EURid really know what they’re doing, we got this great welcome pack with details of exactly what we need to do, including online training and some nice freebees too…Thanks EURid

We’ve announced today that we’ve become an Accredited EURid Registrar for the .eu country code top-level domain name.
EURid is the registry that manages the .eu country code top-level domain. Currently there are more than 3.7 million registered .eu domain names. EURid is the registry that runs the .eu, by designing, implementing and maintaining the databases and technical infrastructure needed for .eu to be present on the Internet. EURid has managed and operated .eu as a not-for-profit organisation since 2003.

‘Hosting Ireland is committed to delivering fast, reliable domain registration to the online business community and having a direct relationship with domain registries enables us to offer the best possible customer service and great value.…, says Jonathan Bate – Managing Director Hosting Ireland…. The opportunity for online business is still rapidly continuing to grow and as people develop ideas and opportunities they want to secure their business name online. This may require registering a number of domain names in order to protect their brand. Gaining accreditation with the leading domain registries just makes good sense for us as we endeavor to deliver what our customers want.’

Buying a .eu has never been easier, domain registration can be made quickly online and your domain name secured in minutes. So why wait, get your .eu domain name here. Hosting Ireland is also an accredited registrar for the .ie domain name

The application deadline has been extended until Midnight Thursday 2nd May…

Fore more details see below

One week left to apply for IEDR’s OPTIMISE e-Commerce Fund

IEDR is making a final call to Irish small businesses and micro enterprises to apply for IE Domain Registry’s (IEDR’s) OPTIMISE e-Commerce and Website Development Fund. With just one week left until the closing date for applications on April 25th, IEDR is encouraging small business owners with an existing .ie website to apply for one of 20 places on this year’s OPTIMISE Fund.
IEDR’s OPTIMISE Fund will provide twenty small business owners with a combined €150,000 worth of professional consultation, training and development support services to improve and develop their existing online presence. The Fund covers e-commerce capability and functionality, helping small businesses benefit from e-Commerce features such as real-time payments, online catalogues, order processing and booking facilities.
Further details and the online application form are available at www.why.ie/optimise.
Urging Irish companies to apply, David Curtin, Chief Executive of IE Domain Registry, said: “I would encourage any small business owner with a .ie website looking for practical, step-by-step support to grow their business online to apply for a place on this year’s OPTIMISE Fund by April 25th. Previous winners of the OPTIMISE Fund are already reaping the benefits of being able to make the most of the Internet’s 24 hour sales channel, resulting in new customer enquiries and increased sales and growth.”
Ends
For reference:
Gibney Communications, Tel: 01 661 0402
Mark Leech, 087 905 3679 / Karen Jones, 086 866 4501

Note to Editor:
About the IE Domain Registry:
The IE Domain Registry (IEDR) is responsible for the management and administration of Ireland’s official Internet address .ie, in the interest of the Irish and global Internet communities. The IEDR operates the domain name system (DNS) for the .ie namespace, facilitates a dispute resolution service and operates a public ‘Whois’ lookup service for .ie domains. The DNS is one of the most important systems on the Internet as it provides the means to map easy-to-remember Internet addresses (such as www.iedr.ie) to cumbersome IP addresses (193.1.32.40).
The IEDR is a managed registry which means that there are rules and procedures governing the registration of .ie domain names. New applications are reviewed to ensure compliance with the terms and conditions of registration. For example, IEDR will verify an applicant’s company registered number with the CRO, or its patent reference number with international databases. This contrasts with dot.com or dot.eu where there is no manual review, and the domain applied for will be automatically registered – once the name is available. Authenticating the claim to the domain name lends confidence to consumers and businesses to carry out transactions online, safe in the knowledge that the online companies are who they say they are. Also with a managed registry there are virtually no instances of cyber-squatting, fewer costly intellectually property disputes and reduced instances of spam and identity theft.
Reflecting the nature of Ireland’s managed registry system, the .ie country code domain name, has consistently been ranked one of the world’s top 5 safest domains by the McAfee Mapping the Mal Web report, since the report was established in 2007.
In October 2007 the IEDR relaxed the rules for registering personal .ie domain names for individuals, for example, www.johnsmith.ie. The relaxation of the rules was introduced in response to the increasing popularity of social networking sites such as Facebook and Bebo after full consultation with the .ie registrar community and industry organisations.
In November 2010, the IEDR celebrated its 10th anniversary during which it marked a number of milestone events including the registration of Ireland’s 150,000th .ie domain name and launch of a www.why.ie as a resource for .ie registrants and registrars. This was followed by the publication of the Registry’s inaugural Domain Name Industry Report, the first account of its kind in Ireland of the .ie namespace and the Irish domain market. It is set in the context of the global domain name market and Ireland’s Internet ecosystem, and is published as a resource for Internet industry leaders and policy makers.
In May 2011, IEDR launched OPTIMISE, an e-commerce website development fund. The fund was launched following the findings of IEDR’s Domain Name Industry Report which found that only two-thirds of businesses were online and of those, only 21 per cent had e-commerce capability. The fund provided Irish SME owners with professional support with which to plan and carry out a major e-commerce website upgrade.
In early 2012 IEDR reached another milestone with the registration of Ireland’s 175,000th .ie domain.
Under the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility programme, the IEDR also provides free .ie domain names for registered charities, as well as free registration for two years to registrars providing new broadband connections to Ireland’s schools and educational institutions.

