their marks with the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) have the opportunity to register their corresponding .xyz names before the general public. This ensures that trademark holders are able to protect their marks in the .xyz namespace, which is critical given the flexibility and global reach of this particular domain.

This is the opportunity for brands to connect with their audience all over the world on an innovative new platform. With .xyz, businesses can develop a cohesive online presence for their products, promotions, and microsites. This gives their customers a unique but immediately recognizable browsing experience.

Following the sunrise, .xyz will have a special 14-day Landrush Period where individuals, businesses,and trademark holders alike can priority register domain names which were not taken during sunrise.

This period also allows trademark holders to register variants of their marks, such as acronyms, slogans, or alternate spellings, while also offering a continued window for those who missed their sunrise TMCH registration.

Led by Daniel Negari, the youngest registry operator in history, .xyz continues to innovate the namespace by allowing trademark holders to reserve their .xyz names that have been blocked by ICANN.

In this unprecedented move, registrants in the Sunrise and Landrush Periods can reserve their marks or variants until they have been removed from the collision list.

With nearly 200 partnering registrars all over the world, .xyz domain registrations are now available through retailers such as GoDaddy, Network Solutions and 123-reg. Registrations are also available through brand protection agencies such as Corporation Service Company (CSC) and MarkMonitor.

A list of featured registrar partners can be found at www.nic.xyz. You can follow .xyz on Twitter and Instagram at @XYZ, and on Facebook at facebook.com/dotxyz.

.XYZ Sunrise Launches 20 March

http://www.domainnews.com/xyz-sunrise-launches-20-march.html

March 4, 2014 It's one of the more generic of the generic TLDs to launch. So it will be interesting to see how successful it is when General Availability commences. For now though .xyz is launching into a 60 day end-date Sunrise on 20 March and is inviting brands registered with the TMCH to exclusively register their trademarks before General Availability.

CentralNic is backing the gTLD's launch with a multi-million dollar ad campaign and proactive marketing that is hoped will drive high-volume registrations.

The gTLD is being marketed as a mass-market, affordable and completely unrestricted and CentralNic is expecting over one million domain name registrations expected in the first year.

Suggestions for use of .xyz domain names are as corporate websites, new product pages, micro and promotional sites, recruiting portals and other business support services.

Priority registration will be given to Trademark Holders during the 10 day Landrush following Sunrise to secure related names and variations for a one time application fee.

ICANN CEO sets off explosion of new Internet names (Q&A)

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57617899-93/icann-ceo-sets-off-explosion-of-new-internet-names-q-a/

January 28, 2014 Next week, ICANN opens the Internet up to new domains like .ski, .sexy, and .berlin -- and Fadi Chehade has to handle people unhappy with the change. Also: time for the US to let go of its Net oversight?

Starting next week, the Internet is going to look very different -- and ICANN Chief Executive Fadi Chehade is the one who'll get both the credit and the blame.

Today, Net addresses end with 22 familiar terms -- .com, .net, and .edu -- called generic top-level domains (GTLDs). But starting Feb. 4, the first of hundreds of new GTLDs will begin arriving -- .ninja, .farm, .shoes, .photography, .bike, .pink, and even .wtf.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a non-profit organization, oversees the domain-name expansion and the core Internet technology called the Domain Name System that makes it tick. Chehade took over ICANN leadership in 2012 and now is grappling not just with the GTLD expansion, but also the dwindling supply of numeric Internet addresses and an attempt to wean the Internet from the US government's dominant oversight role.

Why bother with the domain-name expansion? For a company trying to get a new start on the Net, finding an unclaimed Web address can be tough. And for a company catering to customers in countries like China or Russia, names are held back with characters in the Roman alphabet. Other companies might want to use their own domain -- actual examples including .google, .canon, .apple, .samsung, and .ibm.

That's pleased those who see a business reason to embrace the new addresses. "Since Fadi has taken the helm at ICANN, the program has moved forward at a much faster pace," said Shayan Rostam, production manager at XYZ.com, which will operate registries for .xyz and .college. "We have pushed up our global .xyz launch date to this March, directly due to Fadi's leadership of the program."

The reason Chehade is also in the hot seat, though, is fielding criticisms from those with a trademark to protect. For them, the explosion of new GTLDs means new hassles and expenses.

ICANN established a Trademark Clearinghouse where organizations can register their brand names and get alerts if somebody else wants to use them in some way. But even with that, organizations still must decide whether to apply for the right to operate a registry with their name, to contest or bid against others' domain-name choices, and to register Net addresses on the hundreds of new domains others will operate -- ibm.xyz, for example. (Although the first round of applications to run generic top-level domains is closed, companies still must decide what to do with approved new domains and what to do when they can apply again.)

Chehade, 50, brings an international viewpoint to the job of running the Internet. He's a citizen of Egypt, Lebanon, and the United States who speaks Arabic, English, French, and Italian. He founded three technology companies and more recently served as CEO of two others Vocado and CoreObjects Software. The following is an edited transcript of his conversation with CNET News' Stephen Shankland.

Stephen Shankland: We're at a very important juncture where ICANN is about to launch the first generic top-level domains. When do the first new ones come on line?

Fadi Chehade: In February you'll see them. You can go to some of the large registrars like GoDaddy and preregister for many of them. We're excited. The champagne is ready.

Eight years in the making is a long time for anything, especially when you're not manufacturing anything, but just to getting everybody to agree. We just delegated a bunch in the last few days -- .democrat, .florist, .repair, and so forth.

By the end of the year we'll have hundreds of new domains. What's the benefit of opening this up so widely?

At ICANN we came to the conclusion that the 22 current GTLDs were crowded and it was time to give more variety and more choice and more competition.

As an entrepreneur, I am a great believer that as you expand technology and give new horizons to people, you can't even imagine what people will come up with -- but I'm certain the market will discover them.

The Domain Name System [will allow domains] not only in Latin letters but in Chinese letters and Cyrillic letters and Arabic letters. You can talk to the mayor of New York. He has big ideas for .nyc. The mayor of Rio [de Janeiro] called me about all their plans for .rio. I belong to a minority community -- the Coptic Orthodox Christian community. I know that minorities will find places on the Net to express themselves through Domain Name System spaces.

I've heard a lot of pushback from trademarks owners who worry how they're going to protect their trademarks across hundreds of thousands of new domains. Are they going to have register coca-cola.xyz, coca-cola.sucks, coca-cola.anything?

I come from the business sector. I'm extremely personally sensitive to the cries of concern you're hearing and I'm hearing. Having said that, the intellectual property community has been extremely active in a very good way in ICANN. They have been able, through their good participation in the multistakeholder model, to guide us in the establishment of some things that have never been done. We now have the first global trademark clearinghouse, where people can register and protect their trademarks. We are protecting things far more now in the GTLD program than they are protected in the current top-level domains and far more than they are in the physical world now. And we provide all kinds of mechanisms for people to lodge complaints and to give domain names back to them if they are the rightful owners.

When I first came on board, I wanted to give the trademark IP [intellectual property] holders a second chance to express their concerns. We made some adjustments to the program to go the extra mile to ensure their concerns are heard.

On the practical side, do I need to register my name under every domain all over the world? I think the fears of massive defensive registration are unwarranted. I encourage companies that have IP to protect in the Domain Name System to instead engage in what I call a wise and balanced approach understanding how to assess these things in a structured way rather than a protect everything, everywhere, all the time.

I understand that there are a lot of mechanisms to handle the problem gracefully. But this isn't a problem people had to handle before, and now they do. It's still extra work for a lot of trademark holders.

