TUCOWS Launched Open Shared Registry System for Domain Name Registration

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October 26, 1999

Move Offers ISP’s Wholesale Registrations For $13 Per Year

TORONTO, CANADA — October 26, 1999 — TUCOWS (www.tucows.com) has revolutionized the wholesale domain name registration market with today’s launch of OpenSRS (Open Shared Registration System at www.opensrs.com). Internet Service Providers, web hosting firms and value added resellers can use OpenSRS to register domain names for their customers for just $13 per registration a year with a further discount for TUCOWS affiliates. OpenSRS is a combined software and service offering that enables .com, .net and .org domain name registrations at a fraction of the cost currently charged by the incumbent, Network Solutions Inc. and all new competitors.

“TUCOWS is once again pleased to play a significant part in the evolving world of Internet Commerce and software services development,” said Ross W. Rader, Director of eCommerce for TUCOWS.com. “Offering ISPs a means to provide an inexpensive domain name registration service to their end users is something that no other registrar has been willing to do. Not only have we addressed this need, but we have given OpenSRS participants the opportunity to leverage standards-based, open source tools to gain access to pricing previously reserved for a select few, high-volume registration firms."

The OpenSRS client software has been released under the GNU Public License which is the most popular open source license in use today. This liberal licensing arrangement allows companies to customize and modify the client software to ensure that it works within their environment, an opportunity not available with typical “closed-source” software.

“OpenSRS.com allows us to offer a quality service at a much more competitive price,” said Paul Engels, Vice President of Marketing, I.D. Internet Direct Ltd. “As Canada’s largest independent ISP, we register thousands of domain names. Being able to save our customers more than 50 percent on their annual registration costs is a win-win solution for everyone.”

"Onvia is excited to be working with TUCOWS. Based upon our initial meetings, we are looking forward to building a great partnership. Domain registration is a very important service offering to our small biz members," says Jeff Chemeres, Director of Business Development, Services at Onvia.com.

OpenSRS is broken down into two major components operated by TUCOWS: an open-source client front end and a server back-end. The net result of the process of transactions between OpenSRS and NSI is that a customer can now register a domain name with their local Internet Service Provider or web-hosting company in real-time, with prices that are finally competitive.

In order to provide quality customer support service, TUCOWS has established a 24 hour customer service center for OpenSRS.com, enhanced with email, pager and a emergency toll-free number.

About TUCOWS.com Inc.

With offices in New York City; Flint, Michigan; and Toronto, Canada, TUCOWS.com (The Ultimate Collection of Winsock Software) is one of the largest Internet distribution sites featuring Windows®, Macintosh®, Linux® and PDA software. TUCOWS.com was founded in 1994 as a public service to new Internet users. Today the privately owned and operated company offers an array of electronic downloaded software programs that can be accessed at over 600 affiliates in over 75 countries world-wide. The site serves more than 80 million pages per month making TUCOWS.com one of the busiest sites on the Internet.