OPTIMISE, the IE Domain Registry (IEDR) e-Commerce Website Development Fund 2013 has been set up to provide Irish Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) or Micro Enterprises with a range of e-commerce supports (including Technical, Marketing, Consultancy & Training), to encourage and enable Irish SMEs or Micro Enterprises to make greater use of existing web technologies and upgrade to an e-commerce enabled website. This initiative is designed to help drive Irish businesses’ efforts online. These businesses were provided with one-on-one consultations and trainers to plan, develop and implement significant e-commerce capability to their current website.

The release of the IEDR’s Domain Name Industry Report in November 2010 highlighted that only 66% of Irish businesses had any kind of website and of this 66% only 21% had any e-commerce capabilities. Following this finding the IEDR announced that it would provide services and training to companies as part of the OPTIMISE Fund. The Fund has grown from 10 winners in 2011 to 15 in 2012.

Are you an Irish SME or micro-enterprise? Do you currently have a .ie web address? Are you looking for professional assistance to develop your online presence? IEDR’s OPTIMISE e-Commerce Fund for 2013 can help you, and is now open for entries!

Click here to apply for Optimise 2013

We at Hosting Ireland are fully committed to delivering the very best in hosting to our customers. This takes lots of research into the latest technologies, speaking with lots of potential partners and benchmarking us against our competitors. No better place to do this than at the World Hosting Days event in Rust Germany….

‘Getting the latest on technology trends’

Everyone who in anyone in the industry is here and over the last three days our CTO has been meeting existing and potentially new partners, speaking with competitors and listening to hours of seminars getting the very latest on technology trends and ideas.

‘Everyone and Anyone from the Hosting industry is here…’

Hosting Ireland will go to any length to ensure it’s customers benefit from the latest technologies…

‘The things you have to do in the name of customers satisfaction….’

Not many charities are aware that they can register a .ie domain name for free with Hosting Ireland. The normal registration price of a .ie domain is €19.95 plus vat, however provided you are a registered charity and have a charity number you can register your domain name for free. The good news does not stop there, the annual renewal is also free too.

You can register your domain name simply and quickly online if you have your charity number to hand, just choose your domain name and follow the registration process at Domain Registration

Yes that right, our half price .org offer has been extended until the end of March and also the .biz domain is included. So now you can buy either domain name for only €4.95….

The .org domain is one of the original TLDs or Top Level Domains and has been around since 1985. Generally it’s used for non-profit organisations and there is no restrictions for registration, which makes it quick and simple to register.

Sometimes the .org domain is adopted where an entity does not fit into any other category which often includes non-commercial organisations.

Some examples of where a .org domain is used include:

Schools/Colleges
Charities
Open Source Projects
Personal Sites
Communities
Associations
Clubs

You may also consider registering a .org domain as part of your brand protection strategy along with other TLDs.

Hosting Ireland offers registration for all domain types, but to mark the 28 years of the .org we are offering a 50% discount on all .org registrations. So now you can register a .org for only €4.95!

In addition if you register along with purchasing hosting you can get further discounts of 25% with Cloud Lite hosting, 50% with Cloud Business hosting and with our Cloud Ultima hosting your .org will be FREE.

Remember ID protection is included only when domain registration is through Hosting Ireland.

Don’t hang around, this deal is only available until 28th February 2013..

The Data Protection Commissioner has started to take action by sending out letters to companies who’s websites are not compliant to the Cookie law that came into effect from 1st July 2011 as part of the ePrivacy Directive.

In principle, there has been a legal requirement since the above date that all websites must provide information and capture consent for dropping or accessing cookies or other information on a user’s computer equipment when a user visits their site.

If your website is not compliant we would strongly advice that you make this a matter of priority, seek advice if need be and take the necessary steps to get compliant.

For more information visit www.dataprotection.ie