No question. I'm a businessman who understands the two sides of the coin. A gentleman from one of the major brands cornered me at an ICANN meeting and said this is work that didn't have to be done that we now have to do. I said, "I understand, what are your plans to use your brand name, to create new virtual spaces where you can sell services, products, and content?" He looked at me like I was from outer space. Some of companies move more from risk mitigation, but I know at least two dozen companies planning some very interesting things to actually build their brand on the Web. Making the investment to protecting their name in the vast domain name system pales in comparison to the opportunity.

ICANN charges $185,000 for an organization to apply to run a generic top-level domain, and then there are further annual fees on top. Will costs come down as we get hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of GTLDs?

From my business sense I'd be extremely surprised if the costs don't go down in the next round. The fee we charged, $185,000, turned out to be just what we needed to get that program built -- not too high, not too low. We're fully transparent. We showed how we spent every penny.

At the end of the day, I'm not a business. We are a nonprofit offering services in the interest of the public. Under my administration, we'll make a major effort to ensure people around the world know about the GTLD program and have easier access to participate.

I've seen examples like the Japanese camera maker Canon applying to run a registry for .canon Net addresses. Do you hope that all companies with trademarks will run their own generic top-level domains?

We a huge pent-up demand to reopen the program. It's coming quite a bit from the brand side. Many, many brands and many, many communities didn't know about the GTLD program. I get significant amounts of questions about when can we open the next round, because certainly there is a bit of angst that if Canon uses this to do an incredible mass customization campaign to win users to their product, I'm sure the brand next to them will say "Why aren't we doing this?" So I do believe this will snowball. But many will find a .com or whatever they have now will be good enough, and I believe that one excludes the other.

What exactly is the nature of your contract with the US Department of Commerce? I don't think a lot of people know.

It's a zero-dollar contract: there's no money that passes between us and the Department of Commerce. The origins of ICANN started when the US government left this function of updating the root of the Internet Domain Name System. Three things are covered by this contract: the Domain Name System, which are the names; the numbers, which are the IP numbers [Internet Protocol numbers are used to route data across the Net from one machine to another]; and the protocol parameters. That's the extent of our relationship with the US government, other than the US government, like any other government, being a member of ICANN's governmental advisory committee.

This contract continues to maintain the US government's stewardship over these three areas that we do. The US government role is to ensure that we are doing these functions as the community has asked us to do them. The US government is essentially in an oversight role over ICANN. The US government as well as the contract itself has always defined that at some point that stewardship will be replaced by the multistakeholder stewardship of the ICANN community. This was always envisaged as coming, but the question was when and how.

I have in the last few months publicly stated that the time for that has come. This oversight is not sustainable any longer, and therefore we should work with the US to hand over its superb stewardship. We should all be thankful for the stewardship of the US government. It's worked marvelously well. Now it is important for the US government to appreciate it's time to have that stewardship headed to the world community through the ICANN's multistakeholder model.

What influence have the Snowden revelations had on your agenda and the timeline you're pursuing it on?

We've been waiting for the right moment to get there. The right moment is now, evidenced by the progress at ICANN in the last two years, and before that under Rod Beckstrom, my predecessor. ICANN has become a more mature organization -- not just in its number of staff, but also in its global accountability and its presence around the world. President [Toomas Hendrik] Ilves of Estonia announced at the World Economic Forum that the ICANN multistakeholder regime is probably the most advanced in the world. These are statements that three or four years ago were not heard. Therefore it is important to appreciate the US government now sees this moment is upon us.

The question is how and when? We do calmly, we do it wisely, with all the community involved, so the community can guide us. These discussions I need to start with our colleagues in the US government, and I will, but I first wanted to ensure we were aligned as a community.

Clearly, there is no question that Edward Snowden's revelations have stimulated the dialog. I attended a couple sessions at the World Economic Forum about security risks. I saw leader after of leader of major companies like GE sincerely worried about the trust factor on the Internet. And we have the Target situation. The trust in the ecosystem has been punctured a little bit.

I'm not naive. I don't believe we should all hug each other and trust each other. The reality is that trust can only be restored through checks and balances. Checks and balances mean you do not have a single actor or institution that owns the responsibility in any one part of the Internet governance ecosystem. What you want instead is to create governance networks -- a term I'm pushing. Not governance institutions, not governance regulations. What we need in the age of the Internet is governance networks. These are networks that are formed by multiple stakeholders to solve governance characteristics. They must have three characteristics: they must be effective, they must be dynamic, and they must be legitimate. These are very complex characteristics. We need to evolve the US oversight into something that the world will embrace but also to not replace it with something that will be either one actor or one type of actor -- for example, all governments -- but target a governance network that includes all the stakeholders.

How does that tie in with the power grab at the United Nations' International Telecommunications Union (ITU)'s power grab?

They want to address some issues that are not being addressed well through the tech sector or many governments around the world. They picked on things like spam and cybersecurity and said, "We could help there." Where ICANN and the IETF play is the layer of governance of what makes up the Internet -- the logical layer. Where the discussion is open is how do we govern what is on the Internet.

Rather than continuing to say not here, and continuing this polarized fight between the multistakeholder and multilateral model, I went to Brazil and met with President [Dilma] Rousseff and asked her, why don't we address all these issues on all sides. We need a more nuanced approach that ensures we have a home to start addressing what is on the Internet, and at the same time to evolve the current governance networks like ICANN so they also are more legitimate, accepted by the whole world, and more effective at things like addressing US oversight.

So you're proposing what sort of organization to oversee what's on the Internet?

It is not an organization. What we're going to do at a meeting on April 23 in Sao Paulo is propose an interconnected governance ecosystem. We're creating a highly distributed but also structured way to address the issues by establishing new governance networks. We'll make sure these are well coordinated at the global, regional, and national levels. It's like a 21st century governance system for the Internet. Hopefully at Brazil we'll see the birth of something that evolves what we have today but also allows it to expand.

I'm a US-UK citizen who lives in France. You're a citizen of Lebanon, Egypt, and the US. We both live what some people are calling a post-national existence. Will the Internet ultimately make national borders look obsolete?

As measured in centuries, yes. The Internet operates in a transnational space. It is challenging our laws, our jurisdictions. It is challenging world to create more international frameworks for legal and cultural matters.

Today, we get certain rights and certain guarantees, but it is the nation-state model that provides them. But the Internet is humbling the nation-state model. It is stressing it and creating new challenges that didn't exist before. I tell leaders they have two choices. They can build walls and create friction between their own Internet and the rest of the world, or they can engage in the world and participate in these networks.

A Boston Consulting Group study introduced the idea of the e-friction index. It shows you that for a government that resorts to building friction that allow it to protect who it is, there is a cost to that. The study concludes there are up to 2.5 percentage points of GDP [gross domestic product, a measure a country's total economic activity] that are potentially lost. A frictionless Internet should be our goal.

Are you worried about that countries will wall off their own Internet services into their own "splinternets"?

I'm really worried, because people do not understand the impact of a high-friction Internet. If they will resort to nationalization of their Internet ecosystem, the cost of that will be tremendous, not just economically, but socially. I talked to a professor who put online a senior college course in advanced mathematics. About 36,000 students used it, and the top students are in the age group of 14-15 years old. Imagine all these knowledge lines fractured by policy friction and content friction.

The danger is there. Some people predicting it is inevitable. If we thoughtfully move to new governance networks to address the issues, we may have a chance this year to start a less alarming path to solving that problem today.

ML Cribs – Inside .XYZ Headquarters

http://morganlinton.com/ml-cribs-inside-xyz-headquarters/

October 15, 2013 So TechCrunch does a regular series called TC Cribs where they visit the offices of a cool tech startup. It's 2013 and that means it's about darn time we do the same thing for the domain industry. Every month I'll be visiting the offices of a cool domain company and sharing the experience with all of you.

For this very first edition of ML Cribs I thought it would be fun to take you inside a company that is thinking outside of the box and pushing the limits of what's been done before. I'm talking about .XYZ, so without further ado come with me as we head to Beverly Hills and check-out .XYZ's crib.

