King Tut looks over .au domain names 25 years

Peter Dinham
Friday, 03 June 2011 00:39

IT Industry - Market

Australia's Internet and business communities spent last night reflecting on 3,000 years of Egyptian civilisation and the role of technology in that ancient society, while also celebrating 25 years of .au domain names and the benefits delivered to the Australian economy.

In a gala gathering at Melbourne Museum's King Tutankhamen exhibition, Adrian Kinderis, CEO of AusRegistry - the registry operator for Australia's two million .au domain names - drew parallels between the role of technology in ancient Egypt and today's Australian economy.

'Much like ancient Egyptians used technology and hieroglyphics to innovate and progress their civilisation, the .au domain name has evolved over the past 25 years to be a platform for innovation and a driver of Australia's strong digital economy.'

According to Kinderis, Australia is punching above its weight in cyberspace, and he said registrations in the .au domain hit the 2 million mark in March this year, putting it into the top 10 country codes worldwide.

'In fact, the .au domain has the highest penetration rate in the world for regulated namespaces with restricted eligibility when you take into account our population.

'We have made significant investments in the infrastructure and stability of the .au Registry. This has resulted in a highly stable platform which has strong support from the retail sectors of the industry. Because of this, the .au namespace is considered one of the most secure and trusted namespaces in the world.'

While the technology glitterati got an exclusive tour of the King Tutankhamen exhibition, keynote presenter and associate professor and lecturer of Egyptology at Monash University, Dr Colin Hope, spoke of the importance of technology and communication in ancient Egypt. 'The Egyptians were at the forefront of technological innovation in the ancient world. Written and visual communication were extremely important, both of which were well developed by 3200 BC.'

And, there was plenty of backslapping and praise for the .au milestone and success of the industry.

Chris Disspain, CEO of auDA, said all Australians should be proud of the strong and safe online environment .au provides and, he added, 'Australian businesses support the .au namespace because it's the best way to identify yourself as a trusted Australian on the Internet.'

Seek marketing director, Helen Souness, said that as an Australian owned and operated business .au was a critical part of Seek's branding and 'makes us immediately recognisable as a local, relevant and trustworthy Australian company for our target market - Australian job seekers and employers.'

And, for Pioneer general manager-sales and marketing, Chris Kotis, 'as a global technology brand, .au empowers us with the flexibility to tailor our global brand message to the Australian market.'

Stats and facts on Australian domain names:

'¢    There are currently 2,094,149 .au domain names

'¢     .au domain names are accessed more than 650 million times each day

'¢    Approximately 86% of all .au domain names are registered under .com.au

'¢    There are 10.4 million active Internet subscribers in Australia with an annual growth of 16.7%, according     to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. This excludes mobile wireless broadband connections which account     for 4.2 million subscriptions.