InternetNZ and CIRA partner on a new .nz registry

InternetNZ has today announced a significant investment in its Internet infrastructure to renew the .nz registry platform. InternetNZ will partner with the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) to customise and deploy its CIRA Registry Platform. The new .nz registry will be fully operational by late 2022 and InternetNZ will continue to run and maintain it on-shore.

InternetNZ Group Chief Executive Jordan Carter says, “We evaluated a number of different registry platform solutions, and we chose the CIRA Registry Platform because it will provide .nz with world-class stability, flexibility and useability.” 

“We are also very pleased to be working in partnership with another registry operator in CIRA that shares our public good goals and community ethos.”

“We could not have found a better partner than .nz,” said Byron Holland, president and CEO, CIRA. “They share our vision for how a modern country code top-level domain (ccTLD) should operate and are an industry peer we often look to for inspiration. Our two organizations share a common DNA and a shared vision for the future of our industry.”

In adopting this new platform, InternetNZ will deprecate its proprietary Shared Registry System protocol (SRS) and standardise on the globally adopted Extensible Provisioning Protocol (EPP). 

“We are already working with our customers to prepare for this change and keep New Zealanders online with .nz,” says Carter.

The CIRA Registry Platform is a next-generation TLD platform that leverages CIRA’s more than 20 years of experience managing the .CA domain to create a flexible, robust registry platform to support a modern TLD business. It is currently in use with both the .ca (Canada) and .ie (Ireland) registries. 

“Welcoming .nz to our platform adds another great ccTLD to our growing community and provides us with the opportunity to collaborate with their innovative team to bring a fresh perspective to the CIRA Registry Platform. We are building a community of like-minded TLDs to help us transform the industry for the next 25 years, and .nz will be a key part of that evolution,” said Dave Chiswell, general manager, registry services, CIRA.

InternetNZ has been the home of .nz since 1997 and proudly supports over 720,000 .nz domain names. This multi-million dollar investment in a new registry platform will allow InternetNZ to keep meeting New Zealand’s needs for a world-class domain name service.

“.nz is already the most preferred domain name option for New Zealanders due to its security, reliability and trust. The new registry will allow us to provide an even greater level of service to our registrar customers and New Zealanders,” says Carter. 

For more information about this registry replacement, please visit https://internetnz.nz/nz-domains/registrars/registry-replacement-project/. 

About InternetNZ

InternetNZ is the home and guardian for the .nz domain, and it’s our mission to create an Internet for all New Zealanders that is safe, accessible and a place for good. A non-profit organisation, we provide the infrastructure, security and support to keep the Internet of New Zealand humming.  

Our role as the guardian of the .nz domain means we’re involved in a lot of Internet-related work throughout New Zealand, funded by the sales of .nz domain names. This includes:

• policy work on Internet issues faced in New Zealand,
• providing community grants to support Internet-related projects,
• conducting research to highlight the state of our Internet,
• hosting events, such as NetHui, to bring together our Internet community.

About the CIRA Registry Platform

The CIRA Registry Platform is a next-generation top-level domain (TLD) management platform with features and functionality designed for the modern TLD business. The CIRA Registry Platform features a modern interface based on Extensible Provisioning Protocol, with role-based access to key registry functions that provide flexibility in pricing, promotion, and domain management to help operators run their business and grow their registry.

About CIRA

The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) manages the .CA top-level domain on behalf of all Canadians. CIRA also develops technologies and services—such as CIRA DNS Firewall and CIRA Canadian Shield—that help support its goal of building a better online Canada. The CIRA team operates one of the fastest-growing ccTLDs, a high-performance global DNS network, and one of the world’s most advanced back-end registry solutions.