.eu gathers loyal customers
Q4 2012 .eu progress report now available
Brussels, 14 March 2013 – On average, 80% of .eu domain names were renewed in 2012, according to the latest progress report from the .eu registry EURid. This is the sixth year running that .eu has maintained such a high renewal rate, indicating that .eu domain name holders are a loyal group.
The top-level domain finished the quarter, and the year, with 3.7 million registrations - an annual growth of 5.4%.
“I consider a growth rate that is comparable to 2011 (5.5%) to be a notable achievement, particularly in light of the on-going global economic crisis,” commented EURid General Manager, Marc Van Wesemael.
During Q4 2012, there were 230 752 new .eu registrations. Of these, 7 184, or 3%, were multiyear registrations (registrations for two years or more). Compared with Q3 2012, the number of multiyear registrations increased by 46%, signifying that a growing number domain name holders plan to hold onto their .eu domains for the foreseeable future.
The total number of .eu registrations increased in 22 of the 27 EU Member States. Bulgaria, Belgium, Slovenia, Lithuania and Finland all saw growth of more than 5%.
Also in the report
EURid-UNESCO Insights report
In collaboration with UNESCO, EURid published a new Insights report titled, “The EURid-UNESCO world report on Internationalised Domain Names deployment 2012". The report, which analyses the growth of multilingualism on the Internet and the factors that contribute towards that growth, including the use of Internationalised Domain Names (IDNs), can be downloaded at link.eurid.eu/insights.
Business continuity exercise
To test its crisis management capabilities, EURid successfully ran an unannounced Business Continuity Plan (BCP) exercise in December 2012. The exercise focused on switching the EPP, Registrar Extranet, Registrar DAS and Registrar WHOIS services from one data centre to another and back again. The impact on the registrar infrastructure was minimal - a temporary interruption of approximately 15 minutes.
The full report for Q4 2012 is available for download at: http://link.eurid.eu/reports.
For media information, please contact:
Megan Vosloo, Communications Specialist Phone: 32 (0)2 401 2750 Email: press@eurid.eu
About .eu and EURid
The .eu domain ranks among the largest top-level domains in the world, connecting 500 million people in 27 EU countries to one Internet identity. More than 3.5 million .eu names have been registered since the domain opened for registration in 2005. Many companies and brands use a .eu website as a practical solution to convey a clear European identity and their business ambitions, including Fairtrade International, Foot Locker, Louis Vuitton, the MAN Group, Microsoft Corporation, Orangina and Toyota.
EURid is the not-for-profit organisation that operates the .eu top-level domain, following a tender process and appointment by the European Commission. EURid works with over 850 accredited registrars and provides support in the 23 official EU languages. EURid is registered by the EU Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), which is an expression of EURid’s environmental commitment. With headquarters in Brussels (Belgium), EURid also has regional offices in Pisa (Italy), Prague (the Czech Republic) and Stockholm (Sweden). More information at: http://www.eurid.eu.