Directi Group, today announced its is applying for 31 new gTLD’s under its new brand – Radix.
Directi has committed over $30 million on the application of 31 strings comprising several generic and mass market names.
“This is a historic moment in the evolution of the Internet,” said Bhavin Turakhia, founder and CEO of Directi Group. “We have invested a significant amount of time and resources to developing intelligent, responsible, secure and thorough proposals for what could serve as the foundation for this new era on the Internet.”
“Directi’s 31 applications for new gTLD’s are:
.web
.shop
.bank
.law
.music
.news
.blog
.movie
.baby
.store
.doctor
.hotel
.play
.home
.site
.website
.click
.online
.one
.ping
.space
.world
.press
.chat
.city
.deals
.insurance
.loans
.app
.host
.hosting
A brief description of their plans and policies for these new extensions can be found on their website: www.radixregistry.com.
Any one in the domain industry should be very familiar with Directi as they own Skenzo.com, DomainAdvertising.com and BigJumbo.com, all domain monetization companies as well as Logicboxes.com which powers over 100 domain name registrars.
“Today’s internet addresses are uncategorized and say nothing about the website. In addition, it is near impossible to find available names that are short and memorable. Our research shows that over 65% of users are unable to find a name of their choice. We welcome the opportunity to usher in an era where internet addresses distinguish a plumber from a lawyer and domain names with hyphens are a thing of the past.” said Bhavin.”
“The experienced teams at Directi and Radix have spent almost two years developing policies and procedures specific to each major category of extensions – Financial Services, Legal, Social & Healthcare, Ecommerce and Generic. The team has pioneered industry leading abuse protection policies and creative rights protection mechanisms to help safeguard trademark holders.”
“Turakhia continued, “As one of the world’s top ten registrars, we equally understand our ability to make a sizable contribution towards curbing Internet abuse and believe that mitigating potential threats is one of our foremost responsibilities. For the new TLDs, we have created policies, processes and services that go significantly above and beyond our obligations and aim to make domain names and the Internet, a safer experience for the internet community.”
“Directi runs some of the largest and most successful domain name registrars and Web hosting companies in the world. It is known for its success in building high performance Web services solutions among its various business units including ResellerClub, Media.net, LogicBoxes, BigRock, Skenzo and WebHosting.info.”
“Radix FZC is a Directi Business whose mission is to become the registry operator of a variety of top level domains. Radix will be an active participant in ICANN’s process to expand the Internet naming system, and will aim to obtain rights to operate several new generic domains.”
“Radix will leverage Directi’s rich domain expertise, and will be led by an able team that has helped flourish some of Directi‘s existing registrar and web hosting businesses.”
“Directi is a $300+ million group of Businesses, that develop innovative mass-market Web Products serving millions of Customers worldwide. Directi businesses include ResellerClub.com, BigRock.com, LogicBoxes, Media.net, Skenzo and rank amongst the fastest growing businesses worldwide in their corresponding industry segments. The combined Product Portfolio of various Directi businesses includes – Communication and Collaboration apps, Social Networking software, Instant messaging, Context Analysis Engines, Antispam and Antivirus Solutions, Large scale Billing and Provisioning platforms, Traffic Monetization Solutions, Online Advertising Solutions, DNS Management Products, Linux and Windows Server Management Software, Web Hosting Control Panels and much more.”
“Directi is headquartered in Dubai, UAE and has more than 800 employees world-wide across five offices in the UAE, India, United States, and China.”
I guess we’ll see soon enough how much of these kinds of TLD applications there are. This doesn’t really surprise me – what would surprise me is if they were the only ones applying to most of these.
this guy is smart. if he’s applying for top tlds..there must be something to it reguardless of what domainers and everyone else thinks..this guy understands domains..
Now is this what you call cherry picking?
Stunning, at a cost of how much? just for the application process.
Dean
Like the post said cost is $30 Million
Beyond the $185K application fee you have to have in the bank 3 years of operating capital for each TLD as well as other costs and fees.
Same when ICM announced they invest $2M for 3 new TLD’s.
New gTLD’s are not for the faint of heart or for those with shallow pockets.
Yes you can quote me on that
)):
Hi Michael,
I am confused about their core company PDR Ltd.
Where is it registred in India or US? I couldnt find anything like company details etc of PDR Ltd.
All of the strings Directi applied for are under a company called Radix which is based in Dubai I believe
that is extremely risky but they seem to know what they are doing
Citibank.bank
Suntrustbank.bank
Bankamerica.bank
Good news is my 300K .Coms will get tons of typo traffic from all this new activity where consumers are always confused. Flight to quality .Coms, be it typos or buyers of premium intellectual property marketing assets.
I havent actually done the math and I probably should have invested some time and money on new TLDs. Evenso I am betting short on the whole thing on average even though someone must know how to get paid out of the tribes of testers.
These are top tier tlds, all will have multiple applicants.
The show is starting folks.
Get ready for big changes, top level domains are going to be thrust upon consumers and the general public like at no time before.