One of the first thing's you'll notice about the .XYZ offices is the awesome giant guitars. If you don't know about .XYZ's founder, Daniel Negari then I highly recommend you read this DNJournal article about him. Daniel wanted to make the office fun and give it some real character, these giant guitars really get your attention, heck he even has one in the middle of the office right next to a giant tree that actually grows out of the building.

Yes, this isn't your typical office, Daniel wanted to make the space fun and creative and this vibe definitely flows into the work that they are doing. Of course it doesn't stop there, unlike most offices Daniel has done-away with boring white walls and added some artistic flair that really stands out:

No, someone didn't break in and spray paint the walls, this is a completely custom design done just for .XYZ and it's the first thing you see when you walk in. It's not your grandfather's office and that makes sense since Daniel Negari is the youngest gTLD applicant at the age of 27, and he's not afraid to do things differently which I think is one of the things that's helped make Daniel so successful.

Okay, but I know what you're saying now, where the heck do all the people work? The office layout is a lot like a house with a central area with rooms surrounding it. Here's a quick look at two of the offices, yes there are more people and more offices but this will give you a nice taste of what it's like:

It really feels like the fusion between a home and an office making for a very comfortable work environment that doesn't feel corporate at all. Compare this to many of the new gTLD applicants that work out of massive building stacked with cubicles and you can begin to see what really makes .XYZ something different.

Last but not least is a fun fact about Daniel that really needs a picture to accompany it. Daniel loves tea. He loves it so much that he has just about every tea on the planet and hot water always ready to go!

Oh and to answer your question, yes, I did enjoy some a nice pot of tea while I was there, just don't ask me what kind, only Daniel knows that! As you can tell from the photos, the .XYZ office is incredibly unique, full of art and color, comfortable workspaces and an open environment makes it easy for everyone to work together and gets the creative juices flowing.

Of course there's a lot more to .XYZ than the offices and I'll be going deeper over the next few weeks to introduce you to the team and show you the real magic behind the TLD, as usual, it's a great team that makes all the difference. Now you've seen the photos, you've heard my impressions of the office, let's end the first ML Cribs with a Instagram video walkthrough of the offices, ready? It's time to head-into .XYZ, here we go!

ICANN Makes Domain Investor Daniel Negari The Poster Boy For The New gTLD Program In Video Released Tonight

http://www.thedomains.com/2013/10/12/icann-makes-domain-investor-daniel-negari-the-poster-boy-for-the-new-gtld-program-in-video-released-tonight/

October 12, 2013 ICANN has made Domain investor and new gTLD applicant Daniel Negari the poster boy for the new gTLD program in a video released by ICANN tonight on Twitter.

Why Dan?

Well at 27 years of age, he is the youngest applicant for a new gTLD with an uncontested application for XYZ.com and the winner of a private auction for .College.

I have know Dan for a few years from the domain investor side and he is really smart, very successful. well spoken young man and has his act together at 27 more than most 40 year old's do.

Regardless of whether you love or hate .XYZ, ICANN couldn't have picked a better representative for the new gTLD program.

Congrats to Dan

Here is the video:

ICANN publishes new TLD applicant videos

http://domainnamewire.com/2013/10/14/icann-publishes-new-tld-applicant-videos/

October 14, 2013 All new TLD applicants invited to participate in recorded videos.

As part of ICANN's global awareness campaign for new top level domain names, the group invited all applicants for new top level domain names to participate in a recorded interview.

ICANN hopes these videos will "provide insight into the individual story of a TLD, or portfolio of TLDs, the inspiration behind it and how they see it being used".

The first two videos feature some familiar faces.

In one video 27-year-old domain name investor Daniel Negari discusses his application for .xyz. You can read more about his plans for the domain here.

In another video, Top Level Domain Holdings CEO Antony Van Couvering discusses the bid for .london and how they will measure its success.

I think this was a smart way for ICANN to promote new TLDs without playing favorites. You can view all of the videos here.

The .XYZ Generation: Youngest Applicant Spends $555,000 on 3 TLD Applications – With Daniel Negari

http://www.domainsherpa.com/daniel-negari-xyz-interview/

October 7, 2013 Most investors in the domain name industry would be nervous to invest $185,000 in a single premium domain name.

But on today's show we interview a 27-year-old entrepreneur who invested $185,000 not once, but three times this year, spending a total of over half a million dollars in application fees alone to register new top level domains.

This is the story of how a domain name investor built a registrar and is launching at least two (possibly three) registries.

Beverly Hills Weekly – People & Profiles: Daniel Negari, Founder of ".XYZ" and 2003 Beverly High Graduate

http://xyz.com/downloads/xyz-BHweekly.pdf

October 3, 2013

Tell us about the domain extension you own, ".xyz"?

A domain extension is a global top level domain (gTLD), so something similar to ".com." ".Xyz" is a top level domain for every website everywhere. We end the alphabet with x-y-z, so we end the domain name the same way. ".Xyz" is my latest start up. I've been approved by ICANN [Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers] to run the registry. I am the youngest owner of a registry to date, and it's just a really exciting time.

Why is this important?

There is currently 130 million ".com" and ".net" domain names registered, so if you want to register a ".com" domain name today, you're probably going to be stuck with registering a three or four word [site] that might have dashes in it or numbers and might not accurately describe your product or service that you're trying to advertise online. With the introduction of ".xyz", it's really providing a fresh start to the internet where people will be able to register the ".xyz" of their choice that will appropriately represent the product, service, blog or whatever you want to do online.

How did you get involved with purchasing domain extensions?

I've always been interested in domain name extensions. I first met somebody who made a deal with the King of West Samoa to run ".ws" and after I met him, I had the idea of starting my own domain extension. That was back in around 2006 and since then I've been following up with ICANN, which is the company that approves people to run new domain name registries. I was waiting for them to open up the program to allow for people to apply for new top level domains and when the opportunity came, I applied for three. I've currently secured two and I have one more pending. It's kind of a life passion of mine where I always wanted to have a chance of changing the face of the internet. I wanted to have the opportunity to really give internet users around the world, regardless of when they came online, an opportunity to really secure an online identity that will easily represent them.

What is the process like?

ICANN was set up in 1998. Since then they've been trying to open up the new generic top level domain program. There were a lot of delays, mainly because VeriSign didn't want other top level domains out there because they didn't want competition for ".com" and ".net." [The program] finally made its way through a couple of years ago. I worked hard on my application - it was a 300 page application or so. I didn't sleep for three days right before the deadline and I got it out there. It was a very detailed application. You had to have certain technical requirements met in order to apply. There is a $185,000 application fee towards approving the application and there really was no timetable as to when you could or could not get approved. It has been a few years pending. Since, my applications have been approved and right now, I'm in queue to get a contract signed and do delegation testing, and ultimately, be able to add ".xyz" to the root zone files, which is the way the entire internet works. Sometime early next year, we should be able to see ".xyz" in the zone files. When that occurs, we will then be able to sell ".xyz" domains directly and through the popular registrars in the world, like godaddy, etc.

You have ".college" too?

Yes, ".college" is another top level domain name that I've secured. It's really the first unrestricted education-oriented domain extension and I'm targetting educational institutions as well as companies who might be looking to create a training program on a ".college". A company like McDonald's might want to use "McDonalds.college" as the website to host their training programs and/or recruiting programs to recruit college students. High school students can have a chance to register their name ".college" as an online presence as they're applying to colleges to differentiate themselves from the pack. ".Edu" is the other education-related domain extension. In order to get a ".edu," you have to be an accredited post secondary institution by the Unites States Department of Commerce. Even if you have that, you're only allowed to have one domain name. USC has "usc.edu" but USC has a lot of colleges. Many times, [the colleges] are forced to use sub-domains to represent those websites where now they can actually have their reflective ".college." Now, maybe Boston College will register "boston.college", so it's really an exciting opportunity and just to have the foresight to be the person that brings that to the internet really is exciting.

