According to a press release we received this morning, “”MLS Domains Association, a non-profit association of U.S. multiple listing services, has selected CentralNic Ltd. as its registry back-end service provider for the new .MLS top-level domain. “”

“The Association concluded a due diligence process late in 2011 and executed the contract with CentralNic this month.”

“With so many top-notch providers to choose from, we opted for CentralNic because of its successful experience with novel TLDs,” said Association President Bob Bemis (who is also CEO of the Arizona Regional MLS in the Phoenix area). “We also found CentralNic to be unusually responsive and forthcoming with a number of creative ideas during the evaluation process,” he said.

Ben Crawford, CEO of CentralNic, said, “We are delighted to have been selected as back-end service provider for the MLS Domains Association, especially as the result of such a rigorous review process. They have an admirably clear vision for how to use the .MLS domain for the benefit of their members and to make it easier for consumers and search engines to identify authentic multiple listing services. We look forward to partnering with them on executing their strategy.”

“We have an important mandate from our member MLSs to work only with the most capable technical contractors available,” said Bemis. “But we expect no more than two or three thousand second-level domains ever to be registered on .MLS, so we need a registry partner who can provide a high level of service for a relatively small market of customers.” The board noted that CentralNic has provided an integrated registry and registrar service for clients in the past. Although the Association will comply with ICANN requirements to allow any qualifying registrar to work with .MLS, it plans to provide its own registrar services through a related entity using CentralNic technologies.

MLS Domains Association (http://www.MLSDomains.org) is a non-profit association of U.S. real estate multiple listing services, the sole purpose of which is to obtain, manage, and promote the use of the .MLS top-level domain on the Internet. Its members include more than 50 MLSs in the U.S. representing around 600,000 MLS subscribers. The Association is seeking classification as a 501(c)(6) business league from the IRS.