Mediaboss Marketing

The Australian Football League (AFL) is looking to establish a bigger presence on the internet and has applied for a new top-level domain name '.afl'.

The global governing body for domain names, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), in June 2011 approved the expansion of domain names beyond '.com' to '.anything'.

The application period for the new suffixes opened in mid-January 2012 and closes in April 2012.

It costs $US185,000 ($A173,578) to apply to ICANN for a new suffix.

AFL general manager of strategy and marketing Andrew Catterall said that a specific AFL top-level domain name would help the football code expand and protect its brand, and create new commercial opportunities.

It would enable AFL fans to access reliable and trusted information on games, players and clubs more easily.

Fans would be able to access content by typing into their computer, phone or other digital platform: fixtures.afl, ladder.afl or merchandise.afl.

Players and clubs could have their own sites, such as daneswan.afl or collingwood.afl.

Sponsors could have nab.afl or ten.afl.

If the site did not end in .afl, the content was not verified or official.

'We're making long-term investment decisions across the business, building our official media capacity, building stadiums, expansion (of the code),' Mr Catterall said.

'We weighed this (the top-level domain name) up and think it's a valid application to make to try to secure the licence for a long-term result.

'We're always vigilant about how AFL content and the AFL brand is represented online and sometimes outside of our environment.'

Mr Catterall said the potential for the .afl space was still to be fully ascertained.

'The scope of it will evolve over time. This is a multiple-year migration. It will take time. We're not rushing it,' he said.

Domain registry company Melbourne IT is helping the AFL apply for the new top-level domain name, and ARI Registry Services has been chosen as the technology provider for .afl.

ARI chief executive Adrian Kinderis said having a top-level domain name was like having a lighthouse for your brand because it helped users avoid fake websites - a point well understood by banks.

'In this case, if it doesn't end in .afl, then don't go there,' Mr Kinderis said.

Mr Kinderis said he hoped that the AFL's move to apply for new top-level domain name would prompt other major organisations or companies in Australia to do the same.

He said awareness of the availability of new top-level domain names in North America was huge, but tiny in Australia.

'This is absolutely going to impact every single internet user,' Mr Kinderis said.

'You can't just wave this off as fad.

'We want to ensure that Australia doesn't let this be a North American-wide web.'

See the article here:
AFL applies for new domain name

The EU said Wednesday it will double its investment in supercomputers, high-performance machines the size of a mansion that can cost more than 100 million euros ($130 million) each to build.

The European Commission said it will raise its investment from 630 million euros to 1.2 billion by 2020.

"High Performance Computing (HPC) is a crucial enabler for European industry and for more jobs in Europe," said Neelie Kroes, the Dutch European Union commissioner responsible for fostering the digital economy.

"It's investments like HPC that deliver innovations improving daily life," she added.

As large as 1,000 square metres (10,800 square feet), supercomputers are used by governments to run forensics or health service systems, as well as in the private sector, for example in the automotive and aviation industries.

Hospitals in Germany use HPC to avoid last-minute decisions during childbirth or diagnose disease.

The Commission says use of HPC has saved the European car industry up to 40 billion euros by cutting development time.

The world's largest super computers are more powerful than 130,000 laptops combined, needing spaces the size of entire office floors to act as vast chillers, and maintenance on them can cost another 20 million euros per year.

Europe's biggest are a French system known as Curie and a German known as Hermes.

Originally posted here:
EU to double investment in mansion-sized supercomputers

The AFL is trying to secure its own top level internet domain address.

Expensive application a long term investment in property and 'protection'.

The AFL is the first Australian organisation to confirm it will fork out a small fortune for a new top-level internet domain that will see all its website addresses eventually end in .afl.

It successful the move could see clubs having their own sub domains such as Collingwood.afl or Sydney.afl.

The new generic top-level domains (gTLD) will be released by the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) for the first time since the original domains, such as .com, were launched in the 1980s.

Advertisement: Story continues below

In order to obtain one, organisations need to not only pay a $US185,000 one-off fee, plus $US25,000 annually, but also prove to ICANN they have the technical capacity to administer it as a registry operator would, including providing proof of round-the-clock global connectivity and robust business continuity strategies.

Commercial and public sector organisations have been debating the merits of obtaining .brand domains since the new possibility was announced in 2011.

Some like Canon originally jumped at the idea of a .canon domain and of offering its resellers dedicated brand-linked websites. But Woolworths, Telstra and Qantas expressed doubt over the new scheme. Qantas told this writer last year that its Qantas.com address enjoyed enough brand recognition to not warrant a change, while a Telstra blog post by its legal counsel Isobelle Fabian noted "brace yourselves - .anything is coming". Others expressed concern over the viability and security of the new gTDLs.

The AFL has joined with the ARI Australian Registry Services (formerly AusRegistry International) to provide the technical infrastructure, and with Melbourne IT to prepare the application.

Andrew Catterall, general manager strategy & marketing, AFL, said the football franchise was seeking to safeguard its online brand, indicating the move was pre-emptive to prevent cyber squatting.

"We're securing a trusted environment and taking claim on that opportunity. We're protecting it."

He said the application fee and associated IT costs to migrate all of the current properties and establish new ones under the new structure would be part of a long term investment.

"We made a decision that for our specific case it's a long term investment – we make long term investments in media, stadiums, community participation. The marketing and commercial opportunities we can develop overtime and they will play out in any range of ways.

"If we're successful we'll create club environments, opportunity for our partners, special events and other promotions – all that stuff will play out. It will take a number of years to migrate to it."

Catterall would not disclose if the organisation would be prepared to fight legally for the right to the domain name in case competing interests were successful in securing it.

