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Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE: IRM), the information management company, and AusRegistry International, a leading provider of global Domain Name Registry Services, today announced a co-referral program to benefit applicants for new generic top-level domains (gTLDs). Under the terms of this referral program, Iron Mountain will refer prospective gTLD Registry Operators to AusRegistry International for Domain Name Registry Services, and AusRegistry International will refer prospective Registry Operators to Iron Mountain for data escrow services.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the non-profit organization that oversees the Internet's domain name system, is expected to publish the final version of the Draft Applicant Guidebook for new gTLDs in the fourth quarter of 2010. If this occurs, ICANN is expected to open the application process in early 2011. A top-level domain is what Internet users are accustomed to seeing on the right-most side of a domain name, for example, .com, .net and .org. Currently, there are 21 gTLDs in use on the Internet.

The new gTLD program will potentially pave the way for innovations across a range of market segments such as generic TLDs (e.g. .web or .music), geographic TLDs (e.g. .nyc or .london) or brand specific TLDs (e.g. .ironmountain or .ausregistry).

Iron Mountain currently provides escrow services for the majority of the currently active gTLDs and will offer its Registry Data Escrow services for the new gTLDs as well. Escrow services are a vital and mandatory component of the new gTLD application process and help provide registry continuity for these gTLDs.

AusRegistry International CEO, Adrian Kinderis said, "Over the last decade we have focused on creating Domain Name Registry Services offerings that are world class and provide reliable and secure platforms for the needs of our clients. Critical to the achievement of this strategy is the formation of strong partnerships with the highest quality technical providers across the globe. Confirmation of our data escrow program with Iron Mountain, who is a worldwide leader in intellectual property management and data escrow services, further enhances our strategy and provides our new gTLD customers across the globe with further evidence of our commitment to providing best of breed Domain Name Registry Services."

"We continue to be amazed with the global interest in the new gTLD program and are seeing strong evidence to support the notion that the internet is about to undergo one of the most dramatic changes in its short history. We are extremely proud to be working with Iron Mountain to provide world class solutions to support this exciting revolution," Mr. Kinderis continued.

John Boruvka, vice president of intellectual property management at Iron Mountain Digital, added, "AusRegistry International has many years of experience in the domain name industry and uses this knowledge to provide customized registry solutions and services to the international marketplace. We look forward to working with AusRegistry International to help new gTLD applicants navigate the strategy, implementation, and protection of their new domains, and are pleased that they recognize Iron Mountain's expertise and market leadership in providing registry data escrow services."

As the new gTLDs are created, their registries will be required to comply with data escrow requirements similar to those that ICANN maintains for existing gTLDs. This is to ensure the continuity of Domain Name System operations in the event of a physical, technical or business failure of a registry. Iron Mountain was the first company to protect domain name registry data via escrow agreements in 2001. Today, Iron Mountain's global leadership in information management translates into the most comprehensive and trusted Domain Name Registry Data Escrow Services available.

To help the Internet community further understand the impact of new gTLDs, Iron Mountain has developed a white paper on the topic, titled What's Next for the New gTLDs? [PDF]

About Iron Mountain Digital
Iron Mountain Digital is the world's leading provider of information management services for data protection and recovery, archiving, eDiscovery and intellectual property management. The technology arm of Iron Mountain Incorporated offers a comprehensive suite of solutions to thousands of companies around the world, directly and through a worldwide network of channel partners. Iron Mountain Digital is based in Southborough, Mass. For more information on Iron Mountain Digital's Intellectual Property Management services, visit www.ironmountain.com/ipm.

About Iron Mountain
Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE: IRM) provides information management services that help organizations lower the costs, risks and inefficiencies of managing their physical and digital data. The company's solutions enable customers to protect and better use their information — regardless of its format, location or lifecycle stage — so they can optimize their business and ensure proper recovery, compliance and discovery. Founded in 1951, Iron Mountain manages billions of information assets, including business records, electronic files, medical data, emails and more for organizations around the world. Visit www.ironmountain.com or follow the company on Twitter at www.twitter.com/IronMountainInc for more information.

About ARI Registry Services

ARI Registry Services (formerly AusRegistry International) is one of the top companies globally with the technology and expertise to activate, implement and manage new Top-Level Domains. Leveraging ten years of experience as a TLD registry operator, ARI Registry Services will provide new Top-Level Domain applicants with the same software and consulting services that currently drive the .au (Australia), the .ae (United Arab Emirates), the .qa (Qatar) and .om (Oman) country codes. (Learn More)

Related topics: Domain Names, Registry Services, Top-Level Domains