Domainz 'key' to strategy

By ADAM GIFFORD

Melbourne IT, the new owner of Domainz, wants to make the original .nz registrar a key part of its international business.

The ASX-listed company paid shareholder Internet NZ $2 million for the business earlier this month, after beating off rival tenderers.

Internet NZ, an incorporated society charged with overseeing this country's contribution to the internet, sold Domainz because members did not consider it proper to own a registrar now New Zealand has moved to a shared registry system for managing the .nz country code top level domain (ccTLD).

Melbourne IT will be able to immediately get back about $900,000 of its investment from the cash left in the business.

Although Domainz is not profitable, Melbourne IT managing director Theo Hnarakis said it should be in the black within three months with the introduction of "sophisticate" Australian management strategies. That means tying it in with the parent company's wholesale operation, which provides services to global internet players like MSN Search, major United States internet provider EarthLink, Japanese telecommunications giant NTT Smart Connect and Australian web directory operator LookSmart.

He said moving some call centre functions to Wellington would increase Melbourne IT's ability to service global customers. While some positions may change, staff numbers might even increase.

Melbourne IT listed in 2000 and manages 72 per cent of .au names. In 2002 it registered 735,000 new global top level domains and with two million names under management, has about 6 per cent of the global market.