You cannot compare this to previous new gtld releases. We’ve never seen anything like what is happening.
Good news for the following extensions :
.info .tel .ws .tv .us .coop .mobi .co .crap .xxx .aero .jobs .snakeoil .tulipans etc etc and more etcetera ?
all they need to do now is copy/replicate the New GTLDS ‘ strategy and presto…success!!!
once they get a couple of thousand domain extensions it might just be easier to type in the ipv4 code. after all… domains only exist to make that easier to remember… and that means dotcom. that’s not to say some of these goofballs won’t make money off of bigger goofballs… but i bet most of them lose big time.
First public bidder on .web against Web.com
Mike,
are they reimbursed the full amount of the application fee, if the extension is denied?
They must really have a rock solid plan for these TLDs. If I had that kind of capital I would rather have invested it into a handfull of good .com names, as I think it would be less of a gamble.
A few of these extensions jump out at me and are my favorites. My two favorite are .blog and .news
Either way it will be very interesting to see what the industry looks like after these new domain extensions have been on the market for a while.
What’s the over/under on how many months before a class-action is filed by one-word, generic .com holders against the entirety of the gTLD fiasco?
My guess is before year’s end.
On the other hand – you could have 100,000 .insurance domains registered and operating as businesses, which would probably enhance the value of insurance.com because there’s only ONE insurance.com.
.Web, .Shop, .Music, .Home, etc.
The vast majority of these have multiple applicants that seem in better position to acquire some of the better ones.
To start with the original .web application should have priority over any new application including Web.com, this one, or any other one.
Brad
techcrunch.com/2012/05/31/google-applies-for-google-youtube-and-lol-top-level-domains/
If you are wondering where all the end-user buyers (and end user cash) have gone in the last 12 months… this is the answer.
Corporations aren’t looking to purchase generic .com’s when this new opportunity is at their doorstep.
Why buy Copier.com when they can apply for .Copier (for example).
The base of serious end users is being cut short because of the new gTLD’s.
Will it come back around? Not sure.
If the new gTLD’s fizzle out – then yes.
But (IMO) there are way too many big companies throwing way too much money at this thing for it to go away and die quickly.
Hold on.
It’s about to get interesting (or upsetting – depending on your stance).
Aron
.LOL?!?!?
This new gTLD craze is starting to get hilarious. It reminds me of when newbies find out domaining and get so excited they start to buy all the garbage they can. I can see the same “excitement” in many big players, so I’d say we can expect more and more worthless applications.
Joe
Google is a newbie?
looks like a good candidate for the role of new gtld bottom-feeder.
they must have hustled some investors. if we knew where the cash was coming from it would be very illuminating. sleazi.
all quantity no quality.
any respect i would have had for directi was lost when i saw they pay others to modify software that they should (if they hold themsleves out as “DNS specialists”) be able to understand themselves and modify as needed.
it does not take “brilliance” to make money. but it takes sensibility and taste to produce something of quality and worthy of appreciation.
@Michael
Of course it isn’t. I’m just saying all this gTLD fad will make applicants eventually acquire some lower quality gTLDs. IMO .LOL is one of these.
@Aron
That might be relatively true for the superpremium .coms with 6/7-figure price tags, but certainly not for the $100K (and lower) domains given the costs involved in acquiring a gTLD.
There are 1000 guys in Nigeria figuring out what .bank domains they will be buying as we speak.
@back
‘There are 1000 guys in Nigeria figuring out what .bank domains they will be buying as we speak.’
They’ll never get their hands on one
Making .pro look good.
Seriously, for $2.99 you can reg a .pro and probably buy almost any .pro for cheap money… TODAY.
Why wait for new domain extensions.
Maybe five years from now people will be used to hearing .whatever so I like .info, .tv, .pro and .us. Pretty much any domain extension that has a “meaning” to it will gain in credibility over the next five years.
Tom –
That’s not what the prince who has been emailing me about getting his money out the country reckons 🙂
Now smart phone and tablet makers are going to have to make room on their virtual keyboards for more than just the .COM key.
Oh wait, they probably won’t even bother.
.web in all honesty has been the missing cousin to .com/net/or/info and should of been registered to the DNS years ago. It’s a natural to attract domain investors web developers and speculators alike, more so than some of the more outrageous gTLD proposals I’ve seen so far. 🙂
@innocuous
“Now smart phone and tablet makers are going to have to make room on their virtual keyboards for more than just the .COM key.”
No, they’ll just lose the .com key and save space.
@Mike Mann
“Good news is my 300K .Coms will get tons of typo traffic from all this new activity where consumers are always confused.”
Bit arrogant ole bean. And of course the consumer is always confused.
Directi has a collection of some of the smartest folks in the industry; and in business in general.
That said, such companies are not immune from making the occasional mistake.
Like this one; which is a monster doozy.
Agree with Steve M.
Appears as though gtld applicants have speculation fever.
Will it translate to domain speculator fever?
I doubt it.
However, you can see the money rushing into this industry now.
PARADIGM SHIFT!!!
