Small business owner registers 1 millionth .au domain name

Posted by Jo Lim on 30 November 2007

30 November 2007 - auDA, the .au Domain Administrator, today announced the 1 millionth .au domain name had been registered.

"We are pleased to announce that the 1 millionth .au domain registration is elite-finance.com.au" said Chris Disspain, auDA’s CEO. "We congratulate the Registrant of elite-finance.com.au for being part of this momentous occasion."

Adrian Kinderis, Managing Director of AusRegistry, the Registry Operator and wholesale provider for all commercial and non-commercial .au domain names concurs, "We too offer our congratulations, 1 million .au domains is a huge achievement for the .au namespace and for Australian internet users. It was only 5 years ago the tally was close to 250,000."

Heather Grierson, Managing Director of Elite Finance, was elated to hear that their business had registered the 1 millionth .au domain name. "I recently started Elite Finance, a mortgage broking business on the Gold Coast, having been in the industry for 5 years. We were hoping to get a good start in the business but we certainly didn’t expect this!"

"We are currently developing a website (www.elite-finance.com.au), with a Gold Coast based web design company Clique Design, who registered the domain on our behalf through Planet Domain Pty Ltd" stated Mrs Grierson, "We actually had the choice of registering a .net domain name but we knew that the .au domain is synonymous with Australian business, plus I see them everywhere!"

Mr Kinderis stated, "Small to medium business owners are responsible for the majority of the .au domain name registrations, so we are thrilled that Elite Finance registered the 1 millionth .au registration. We hope that all Australians continue to support small businesses such as Elite Finance."

auDA and AusRegistry launched the ‘1 Million .au domain names’ advertising campaign in November 2007 to highlight the impending milestone and to thank all Australians for supporting .au and making it Australia's domain name of choice.

"We wanted to celebrate the achievement as well as acknowledging the support Australians have shown by registering .au over .com or any other domain."

Mr Kinderis believes that a combination of factors have been responsible for the growth of .au including reduced domain name pricing, a regulated, governed environment, technical stability, competition at the retail level, a consistent, high level of customer service and targeted .au marketing campaigns.

Mr Disspain adds that the domain name policies and consumer safeguards that underpin .au protect the interests of .au Registrants ensuring a level of confidence not seen in countries elsewhere.

For more information on the benefits of registering a .au domain name Australians are invited to log on to www.mywebname.com.au and www.auda.org.au 

ENDS

.au Domain Administration Ltd (auDA) is an Australian not-for-profit company vested with the responsibility of operating the .au domain for the benefit of all stakeholders.

In its role as manager of the .au domain, auDA carries out the following functions:
• develop and implement domain name policy
• license 2LD registry operators
• accredit and license registrars
• implement consumer safeguards
• facilitate .au Dispute Resolution Policy
• represent .au at ICANN and other international fora.

Media Contacts:
Chris Disspain
auDA
ceo@auda.org.au
03 8341 4111