Adrian Kinderis, CEO of ARI Registry Services, said his firm was helping many applicants prepare submissions in secret. It hoped to secure 100 contracts by April.

"It's very busy but a little frustrating. We always thought there would be some real opportunity for someone to come out and show some leadership here – but I understand companies are playing their cards close to their chest."

He said ARI signed 21 contracts in the first week since submissions opened in January. The contracts stipulate ARI will be the infrastructure partner if cases are approved. Vetting will be done by five auditing firms globally, according to Melbourne IT.

Kinderis said 60 per cent of the applications were from major company-owned brands, with the remainder made up of cities – believed to be Sydney and Melbourne, as well as increasingly popular international tourist destinations in the Middle East – and generic terms.

Rights to generic term domains such as .insurance and .dentist were sought by entrepreneurs planning start-up companies that would register and administer other users.

Kinderis warned anyone thinking they could just "buy" a gTLD to give up.

"It's a huge technical responsibility in securing your own piece of the internet. You must meet the eligibility criteria. Expect to pay a consultant $100,000 to help put together an application. It's an Olympic bid just to get your application in,"

  Follow IT Pro on Twitter

View post:
AFL moves to secure internet name rights

NEW YORK and STUTTGART, Germany, Feb. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Finam, the largest Russian brokerage and investment holding, that previously invested in Badoo and a bunch of other web companies, invests $10 Million in IM+, popular mobile messenger with 17,5 million users and 800 million mobile ad impressions/month.

As a part of the deal Finam and Shape Services, the company behind IM+, launch FinamShape joint venture that will release a special version of plus.im web messenger for the fast growing Russian market.

"This deal is squarely in line with our fund's new strategy which is geared towards investing in global players in the TMT sector worldwide.  We have a deep understanding of the mobile applications market, and IM+ is one of the best and most popular universal communications platforms for young people.  It's particularly important that IM+ is well connected with all leading social communication networks, and our mission is to solidify IM+'s positions in the universal Internet messenger sector," said Dmitry Smirnov, FINAM Private Equity Fund CEO.

"With the new release of Beep in-app push messenger IM+ allows people to save on SMS and MMS while simultaneously chat on Facebook, Skype, Google Talk and tweet. In the first weeks after release Beep got a half of million users and we see endless opportunities for growth", said Igor Berezovsky, IM+ founder.

"To have such a strong partner as Finam means we will be able to bring the product we love to more users. As a side note, Shape Services' name will be shortened to Shape and URL to http://www.shape.ag. We understand the .ag domain as Apps&Games, that fits to Shape's strategy very well."

About FINAM:

Finam is one of the largest investment groups in Russia with a proven track record of private equity investments. Since 2003 Finam invested in more than 20 projects in sphere of Internet, Telecommunications and Media, among them are Begun, the largest independent context advertising service in Russia, Mamba,  #1 online dating service in the Russian-language internet with 11.5 mln registered users,  Badoo, a second-generation social network, with over 137 mln. subscribers, and some others.

More: http://www.finamcapital.com

About SHAPE:

Started in 2002 from ground, SHAPE has grown to a profitable multimillion company with 55 shapers working in Europa and USA. SHAPE's flagship is IM+ communication platform with 17.5 mln registered users, fast growing Beep in-app free push messenger and Neighbors local chat. IM+ is available on all mobile platforms, web and TV.

More: http://www.shape.ag

Read more here:
FINAM Invests $10 Million in IM+

(AP)  FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — A northwestern Arizona tribe has voted to take over management of the Grand Canyon Skywalk from the Las Vegas developer who built it.

David Jin partnered with the Hualapai Tribe to build the horseshoe-shaped glass bridge that juts out from the Grand Canyon on the reservation. But the two sides have been locked in a contract dispute for the past year over revenue shares and an incomplete visitor center.

The Tribal Council voted Tuesday to declare eminent domain over the management contract and provide $11 million in compensation to Jin. The amount is about one-tenth of what Jin has said is fair market value for his $30 million investment.

"The Tribe did not ask for this dispute," Councilman Charles Vaughn said in a statement. "But we have made a sincere effort through private negotiations with Mr. Jin, and he still refuses to make the most basic concessions and complete the work he promised. His participation has been unproductive and created countless delays. At this point, there are simply no other options."

The Tribal Council passed an eminent domain ordinance last year that Jin had suspected was aimed at him. He went to federal court to try to keep the tribe from severing the Skywalk contract under the ordinance, but the judge said the tribe had not sought to enforce it and told Jin he must first exhaust tribal court remedies.

A separate case that Jin filed in tribal court to force arbitration also was dismissed, giving Jin the option of returning to federal court.

Jin approached the Hualapai Tribe in 1996 with a plan to build the Skywalk with his own money. The attraction just west of Grand Canyon National Park has about 300,000 visitors a year and is a major tourist draw for the tribe.

The Skywalk extends 70 feet from the canyon rim and 4,000 feet above the Colorado River. It's designed to withstand 100 mph winds and has shock absorbers to keep the walkway from wobbling as people pass over.

Under an agreement with the tribe, Jin is supposed to split revenues with the tribe for 25 years in exchange for his investment.

The American Arbitration Association ultimately agreed to hear the dispute, and the two sides were supposed to be exchanging documents when the council voted to enforce eminent domain, Jin's representatives said.

Jin has said in court documents that he believes the tribe's motivation in passing the ordinance is to avoid the embarrassment of explaining how ticket revenues evaporated under its watch and to keep from paying him what he's owed.

The tribe denied that and reiterated its stance Wednesday that Jin hasn't fulfilled contractual obligations to complete a visitor center that tourists must pass through to access the Skywalk and failed to account for funding.

See the rest here:
Ariz. tribe votes to take over Skywalk management