It’s going to be all about packing the most pertinent info into the domain address.
The “com” is non descriptive information. It can be removed.
Wake up! It’s on like donkey kong.
So they applied for all the big strings. The same 31 that you foolishly check if are available on any new tld that comes out. I can see now the best position in the future of domains will be to provide services for the domain industry and domain holder.
AMAZING the We Are Big and Dominate Theme Repeats
It is good to see all the 500 lb gorillas beating their chests and claiming to be ready to take on the 900 lb gorillas** created over the past 10 years.
Unfortunately, the Internet does not favor consolidation and big iron in the long-term.
People who really understand how the Internet evolves will be able to take the lists of suggested gTLDs and prosper before the ICANN process will unleash the new gorillas to find markets in chaos. Their current plans assume the current market place. That can change quickly as surprise game-changing technology is rolled out.
The 500 lb. gorillas are setting themselves up to be ambushed and blind-sided. They are all like IBM introducing the PC in 1981. They are giddy with delight. The world will now clone, copy and compete.
ICANN has drawn the Applicants into the open field to be targets. There are no guarantees and zillions of piranha to take on the big slow moving players.
It could all be very ugly for several years.
** V$ N$ A$
I still can’t see these new gtlds being a huge success with the public.
You will need to have new popular websites on the scale of Facebook, ebay and Twitter using these gtlds before a good portion of the public knows they even exist.
It isn’t about how much you market the extension to encourage domain registrations. It’s about getting popular sites built on the extensions so that people become familiar with them on a widespread basis.
Otherwise the best keywords in each extension just get hoarded by investors, traded amongst domainers, with the occasional big sale to an end user.
@@Domains
Like maybe a big company like Google? Who’s entire purpose is to assist web users in navigating the web?
You’re probably right.
Not to mention that these gtlds are being released just as the world economy seems to be stalling again, Europe in turmoil, China slowing, and who knows how North America will go after the US election.
“Otherwise the best keywords in each extension just get hoarded by investors, traded amongst domainers, with the occasional big sale to an end user.”
This is what killed basically every new extension in the past.
What happens is –
1.) Registries want to maximize value so they sell their best assets, normally to investors.
2.) Those rarely get developed.
3.) When an end user realizes they can’t get a top term for cheap they will just find another option.
I get the feeling many newbs think they will be able to go out and hand register some amazing term for cheap. It won’t happen. Registries exist to make money.
Brad
@Tom
I’m saying you’d need to have totally new companies, on the size of those ones, start up using a gtld, to get the extension ingrained into the public that it even exists. Getting investors and domainers to register thousands of them during a landrush isn’t going to cut it.
Most companies that do begin on a non- .com extension end up buying the .com once they get big or popular enough.
If you polled 1,000 people on the street how many would even know that .xxx is a real working extension, for example? Same with .co, .me and so on.
Domains
Try that same poll in New York City with 1,000 random New Yorkers in 2 years and you’ll probably find the majority know exactly what .NYC is.
Billboards in Times Square, on buses, TV commercials, Online, public announcements.
Multiply that by 300 new tlds – cities, niche industries, professions, hobbies, communities, causes – and you have a cumulative effect.
Why aren’t dot com lovers buying my domains at my cost…no profit?
Where are u dot com lovers???
Stop talking trash and put your money where your mouth is!!!
@ Anunt
“Why aren’t dot com lovers buying my domains at my cost…no profit?
Where are u dot com lovers???”
Domain values are subjective. Maybe your valuation and their valuation differs.
When I buy a domain the price the other person paid to acquire it is completely irrelevant to me.
Brad
“Stop talking trash and put your money where your mouth is!!!”
Why?
Granted, Sari.com is a wonderful name and probably is worth what you’re asking, but apparently you had some kind of plan for it since you bought essentially every TLD. Did that plan not materialize?
Didn’t you buy it quite recently?
And now you’re selling, presumably on the sole basis of Google applying for new TLDs? Didn’t you also buy Flowers.mobi and shares of Facebook near launch?
Why do you think people would want to follow in the footsteps of your insight and “pay what you paid”?
Bhavin is a man with vision. Starting with less than $600 at the age of 18, he has made Directi, a $300+ million company in 15 yrs! He would have done his maths thoroughly before this investment.
“Bhavin is a man with vision. Starting with less than $600 at the age of 18, he has made Directi, a $300+ million company in 15 yrs! He would have done his maths thoroughly before this investment.”
For people with vision, it is not all about “maths”.
There are market forces and politics to consider.
One example comes to mind. One is Barack Obama’s famous comments about the “building in the Cayman Islands with 17,000 companies ….and it is either the largest building in the world…or ????”
Obama and the GOP are not going to be happy with gTLD Registries and Registrars “Off-Shore”.
Vinton Cerf is telling people the world will be one country. Some also claim he is a “man with vision…”.
Dude have you heard of Google, they have applied for .lol and then they have googlekiller.lol and antithrust.lol
FYI, Directi has it’s headquarter at Mumbai, India.. Not in Dubai, UAE!