Wednesday July 1st 2020 marked Afilias Australia’s two year milestone of being the registry operator for .au domain names. 

Since completing the transition of over 3 million domain names in 2018, we have delivered on our promise of enhanced security and stability of the .au DNS and in meeting high standards of progress and cooperation. In our work with .au Domain Administration (auDA) and .au registrars and resellers, we have demonstrated an adaptive, forward-thinking mindset and “can-do” attitude.

Continued security and stability

In 2019 we received ISO certifications 22301 in Business Continuity and Management and 27001 in Information Security Management, and this year we engaged an external company to conduct our annual ISO audit. The report has only recently been completed, which has meant extensive internal collaboration but we are pleased that it is in its final stages, and no deviations have been identified. 

We recently shared details on the successful transfer of 477,874 .au domain names between registrar groups, Arq Group (now WebCentral Group) and CentralNic. This was the largest registrar-to-registrar transfer completed by the Afilias registry team to date, and the largest ever to occur within the .au namespace. We are happy to report that it was completed without any disruption to services, and without a second of downtime.

Opportunities to connect

In October 2019, we held the annual .au Registrar Summit in South Australia. This event was well attended by both international and local registrars and provided a chance for key stakeholders in .au to connect in a less formal out-of-office location.  

Although the 2020 summit may be a little different due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently making plans for an interactive event to be held in November. If Government restrictions mean it is not possible to physically meet, we will likely move the summit to an online format for attendees to connect with industry peers and discuss opportunities in the .au namespace.

Progress and cooperation

There is yet to be a date announced for the launch of second level .au registrations, but we are pleased that the updated registry Operational Test & Evaluation (OT&E) environment went live without a hiccup last year. The OT&E platform has been live since September 2019, which means that .au registrars have had ample time to test their systems, so when the time comes, they will be prepared to offer second level .au names.

It’s been a huge second year for Afilias Australia and .au, and we would like to say a big thank you to the entire registrar and reseller group and of course to our colleagues at auDA. You have played a significant role in ensuring that the .au namespace remains dynamic and ever-evolving, and we look forward to an exciting year ahead.

Have a question, some feedback or idea for a future blog post? Email us at blog@afilias.com.au today.