You mentioned you had a domain extension pending. Which one is that?

".now"

What would ".now" be used for?

".Now" is for anything instant [and] direct response related. I actually am in a contention set with that one. My application has been approved. However, there were six applicants total that have all been approved and at this point, I'm going to an auction to compete [for ".now."] For example, Amazon is one of the other people who applied for it. To give you an idea of this top level domain program, Google applied for 100 top level domains. Amazon applied for 79 top level domains. It's a great opportunity because I'm now kind of mingling with some of the largest technology companies in the world. At 27 years old, I have an opportunity to compete with multi-billion dollar companies.

When did your interest in entrepreneurship begin?

I've been an entrepreneur my whole life. I can't remember the day I wasn't trying to do something to make money. It comes back to maybe when I was selling or trading basketball cards when I went to Hawthorne School. One of my first entrepreneurial moments was when I was trying to register domain names back at Hawthorne School when I was 12 in the computer lab. I started my first business where I was custom making computers for friends and family. At that time, I had a pager and printed up flyers. My whole life I've always loved business and being successful and helping people get things and it's really a great honor to be as blessed as I have been and to have the success that I've had. In general, I try to stay out of the media. More recently, because of the new top level domain program, I've decided to use my name to help promote the cause and ultimately try to bring awareness to the top level domains that I'm going for, especially ".xyz" because ultimately I think I have a chance to go after ".com."

It might be a long term plan of mine. It could be 30, 40 years from now to where I can get to a point where internet users will start to think of ".xyz" before ".com." My goal is that in the next few years, people will think of ".com," ".net," and ".xyz" when it comes to the order in choice of registering the domain name of their product. Maybe as time goes on, they'll think of ".com" [then] ".xyz." Hopefully, one day people will just think of ".xyz."

What else are you involved in?

I have an advertising agency. We are one of the larger advertisers on Google and Yahoo. We have a web development company where we build high-end web properties. I have a domain name company. I also have some real estate investment companies. I used to be a real estate broker, but I've since moved on. I actually gave that business to my mom who is now the owner of that company. I'm no longer involved in that but I am still involved in real estate investments, personally.

What do you expect for ".xyz" in the future?

Trademark holders will have an opportunity to register first through a sunrise phase. That should be sometime early next year in the first quarter and open registration should start sometime in the second or third quarter of next year. We're currently working timelines with ICANN, so we don't have exact dates yet. We do have projections. We're planning on getting a million registrations our first year.

What are your personal goals for the future?

I'm really looking to create competition, innovation and choice for internet users around the world. I really want to change the face of the internet. This is one step towards accomplishing that grander scheme. It's really hard for a business to come online today and get a domain name that properly represents them. All of the domain extensions that have previously been available are specific for certain groups. There's never been a generic extension that's been intended to be for everyone around the world. ".Com" was actually meant for commercial institutions; ".net" was meant for networks; ".org" was meant for nonprofit organizations. When you look at where we are today, ".com" and ".net" are used for everyone.

Did you have any experiences at Beverly High influence your career?

I grew up in Beverly Hills. I went to Hawthorne from Kindergarten to eighth grade, then I went to Beverly High, and I subsequently went to USC. There have been lots of positives that have come from all portions of my education.

Do you live in Beverly Hills now?

I live in both Las Vegas and Beverly Hills. I have 25 people or so that work in our Beverly Hills office and we're just getting our Vegas operation up and running and I hope to have 100 people there over the next few years for ".xyz."

You Can Buy .XYZ Gear Before You Can Buy An .XYZ Domain

http://www.thedomains.com/2013/10/03/you-can-buy-xyz-gear-before-you-can-buy-an-xyz-domain/

October 3, 2013 Domain investor and new gTLD applicant Daniel Negari has opened up a store to sell some gear for his new gTLD's of .XYZ and .College

The .XYZ store is now opened and selling the "Latest .XYZ Gear" although it only at the moment has a few different shirts for sale.

Dan was the only applicant for .XYZ and won the private auction for .college.

While neither extension has launched and while you probably won't be able to register a .XYZ or .College domain until next year, you can start rocking the shirts right now.

Looks like the shirts are priced at $25

New gTLD .xyz to be brought to Market by Daniel Negari and NameJet

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/9/prweb11131749.htm

September 18, 2013 NameJet.com and Daniel Negari are partnering to bring the new gTLD .xyz to the domain name marketplace. NameJet will help oversee the Sunrise and Landrush phases of launch, managing the auction process.

NameJet.com, the leading aftermarket domain auction company, has partnered with Daniel Negari and the .xyz Registry to bring the new gTLD (generic Top Level Domain) .xyz to the public.

Consisting of the last three letters of the Latin alphabet, the .xyz TLD is as easy to remember and as generic as any new gTLD out there. Owner and operator Daniel Negari believes that this new gTLD has the potential to one day surpass .COM as the most recognizable top level domain. Daniel also owns XYZ.COM which gives him a distinct marketing advantage when selling the new .xyz domains. ".xyz is a low-cost, high-volume domain extension that is neutral, memorable and truly for everyone. .xyz gives users the most amount of flexibility out of any domain extension because it has no built-in meaning or connotation like every other option out there," said Daniel Negari, in a recent interview with DNJournal. "This gives people the freedom to build a platform to express themselves, share their knowledge, and innovate without being limited by a label. Just as important, it carries with it instant familiarity."

NameJet will be offering these highly brandable domain names through both the Sunrise and Landrush phases of release which are scheduled to occur in early 2014. "We're very excited to be partnering with someone as motivated and creative as Daniel," said Matt Overman, General Manager of NameJet. "He has proven to be very savvy in successfully marketing auctions. Combine that with NameJet's auction technology and customer base as well as a highly brandable TLD and you have a recipe for success."

About NameJet

NameJet is a joint venture between Demand Media, Inc. and Web.com Group, Inc. who together own four leading ICANN-accredited registrars (eNom, Name.com, Network Solutions and Register.com). Launched in 2007, with core auction software and technical infrastructure operating since 2004, NameJet serves domain investors, Fortune 500 companies and their representatives, small- and medium-sized businesses, as well as a diverse and global mix of individual investors. It has processed over 200,000 domain auctions, establishing itself as a trustworthy and transparent auction platform that is customer-focused and user-friendly.

About .xyz Registry

Recognized by BusinessWeek as one of America's Best Young Entrepreneurs, at 27 years old Daniel Negari has distinguished himself as a savvy real estate investor, domain name investor, and business owner. Daniel is the registry domain owner of .COM.DE and has successfully applied for and been awarded both the .xyz and .COLLEGE new gTLDs properties from ICANN through XYZ.COM LLC. More information can be found at http://xyz.com and http://xyz.com/college.

Rising Star: How 27-Year-Old Warren Buffett Disciple Daniel Negari Is Building an Internet Empire

http://www.dnjournal.com/cover/2013/august.htm

August, 2013 Few 27-year-olds have enjoyed as much entrepreneurial success in multiple fields as Daniel Negari has. From online retail sales to financing high end real estate to buying and selling premium .com domain names to running his own new gTLD registries (he recently received ICANN approval to operate the .xyz and .college extensions), Negari has been on a mind boggling winning streak since his early teens. Five years ago BusinessWeek magazine picked him as one of America's Best Young Entrepreneurs and he has been proving the them right ever since that article came out.

