Contestant #4 in our registry provider speed-dating is CoCCA (Council of Country Code Administrators) is a terrific co-operative of sixteen (and growing) country-code registries. Their open-source software can either be hosted or installed on your machines. Just as important, they have put together a policy framework, providing their members with registration agreements, dispute resolution services, an ombudsman (think drastically reduced legal fees), ICANN liaison, and other important registry functions. Best of all, they work on a cost-plus basis, so it’s very inexpensive.
Contestant #3 in our registry provider speed-dating was CentralNIC, a durable study in an alternate business model. They’ve been around since 1995, selling domain names under a “two-letter-code.com” taxonomy, for instance uk.com, us.com, and so on. While some have whined that this is “cheating” or “unreal”, the fact is that domain names from CentralNIC work just as well as any other, and aren’t subject to the vagaries of ICANN or ccTLD policies. They have a large network of registrars, and are proof that you can do things differently and thrive.
Contestant #2 in our registry provider speed-dating was Afilias.
