.nyc

The New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT) put out a press release yesterday announcing that they are seeking a partner to run .NYC on behalf of the City. DotNYC has been in discussions with various city officials for over a year, and we are thrilled that this has culminated in an official announcement. New York is now the first U.S. city to announce their intention to seek a top-level domain.

We put out our own press release congratulating the City of New York and announcing our intention to complete the RFP and to operate .NYC on behalf of the city.

DoITT had this to say about the announcement:

Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications Commissioner Paul J. Cosgrave today announced issuance of a Request for Proposals (RFP) seeking a qualified vendor to assist the City in applying to obtain the “.nyc” top level domain (TLD) web address and – if the City successfully acquires the TLD – to operate, manage, maintain and market .nyc. A TLD is the last part of an Internet address, such as .com, .gov, .edu, etc. The City of New York may use the .nyc TLD to generate revenue, assist residents in locating City government services, help local businesses to thrive, market and promote tourism in the City, and spread the dynamic image of New York City around the world. Use of .nyc has also been advocated by City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn and Council Member Gale A. Brewer, Chair of the Council’s Technology in Government Committee. The RFP can be accessed on www.nyc.gov.

“Each day the Internet serves as an essential tool in the lives of an increasing number of New Yorkers, helping inform the ways they live, learn and play,” said DoITT Commissioner Paul J. Cosgrave. “Through .nyc, we hope to make the search for New York City-related content easier than ever by providing individuals, organizations, non-profits and others a chance to own a virtual piece of the greatest city in the world.”

“A top-level City needs a top level domain, that’s why finding a partner to join the City in making .nyc a reality for small businesses in New York is vitally important,” said Speaker Quinn. “Once the .nyc program is launched, local business owners will be able to uniquely associate themselves and their business with their home, and the NYC brand.”

“New York City, like many of its global competitors, plans to apply for a top level domain name. I hope that this TLD will assist local merchants based in New York City to be able to brand their businesses as located in the five boroughs,” said Council Member Brewer. “The small business community is a vital part of the New York City economy and any opportunity to increase their exposure while facilitating easy searching online is a step forward. I applaud the Mayor for applying for .nyc and I look forward to seeing this TLD attached to my local bakery or dry cleaner.”

And in our press release, we said:

Antony Van Couvering, the CEO of dotNYC and a Manhattan resident, is a founder of Minds + Machines, which provides technical services for new top-level domains. Following a series of meetings with city officials about the .NYC web address, Mr. Van Couvering was invited to City Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s State of the City address in February where she unveiled the city’s plan to pursue .NYC.

“Today’s announcement that New York City will seek an operating partner for .NYC is a significant milestone towards a great online identity for all of us who live and work here,” Mr. Van Couvering said. “The city made the right decision about how to apply for this important asset, and we’re confident the city will make the right decision when choosing a partner.”

This is a great step forward for New York City and for the Internet. Congratulations!

We issued a press release on New York City’s plan to apply for .NYC from ICANN. Here is the full text:

dotNYC Applauds New York City Plan to Seek .NYC Web Address

Mon Oct 5, 2009 2:37pm EDT

dotNYC LLC Proceeding With Application To Operate .NYC Top-Level Domain for
the City

NEW YORK, Oct. 5 /PRNewswire/ — Today’s announcement that the City of New York will seek the .NYC web address makes New York the first U.S. city to seeka top-level domain. dotNYC LLC, a private company that for the last year has been meeting with city officials about the plan for the .NYC web address, is applying to become the city’s operating partner.

Former Mayor Ed Koch, who supports the dotNYC effort to operate .NYC on the city’s behalf, said: “.NYC is the best real estate deal since the Dutch bought Manhattan.” (Video of Mayor Koch)

Everyone is familiar with generic web addresses (known as top-level domains) ending in .com, .org, .net, .edu and .gov. But early next year there will be many more when the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) begins accepting applications for new web addresses from cities, companies, organizations and entrepreneurial ventures that want to create their own.

ICANN’s approval of .NYC will allow New York city residents, businesses, groups, government agencies and tourist attractions to register website names and have email addresses ending in .NYC – directly identifying themselves with the world’s leading city. Examples include: theater.nyc, pizza.nyc, blockparty.nyc, statueofliberty.nyc, yourname.nyc, yourbusinessname.nyc and millions more.