One of the remarkable things about the California native who now lives in Las Vegas is that his entrepreneurial drive was triggered by a financial disaster that occurred while he and his family were celebrating what should have been one of the most joyous occasions of their lives - Daniel's bar mitzvah. "That event defined who I am today," Negari told us. "This coming of age and responsibility hit home when my family hosted a very large party to celebrate my Bar Mitzvah with around 300 friends and family. I was graciously given $50,000-$100,000 in gifts. The next week I was home alone when two people broke into my parents home and stole everything. In addition to my parents' jewelry and valuables, all of my gifts, gold and even my Playstation 2 were taken. This was a big turning point for me, as I felt responsible for losing my family's valuable possessions."

Negari said, "From that point forward, my risk tolerance went through the roof and I decided to live my life like there was no tomorrow. I was not afraid of anything, and continue to live my life under that mantra. Over the years, I have learned to take calculated risks and hedge my bets by managing them carefully. Thankfully, most of my risks have paid off in spades."

It seems risk taking could also be embedded in Negari's DNA. His parents immigrated from Iran to America in 1979 because of the Iranian Revolution and the rise of Ayatollah Khomeini. They were forced to leave everything behind and start a new life in Los Angeles's famous Beverly Hills community. Part of the hit TV show Beverly Hills 90210 was filmed at Daniel's elementary school and he also went to Beverly Hills High School.

While Beverly Hills is known for its wealth, the Negari family had to start from scratch. Negari noted, "My parents got married in Los Angeles and I am proud to be a first generation American. Growing up with an upper middle class background and watching my parents build their lives - starting out in an apartment and eventually buying a house - showed me that if they were able to move to another country and be successful, then the bar was set much higher for me since I had more advantages growing up. My parents always demanded more from me. I always knew that anything was possible, which has molded my mindset as an entrepreneur."

"At 8 years old, I really wanted to go to the Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement park," Negari recalled. "My parents declined my request and told me if I wanted to go, I could make my own money and go. So I did. I worked for my uncle for a weekend and he paid me $32, the price of a ticket."

"At 12 years old, while most of my friends traveled over winter break, I decided to stay home and get a job at a computer store. I then started my first venture and needed a URL to market my service which was building custom made computers for friends and family. That was when I registered my first domain name, GetAPCNow.com (as in get a Personal Computer now), which I ultimately let expire (more on that later)."

"At 13, when I started high school, there was a job board where local businesses posted positions available to high school students. I was interested in earning some money, so I applied for a job at Crystal Cruises, a cruise line. I worked there every day after school (across the street in Century City) doing data entry and filing. Computers were natural to me, so I was able to process gift orders at least ten times faster than any of the full time employees there. In order to do this, I had to get a work permit from school. This was one of my first experiences dealing with bureaucracy," Negari smiled.

The next year, at 14, Negari was ready to go into business for himself. "I learned about the Black Friday sale at Best Buy and camped out so I could be one of the first to enter the store. I had recently obtained my first credit card, which my mom cosigned for me. I was making money at Crystal Cruises and I was looking to generate a return on my cash. This was the perfect opportunity - I bought a truck full of electronics worth $100 per item for $20, then sold them for $50 on eBay. I did this for three years in a row until the eBay market got too competitive and I couldn't make enough of a return," Negari recalled.

"At 15, I had a friend who worked at Foot Locker and shared his 50% discount with me. I would buy retro basketball jerseys, which were in style at the time, and pair them in with headbands and wristbands, then sell them online. Using my marketing skills, I would attract people from all over the world to my listings. I would buy an $80 jersey and a $7 headband for $43.50 and sell the set for an average of $150. This experience showed me the true value of marketing," Negari said.

While still in high school, Negari took a quantum leap ahead. He told us how it happened. "My mother was working for Bank of America as a business banker and also handled real estate loans. I saw how hard she worked and how focused she was on succeeding, and it really helped solidify all of the lessons from earlier on in my life about hard work leading to success. She introduced me to a local real estate broker around the age of 16 or 17, and I offered to teach him how to use computers more efficiently in return for him teaching me the mortgage business. Before I had even finished high school, I was already finding success in mortgage brokering, and had earned upwards of $20,000 in a month," Negari said.

"While in high school, I also enrolled at Santa Monica College and took classes to get a head start on college. I went to SMC for one year and accumulated 66 credits, including the night classes I took while in high school. I then applied to the University of Southern California (USC) and New York University, but because USC boasted a top ten entrepreneurship program and I intended to start my business in the LA area, I chose USC."

"At USC, I had the opportunity to meet many mentors and some of the best professors in the world, such as Paul Orfalea, the Founder of Kinko's. USC also allowed me to fine-tune my raw entrepreneurial instincts and skills, and taught me the valuable lesson of learning from other people's mistakes. I was also an advisor of the USC Entrepreneurship Club, where the President and I successfully convinced the Dean of the business school to sponsor an E-Club trip to Brazil, where I got to participate in some philanthropy efforts, as well as meet with top Brazilian business executives, such as Hans Stern, the founder of H Stern," Negari noted.

"Also through USC I was also able to meet legendary investor Warren Buffett on a trip to Omaha, Nebraska. I had several meals with him, which I used as an opportunity to pick his brain about investment strategies and ask for advice about business and the world. I even watched him, in very Warren Buffet style, pick up a penny of the ground and say, "this is to my next million!," Negari smiled.

USC faculty also took note of the budding entrepreneurial star in their midst, giving Negari the prestigious USC Networking Award in 2006. It is an honor that had been reserved for MBA students in the past but for the first time the university bestowed in on the young undergrad by unanimous decision. Negari also received USC's Technology Scholar Award, which was awarded to one student out of the entire USC undergraduate population. He was even called upon to co-teach a class on Technology Entrepreneurship while still in school.

Negari said "It wasn't all success though. I remember receiving a C on a business plan I prepared for one of my classes. This experience taught me that in the real world, even when you work your hardest and think you did everything right, things do not always work out as expected. The important thing is how you bounce back and respond."

Negari also got a good lesson in branding at USC where he was a "Founding Father" of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. "As a new organization on campus, I helped shape the culture of the house," Negari said. "We took on the challenge of not only creating a brand for ourselves to stand out from our peers in well-established houses, but also competed for, and won, some of the brightest and most successful students on campus to join our organization. I was able to develop a number of longstanding relationships from this experience, and even hired two of my fraternity brothers to help me launch new gTLDs .xyz and .college."

When the new millennium dawned and the early 2000's go underway, Negari was working at a real estate company and helping them with their computers. "I began doing loan processing during the refinancing boom and eventually got my real estate license and began brokering loans" Negari said. That produced a solid income that let him turn a business plan he had written in college into a reality.

"The plan was for Beverly Hills Mint - a real estate brokerage firm," Negari said. "I had so many credits that two years into college I was only one year away from graduating. So I went part-time at USC and filed the articles of incorporation with the State of California for Beverly Hills Mint - my first real company. In 2007, I was able to hire the person I trusted most - my mother. While in real estate, I bought several properties and even had my own 30-minute show in the TLC Network's Flip That House series."

For his first real business Negari also wanted his first high end domain name. Negari recalled, "I bought Mint.net for Beverly Hills Mint on SnapNames, and I tried to buy Mint.com from the then-owner. I offered him $20,000, but another startup called MyMint.com bought the domain name and built a business, which they eventually sold to Intuit. While running a booming real estate company, I was making great money and again needed to invest it somewhere. Domains were my solution," Negari declared.

"During this time, I had continued to buy and sell domain names as a hobby and my interest in the internet increased more and more. I always knew that domains were my passion, but early on I didn't have the capital I needed to really make a big push. Over time, my investment capital grew and I began to shift more of my energy into the Internet world. I eventually sold my ownership stake of Beverly Hills Mint to my mother to focus on my new baby, Cyber2Media."

One of taglines for Negari's new company is "Cyber2Media - we're the the company behind the company, suggesting they are a force you may not have heard a lot about but a force none the less. Negari concurred, noting, "At first glance, people generally do not have much of an idea about our size, however, we have a team of about 30 individuals and we are steadily growing."

While Negari's focus became fully locked on the virtual world in more recent years, he said the seeds for his domain passion were planted years ago. "As a kid I collected, bought and sold basketball cards," he recalled. "This helped me to internalize the concept of supply and demand. In 7th grade, as I was beginning to start my first entrepreneurial business, I tried to register a good domain name and everything I could think of was taken! This was around 1998 or 1999 and I remember being in the computer lab of my school trying to find a domain name that I could register. I sat for hours manually looking up every three letter .com I could think of and none of them were available. I eventually settled on GetAPCNow.com, which became a successful custom computer company. The lesson that really stuck with me was there was a strong demand from entrepreneurs, and certainly others, for quality domain names, but there was a scarcity in supply."

"At the time, I was largely a user of AOL, which as a tween in the 1990s seemed like the entire internet," Negari said. "Since .coms were expensive, I had the idea of registering AOL/AOL Instant Messenger screen names, which I could do for free. Eventually I had around 900 three-letter screen names and several thousand generic screen names. I would sell these on eBay or by convincing people who messaged me on those names that they were valuable enough to buy."

"Years later, when I still had no understanding of the world of expiring domain names, I was curious what had happened to my first domain registration, which I had let expire. I found that someone else had registered it and built an entire business on it. But luckily, this inspired me to take a look at the world of expiring domains. I found SnapNames.com and TDNam.com and started dabbling in the purchasing of old domain names. This started while I was in college around 2006 - just before I met Alan Ezeir, the .WS co-founder, and Greg McLemore, the founder of WebMagic. Meeting them changed everything," Negari declared.

"Back in College, I had joined a group called SCEA - Southern California Entrepreneurship Academy. SCEA was run by Maureen Ford and consisted of some pretty powerful alumni, such as Bob McNight, the founder of Quicksilver, Alan Ezeir, the founder of .WS, and Greg McLemore, the original domainer and founder of WebMagic, Pets.com, Toys.com and many, many more."

"Meeting them in person and hearing their stories gave me the confidence to know that I could do it too. I remember when I was at Greg's house once, Alan mentioned that he had met with the King of West Samoa and had made a deal to acquire .WS. The analogy between real estate and domains had always been with me, but this brought it to the next level. I immediately researched other country codes and even tried to find a country to buy to acquire my own extension. I was never able to get my own ccTLD, but luckily ICANN began their new gTLD initiative. Soon I will get something better than my own country - .xyz!" (Editor's note: Negari was the only applicant for .xyz and has been granted that TLD. He then won an auction to operate .college and also hopes to win the rights to operate .now which is still in contention).

Negari noted, "Although I've acquired many domain names, I think what I've really excelled at is building brands and marketing. With the right branding and marketing approach, an already-valuable domain can be made many times more valuable. Still, a list of my best acquisitions would have to include XYZ.com, Driving.com, BestHotels.com, Degree.com, Ringtones.com, PHD.com and many more."

Negari added, "I have a special affection for PhD.com, Degrees.com, and CommunityCollege.com which were part of the inspiration for me going after the .college extension. These top tier education domains helped me understand the large demand of education-related organizations for an online presence. Similarly, I have a special attachment to XYZ.com, as it was some of the inspiration behind .xyz."

Negari explained why he thinks .xyz is a string that he can make successful despite competition from hundreds of other new extensions expected to be released in the months and years ahead. "It started with what I originally envisioned for XYZ.com," Negari said. "I saw it as a diverse web services company, offering domain registration, website design and build out, and hosting services. When I learned about the new gTLD program, I was extremely excited as I had always wanted my own TLD. I even gained experience managing a domain extension by launching .com.de with CentralNic as a third levelregistry, which was very successful. So, I considered a number of possible TLDs, but in the end I believed that .xyz, .college and .now were the best positioned for success."

".xyz is a low-cost, high-volume domain extension that is neutral, memorable and truly for everyone. .xyz gives users the most amount of flexibility out of any domain extension because it has no built-in meaning or connotation like every other option out there. This gives people the freedom to build a platform to express themselves, share their knowledge, and innovate without being limited by a label. Just as important, it carries with it instant familiarity. .xyz has received a great amount of interest overseas because of this, since people recognize XYZ and understand the value of having a English extension, but may not actually speak the language," Negari said.

Of course, as a veteran domain investor Negari knows that many of his peers believe that new gTLDs have little chance to make inroads against the incumbent champion .com. To that Negari responded, "I think that we need to move away from using .com as a measuring point of success for a TLD."

".com came along at a special time in the life of the internet and that time will never repeat itself. We are living in 2013 and should be judged by 2013 standards. Similarly, at the end of the day, each registry has to be based on its own standard of success. I don't expect to overcome .com instantly or even within the next 10 years, but my lifetime goal is to provide internet users with competition and choice with .xyz. I hope to give internet users a better option and an opportunity to stake their ground in .xyz . It might take me 50 years, but thankfully I am a healthy 27-year-old and I have at least 99 more years to accomplish this goal!," Negari smiled.

Negari added, "It is also important to remember that a TLD does not need to be massively popular in order to be successful. It is largely about perspective. From the perspective of a domainer who may only care about ratios between the costs of acquiring domains, the traffic they receive, or the amount they can be sold for, a high degree of popularity of a domain is quite important. However, from the perspective of the owner of a registry operator, it is more a matter of comparing yearly costs to yearly expenses and about providing a quality service and namespace. For consumers, it is really just a matter of getting the name they want at a price they like. For me, I have to focus from the position of the registry operator."

"Internet usage is still growing exponentially. We no longer talk about just the U.S. and Europe. Emerging economies are a remarkable rising tide for the internet industry. This is especially true in areas like Africa, which have extraordinarily young populations when compared to the established western-dominated internet. This substantial growth means that that there is space for a number of winners," Negari said.

"The youth of the growing internet population means that there will be an openness to change that cannot be underestimated. Instead of the same old focus on .com, I think choice will reign as the new standard. Additionally, the growth in mobile phone usage requires short domain names for easy navigation. Our preliminary tests show that registrants prefer a 8 character or less .xyz over a 3 or 4 word .com domain - 8 out of 10 times ."

"As far as .xyz specifically is concerned, we are confident that registrants will respond to its affordability and mass-market appeal. So far, we have received great responses and attention from registrars and registrants. Combining the natural appeal of the domain extension with the extensive marketing and brand awareness efforts we plan on putting into the domain extension, we're confident that people all over the world will soon sense that domain names simply should end in .xyz. Readers can pre-register a .xyz domain name at www.xyz.com. For information on which major registrars will be carrying .xyz, visit www.xyz.com/registrars," Negari advised.

With respect to the new gTLD program as a whole Negari sees it unfolding in this way, "It will have many successes and even more failures," Negari opined. "Obtaining a domain extension is only part of the challenge. The most critical component for success is the operator. Many large gTLD applicants simply have too many domain extensions to market and I believe this will leave a lot of poorly thought out and poorly executed marketing plans, and ultimately a large scale flop. Some other applicants do not have much experience in the domain world and may not have the knowledge of what it takes to succeed. "

"Historically, Verisign has dominated the world with one domain extension, .com, and they barely market at all. This is because the world has adopted .com so the user demand is built in. For new domain extensions, the demand will need to be built because it is not inherent for most extensions. It will be interesting to see if ICANN decides to use some of its $300 Million+ war chest to drive public awareness to new domain extensions, as this would increase the success rate for new gTLDs," Negari said.

In closing Negari noted, "I am the youngest new gTLD applicant. I am proud about being a part of Generation Y and the innovative changes that my generation has brought to the internet. XYZ will be a disruptive force in the domain namespace, and we have created the concept of "Generation XYZ" to express this force. We are giving all generations, including Generations X, Y, and Z a chance to explore the limitless potential of the internet. We are creating a new, integrated Generation XYZ. As an unrestricted platform, .xyz will help facilitate the next generation of internet users and creative minds to exchange information and express themselves."