Dozens of cities worldwide are expected to apply for their own top-level domains, including Rome (.roma), Berlin (.berlin), Paris (.paris), London (.london) and Barcelona (.bcn).

dotNYC is led by Internet pioneers with unmatched experience creating and operating top-level domains, and is backed by a proven registry technology that currently powers more than a dozen top-level domains for countries around the world. In addition, dotNYC is affiliated with the team seeking to create the .eco web address. That effort is backed by former Vice President Al Gore and will dedicate a majority of profits to fighting global warming – just as New York City will keep most .NYC proceeds.

Antony Van Couvering, the CEO of dotNYC and a Manhattan resident, is a founder of Minds + Machines, which provides technical services for new top-level domains. Following a series of meetings with city officials about the .NYC web address, Mr. Van Couvering was invited to City Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s State of the City address in February where she unveiled the city’s plan to pursue .NYC.

“Today’s announcement that New York City will seek an operating partner for .NYC is a significant milestone towards a great online identity for all of us who live and work here,” Mr. Van Couvering said. “The city made the right decision about how to apply for this important asset, and we’re confident the city will make the right decision when choosing a partner.”

ABOUT dotNYC LLC

dotNYC’s efforts to create the .NYC web address moved into full swing last year when ICANN announced plans to accept applications for new top-level domains based on city names. dotNYC is based in Manhattan, and its executive team includes founding members of ICANN who together have launched five successful top-level domains and advised dozens of others. In addition, members of the dotNYC team created the worldwide model for public-private partnerships to operate geographic-based web addresses.

SOURCE dotNYC LLC

Davidson Goldin (DolceGoldin), +1-646-386-9602, david@dolcegoldin.com

Michele Neylon, who runs one of the largest ISPs in Ireland, like city top-level domains, and features .NYC in his latest post on his New TLD Guide blog.

As he says, “sounds pretty cool, doesn’t it?”

Ed Koch gets it!

The former mayor and iconic New Yorker Ed Koch announced his support for .NYC today. We’ve been talking to each other for several months about .NYC and our effort to get the City and ICANN to approve .NYC, and after making sure we were the real deal, he decided to take his support public by recording a video.

Expect to see and hear more from Ed Koch as we continue our push to bring a top-level domain to New York City.

Ben Smith covers the story on Politico.com.

Elliot Silver, who runs the widely-ready Elliot’s Blog, did a long interview with me about .NYC and new top-level domains in general. I explain why I think .NYC is a great idea and how it would work.

Elliot followed up with a blog post saying that he thought .NYC would be a success. Obviously I agree.

Excerpt from the New York Post

Pretty soon, anyone can snag a hot city address.

The Big Apple is poised to get its very own Internet domain – .nyc – for individuals, businesses and government agencies who want a snazzy new option for their Web sites.

Council Speaker Christine Quinn, in her annual State of the City Speech yesterday, announced that work was being done to add the new Web address option next year.

“A local business won’t have to outbid a guy in Kansas to get TonysPizza.com. They’ll be able to get TonysPizza.nyc,” Quinn said.

The city would receive a third of any proceeds on domain names, which would cost about $10 a piece.

Mayor Bloomberg, whose approval would be needed, supports the idea, but will not change any city Web sites to incorporate the new domain, said spokesman Andrew Brent.

There are several cities throughout the world, including Paris, that also want to purchase their own domain name.

Anthony Van Couvering, CEO of a company called dotNYC, predicted roughly $3 million would flow into city coffers each year by the third year of the domain’s existence.

Excerpt from New York Metro

“Mark Twain famously advised, ‘Buy land, they’re not making it anymore,’” Quinn said in the speaker’s annual State of the City address. “Well now we can make more New York addresses — just on the Internet.”

She hopes to bring in new revenue by getting a city-only top-level domain: dot-NYC.

This summer the international body that governs Web addresses, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, will start approving applications from states and cities. An average “.nyc” address is expected to cost $10…

Excerpt from AM New York

A company called dotNYC wants to buy the domain name, spend millions marketing it and then turn over a third of its profits to the city. It is expected to produce about $3 million for the city after the third year and up to $10 million annually after that. The city would have to approve the company and would also get to use the domain name free.

“I walk around the city and I see whole lot of people with NY on the front of their heads on their baseball caps,” said Antony Van Couvering, the CEO of dotNYC. “People here love New York.”

Today is February 12, 2009. It’s been over 8 years since our efforts to start .NYC began in 2000. Our company, dotNYC, started in January 2008, is only the latest of our efforts to get New York City to finally recognizing the value of having its own top-level domain, .NYC.