While many will continue to have their doubts about new gTLDs, you don't have to know your ABCs to know that when a relentless and experienced young entrepreneur like Daniel Negari sets his mind to it, people might end up knowing their XYZs as well.

Daniel Negari has bold ambitions for changing the domain space with .XYZ

http://domainnamewire.com/2013/08/27/daniel-negari-has-bold-ambitions-for-changing-the-domain-space-with-xyz/

August 27, 2013 Daniel Negari is on a mission to brand .xyz as the go-to domain name. He has big ambitions, and he's not afraid of putting his money where his mouth is.

At just 27 years old, Daniel Negari has already proven his knack for smart investments. He's built up both a physical real estate portfolio and a virtual one in the domain name business.

An active domain investor, Negari also founded the third level registry .com.de, runs a web design and ad agency for top tier domain names, and provides domain management services for owners of valuable domain name portfolios.

Now he's setting his sights on new top level domain names. Next year he'll launch at least two (and he hopes three) top level domain names.

Negari has applied to run the .xyz, .college, and .now top level domain names. He was the only applicant for .xyz and beat Donuts in an auction for .college.

He's investing big in this business, even buying a building in Las Vegas to house his growing company — one he hopes will power millions of domain names just a few years from now.

I recently caught up with Negari to understand more about his plans for top level domain names.

Why .xyz? Did owning xyz.com influence your decision to apply for .xyz?

I originally acquired xyz.com with the intention of starting an ICANN accredited registrar. While on the path to becoming a registrar I received numerous requests from internet users around the world who wanted .xyz subdomains and @xyz.com email addresses. This demand would come into play in my decision making process later on. Shortly after we became ICANN accredited, the new gTLD program was announced. I compiled a spreadsheet with literally thousands of combinations for a new gTLD extension. I was looking for the shortest, easiest to remember, and most generic extension and ultimately, to me, that was .xyz.

Already owning xyz.com influenced my decision to apply for .xyz as there was an existing demand by internet users. XYZ is an instinctive and natural ending to any domain name. XYZ is recognized worldwide as the last 3 letters of the english alphabet and it makes sense to end a domain name with .xyz. It is interesting that the world wide web subdomain "www." comes directly before the letters "xyz" in the english alphabet, again showing that the .xyz ending is ideal. Also, I realized that owning the equivalent .com would give me a marketing edge over other gTLD applicants, most of whom could not secure their extension.com. Having xyz.com gives us the ability to offer the .xyz.com subdomain in addition to the .xyz domain names as a value add.

We have been offering pre-registrations for .xyz on the xyz.com website for the past few months and we have seen a high interest level from all countries, with heavy interest from China, the United States, Germany and India. It is interesting that countries with rapidly growing populations of internet users are drawn to .xyz, showing the true global reach. Right now when someone thinks of a domain name, by default they think of three endings, ".com, .net, .org". My goal is that 10 years from now people will think ".com, .xyz, .net, .org" and in 30 years ".xyz .com .net .org".

.XYZ and .now are generic and can be mass marketed by registrars. .College is fairly specific. How do you intend to market .college differently than the other domain names?

As an unrestricted gTLD, .college will be marketed to not only higher education institutions but to education related businesses, corporations, students, and any group of people seeking a relevant internet presence. Currently these target markets only have one option for a relevant domain name, .edu. In order to register a .edu domain name, you are required to be an accredited postsecondary institution, and each institution can register only one domain name. The restriction of the .edu namespace allows for an opportunity for .college to reach a wider audience.

First I will touch on the most obvious target market, academic institutions. Every institution of higher learning (ex: a university) usually has many colleges, and each college deserves a unique internet presence. For example, XYZ University may have xyz.edu as their main website. XYZ University's College of Business may be forced to use a lengthy subdomain such as collegeofbusiness.xyz.edu and the business students would use an email address like student@collegeofbusiness.xyz.edu . This specific College of Business may want to register xyzbusiness.college to give them a dedicated domain name which is shorter and easier to remember for faculty and students.

Another target market for .college are corporations, for example, mcdonalds.college. Mcdonalds can use this specific websites to attract college students for internships and entry level jobs. By having a separate .college domain name, McDonalds will be able to separate themselves from their competitors and show students that they have an innovative, fresh web presence dedicated to students. Major corporations can also use the .college domain to host their own employee education programs, including training and higher education opportunities. HR departments will now have another avenue to reach potential employees and educate their existing workforce.

The last target market that I would like to touch on are students. Students include high school students, college students, and student organizations. For example, high school students may want to host their personal website with their resume and stand out achievements on a student.college website. If high school student, Jimmy Blake, would like to separate himself for the 100 other Jimmy Blakes applying for college, jimmyblake.college would be an impressive vehicle to do so. Also, Jimmy can use a vanity email address like accept@jimmyblake.college to communicate with colleges. College students may want to host their personal site, blog, or professional portfolio on a .college domain name as well, giving them the best-suited name for their needs. College campus organizations, including fraternities and sororities, may want an appropriate .college domain name to promote their activities.

At first glance .college seems like a specific extension, however, the meaning extends far beyond academic institutions. It can be used by test preparation services, financial aid businesses, professors, and even do-it-yourself/tutorial websites (ex: fingerpainting.college). The scope of .college is infinite and our marketing will stress this point.

You face stiff competition for .now, including Amazon.com. Now that you have 2 of the 3 domains you applied for, will you approach resolving the .now contention set differently?

I play to win and hope to bring the internet the present that exists with the .now gTLD.

When do you think each of these TLDs will open for sunrise?

We are expecting the sunrise period for both .xyz and .college to start in early 2014. There will be extended sunrise periods for each extension as we want to give trademark holders ample time to prepare and register their domains. With .college, we will have an extended .edu exclusive registration period to allow for academic institutions to register theirinstitution.college. We realize that these larger institutions may require more time for budgeting and decision making.

What are your registration goals for each TLD? How will they be priced?

We have experienced a surge of interest from both registrars and registrants since .xyz opened up pre-registration and released marketing materials. We hope to reach 1 million .xyz registrations in the first year and 5 million registrations in the first three years. The pricing for .xyz has not been finalized, but it will be a low-cost domain extension available for all internet users.

Regarding .college, like you mentioned, it is a more specific extension and we anticipate that the number of registrations will be less than the number for .xyz. The .college pricing is not yet final, however, it will be favorably priced against other popular extensions.

What kind of company are you going to build around your TLDs?

Our plans for XYZ are vast and our mission is to provide internet users with competition and choice. As I mentioned, we are planning for millions of registrations which will be driven by our marketing and promotional efforts. Our team will be comprised of a social media marketing team, a support team for start ups using .xyz domain names, a general counsel to assist registrants with trademark clearinghouse questions, and a general awareness/support team for all prospective registrants.

As we speak I am in escrow on an office building in Las Vegas, which will be deemed the "XYZ HAUS" (currently the building is named BLOKHAUS). This college/office will provide awareness and educate internet users on new domain extensions, including .xyz and .college. We expect to reach 100 employees in the Las Vegas location in the next 3-5 years.

Fundamentally, we are changing the way people think about ending a domain name. We are pressing a reset button on the namespace and giving everyone the chance to secure a relevant .xyz domain name.

.XYZ One Of The 1st New gTLD's To Launch Opens Up Pre-Registration

http://www.thedomains.com/2013/08/13/xyz-one-of-the-1st-new-gtlds-to-launch-opens-up-pre-registration/

August 13, 2013 The registry for the new gTLD .XYZ has just opened up preregistrations.

While preregistrations for new gTLD's is nothing new the fact that this is being done at the registry level is different.

Many registrars and auction houses opened up preregistrations over the last couple of years but in this case it is the registry itself taking the preregistrations.

As always there is no cost to preregister a .XYZ domain name however the preregistration does not give you any rights to the domain.

.XYZ was Foundered by Daniel Negari is a well known domainer. Negari purchased XYZ.com in a domain auction "with the intention of building a complete web experience where businesses and individuals could register domains, build their website, and manage online assets. XYZ.com and went on to become an ICANN–accredited registrar that was also approved by Verisign and PIR to sell .com .net and .org domains."

"While building the XYZ.com experience, ICANN announced their intent to implement a new generic domain extension program. This opportunity pivoted the company to be a registry."

If your thinking .XYZ doesn't really mean anything, your right and that sees to be the idea behind the extension

This is how the registry described the .XYZ gTLD:

" Our new domain extension will give individuals and businesses a fresh start. You will be able to secure the domain name you've always wanted, not just some obscure .com leftovers. As one of the first extensions, .com has always been the go-to extension. But why is that? Since it is short for "commercial," it isn't always applicable to those using it, such as special interest groups, religious organizations, or anything "non-commercial." .xyz has no connotations or alternate meanings, it is the most generic domain extension.

".XYZ is a perfect ending to companies in every industry."

".XYZ is instantly recognizable as the last three letters of the alphabet, and is perfectly suitable as an extension to any brand name."

"Furthermore, .XYZ is generic enough to be appropriate for anyone!"

"Nobody wants to be FilingCabinets.pizza, but FilingCabinets.xyz will be available as an alternative to .com."

Looks like .XYZ already has a bunch of registrars lined up including godaddy.com, NetworkSolutions.com and Enom.com to name a few.

ICANN Approves New Unrestricted Domain Extension .xyz

http://xyz.com/downloads/xyz_pressrelease.pdf

August 13, 2013 LOS ANGELES, CA -- XYZ.COM LLC & Central Nic Prepare For Highly Anticipated 2014 Release

On Friday, August 9th, 2013, .xyz was approved by ICANN as one of the latest new top level domain extensions. This approval marks the next step for .xyz, which will be available for registration and purchase in 2014. .xyz is the first truly unrestricted domain extension intended for use by anyone and everyone. As the latest of ICANN's approved extensions, .xyz will drastically change the domain namespace for the better.

.xyz was submitted for ICANN approval by leading internet entrepreneur and XYZ.COM LLC Founder Daniel Negari. The current domain namespace is overcrowded and expanding more every day. Negari saw ICANN's new domain extensions as a way to offer choice and creative expansion to internet users at a competitive price point. With 2.4 billion people using the internet and 250 million domains registered worldwide, there is a massive market for users looking for a new, unrestricted domain extension. This market makes up the universal collective .xyz refers to as Generation XYZ.

Generation XYZ is everyone. It is all-inclusive. It unifies Generations X, Y, and Z to create an entirely new generation inspired by the internet and its limitless potential. As a representative of Generation XYZ, .xyz is one of the first unrestricted platforms for people all over the world to share their passions, cultivate knowledge, and express themselves.

Now, with ICANN's approval, .xyz is primed for its highly anticipated 2014 release. The domain extension will be released in three stages, beginning with an extended Sunrise Period to encourage awareness campaigns for ICANN's new domain extensions. .xyz domains will be very competitively priced in order to reflect its mission of increasing accessibility and affordability.

Prepare for Generation XYZ's internet revolution in 2014: Read more about .xyz at XYZ.COM, and follow .xyz on Facebook and Twitter for updates.

About XYZ.COM LLC

XYZ.COM LLC is led by Founder Daniel Negari, a visionary Internet entrepreneur with years of experience in the domain name space. Located in Carson City, NV and Beverly Hills, CA, XYZ.COM is a registry operator that is bringing new domain extensions, including .xyz, .College and .Now to the internet.

XYZ.COM is currently accepting preregistration requests for .xyz domain names at XYZ.COM. Under ICANN's application process, .xyz has been issued a prioritization of #1458 and will be available in 2014. Trademark holders will have the opportunity to register their .xyz domain names in the sunrise period, followed by advanced registration without trademark requirements. The final stage of registration will be treated on a first-come-first-served basis to the general public.

CentralNic, one of the world's pioneering domain registries with over 16 years of experience, will operate the registry backend services for XYZ.COM. Registrars that have already signed up to work with .xyz include GoDaddy.com, Enom, and Network Solutions. Other registrars who are interested in carrying .xyz should visit XYZ.COM for more information.

XYZ.com wins .college top level domain auction

http://domainnamewire.com/2013/06/08/xyz-com-wins-college-top-level-domain-auction/

June 08, 2013 Donuts withdraws application after XYZ.com wins private domain auction.

Domain name investor Daniel Negari, through his company XYZ.com, has won the private top level domain name auction for .college.

Negari tells Domain Name Wire "I look forward to truly innovating the namespace with one of the best gTLD's out there."

The string was in contention with Donuts, which has officially withdrawn its application following the auction.

XYZ.com applied for three top level domains: .xyz, .college, and .now. There were no competitors for .xyz, and with .college locked up Negari now just needs to worry about .now.

.Now is a bit more complicated than the others. Six applicants applied for the domain, including Amazon.com. Competing applicant Starbucks (HK) Limited (no relation to the coffee chain), which owns now.com, has filed legal rights objections against the other applicants.

As for Donuts, we now know it has "lost" 3 auctions (.college, .vote, and .club) and won one (.photography). Results for .red and .luxury are pending.

BBC News Interviews Ben Crawford on New Internet Domain Names

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkuvvkE9s08

XYZ: A generation of new gTLDs and a life time dream becomes true

http://domaingang.com/domain-news/xyz-a-generation-of-new-gtlds-and-a-life-time-dream-becomes-true/

May 05, 2013 That statement comes from Daniel Negari, founder of XYZ.com and CEO of Cyber2Media, which acquires and develops high-end domain properties.

In the wake of the new gTLD program at ICANN, Negari applied for .xyz, .now and .college.

Yesterday, the application for .xyz remained uncontested:

"Today was a big day. My first of three ICANN applications for a gTLD was approved. That means that sometime later this year I will finally have my own gTLD.

For those of you who know me well; I have wanted this since 2006 when I learned people had taken over country codes to turn into gTLD's. I even pursued buying my own country so I could rename the country to obtain a strategic country code to run my own gTLD. Hopefully soon my other two applications will be approved.

With .xyz uncontested; I am sure to bring that to the world early next year. Stay tuned at xyz.com."

Daniel Negari is no newcomer to entrepreneurship, having started at the age of 12 with a custom-made computer business.

He followed up with real estate and in the rise of the housing bubble, he launched Beverly Hills Mint, a high-end real estate finance business, that specializes in brokering commercial and residential loans in excess of $5 million dollars.

Congratulations to Daniel and we'll be looking closely regarding his upcoming gTLD applications.

Domainer Daniel Negari Throws His Hat In The Ring & Applies For 3 New gTLD's

http://www.thedomains.com/2012/06/13/domainer-daniel-negari-throws-his-hat-in-the-ring-applies-for-3-new-gtlds/

June 13, 2012 Domainer Daniel Negari has applied for three new gTLD's.

His company, XYZ.com applied for .College, .Now and .XYZ

Mr. Negari is going to have serious competitors for .Now

Amazon.com, the principal's of the .Asia registry, and One.com and Global Top Level App which only applied for .Now

For .College there is only one other applicant Binky Edge, LLC. which only applied for the .college gTLD.

For .XYZ Mr. Negari's company is the only applicant.

CentralNic.com is the back end provider for XYZ.com

.XYZ and new TLDs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCn1ZJVnMTw