Finally, today, New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn held out .NYC as an example of the kind of public-private partnership that the city should pursue. The crowd, made up of elected politicians and dignitaries, literally chanted “Dot N – Y – C” at the end of her description of it. See our Press section for more details on Speaker Quinn’s speech and press reaction.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 12, 2009
Contact: Davidson Goldin (DolceGoldin)
646 386 9602 david@dolcegoldin.com

dotNYC Applauds City Council Leadership to Create .NYC Web Address
Speaker Quinn & Council Member Brewer Take Lead Roles Promoting
Initiative that Will Provide Millions of Dollars to Benefit New York City

The long-awaited .nyc web address is closer to becoming a reality, thanks in part to today’s action by City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and the long commitment of Council Member Gale Brewer.

Website names ending in .nyc – such as www.hotels.nyc, www.joeshardware.nyc, www.johndoe.nyc, www.parks.nyc (and millions more) – will allow New York City residents, businesses, organizations, government agencies and tourist attractions to identify directly with the world’s leading city.

Everyone is familiar with generic web addresses ending in .com .org .net .edu .gov. Other Top Level Domains include .biz .info .tv .mobi .travel. Now there are plans to introduce many new web addresses including .london .paris .boston .berlin .barcelona .rio and others based on geography.

These new web addresses will make the need for creating a domain name for New York City on the Internet a critical priority. The anticipated typical cost of a .nyc address (roughly $10) represents the cheapest real estate opportunity here since the Dutch bought Manhattan.

“The .nyc web address will generate significant funding to market New York City around the world, provide free web addresses for city government and keep New Yorkers competitive with global trends,” said Antony Van Couvering of Manhattan, CEO of dotNYC. “We’ve been working on creating .nyc for nearly a decade, and we’re thrilled Speaker Quinn and Council Member Brewer are taking leadership roles to ensure New Yorkers benefit from the future of the Internet.”

ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) will this summer begin approving Top Level Domains named after cities and states. Until now, geographic-based domains were only named after countries or continents (such as .us .fr .uk .asia).

Leaders of the dotNYC team helped found ICANN and bring vast experience creating and running Top Level Domains, including .asia. They created the first public-private partnership to distribute a portion of domain profits to a Community Partner.

The dotNYC team has been working since the fall of 2008 with the Mayor’s Office and the City Council, and has also begun conversations with a potential Community Partner. If the .nyc domain is supported by the city and approved by ICANN, dotNYC will:

· Distribute a substantial portion of profits to the Community Partner for New York City’s benefit
· Provide all city agencies and departments with free .nyc web addresses
· Implement proven policies that protect trademarks and ensure .nyc addresses are used responsibly
· Devote the marketing resources and funding required to ensure demand and make .nyc successful
· Maintain NYC headquarters – creating jobs marketing, designing and programming .nyc web sites

ABOUT dotNYC:
The New York City-based business includes founding members of ICANN who continue to serve in leadership capacities, launched five successful Top Level Domains, advised dozens of others and created the model for public-private partnerships involving geographic-based web addresses.

DotNYC’s efforts to create the .nyc web address moved into full swing last year when ICANN for the first time implemented policies to encourage new domains based on city names. dotNYC founder William Semich is a founder of ICANN and helped design the initial processes and policies for creating new Top Level Domains in the 1990s. He remains active in .asia, which he helped found. He is a former senior staff member to the mayor of Boston and served as that city’s director of finance and deputy director of economic development. dotNYC CEO Antony Van Couvering brings deep experience creating Top Level Domains and was a major force in the creation of ICANN. He has started and run several businesses specializing in creating and operating domains.

Feb 12 – New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn announces her support of .NYC during her annual State of the City speech, and holds .NYC up as a model for the kind of public-private partnership the City should be doing.

While we look to cut spending, we’ll keep our eyes open for any new sources of revenue. Here’s one that’s been right in front of us for years. Web sites end with dot com, dot org, dot this and dot that. Thanks to the leadership of Council Member Gale Brewer and Deputy Mayor Bob Lieber, New York City will soon have its own place on the web – with dot NYC. Mark Twain famously advised “Buy land, they’re not making it anymore.” Well now we can make more New York addresses – just on the internet! A local business won’t have to outbid a guy in Kansas to get Tony’s Pizza dot com. They’ll be able to get Tony’s Pizza dot NYC, a name associated with the greatest city – and home of the greatest pizza – in the world. Most importantly, we expect to generate millions of dollars a year through the sale of web addresses ending in dot NYC.

Here’s the full transcript (PDF) of Speaker Quinn’s speech.