Verio opens European subsidiary: small business web hosting services

Verio Europe is a new presence in the European web services market, with Verio taking over the small business division of NTT Europe Online. Verio Europe will be based in Germany and will offer online services for SMBs, including domain registration, hosting and backup services.

With the internet becoming such an essential part of any business, small businesses really can’t be without a support network that looks after the domain and web hosting side of things. The Verio Europe division will continue to provide Verio expertise in the EMEA region. It will be a bridge for new and existing customers to access both European and worldwide web hosting services.

Source | TheWHIR
Photo | Flickr

Opera commits to Iceland data center project

Web browser maker Opera has announced plans to buy space in a new data center in Hafnarfjorour, Iceland. This isn’t just any data center, however.

Dubbed the Thor Data Center, this facility is green and low-cost. It not only uses Iceland’s cool temperatures to air-cool servers, but is entirely container-based for easy expansion.

Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner, founder of Opera Software, said the company chose Thor because 100% of its energy is renewable. He believes the island will provide a “more stable supply of energy than most other areas in the world.”

And for extra peace-of-mind, the data center designers had the threat of volcanoes in mind from the very beginning. It is located in the far west of the country, which is dominated by an east-to-west wind pattern that sends all volcanic ash towards Europe.

Don't expect European servers to get cheaper any time soon

As a general rule, European data center space is more expensive compared to the United States. Those hoping for cheaper server rates in Europe will be disappointed, however, as a recent report published a consulting company predicts an overall increase in server prices in the region.

The price increase will mainly be caused by an increase in demand, according to the document. Between 2010 and 2015, demand for server room space is expected to go up by 70%. While of course capacity will be expanded to meet the needs of consumers, providers will surely raise their dedicated server prices to match the market.

Data center revenue is expected to double over the five-year period, though, so now might be a good time to invest in one.

Photo | Flickr

Preregistration for .eu IDNs now open

Those itching to get their hands on a non-Latin character domain will be happy to know that .eu registrars are now accepting preorders for IDNs.

The names cost the same as a normal .eu and are available on a first come, first serve basis. IDN registration will go live on December 10.

There will be no sunrise period for the new names, so it wouldn’t be a bad idea for trademark holders to preregister. Considering the diverse nature of Europe and its many languages, .eu is fulfilling its role as Europe’s TLD. It’s great that the registry stepped up to the plate so early.

Europe and Asia slow to adopt IPv6

A survey of 610 organization in Europe and Asia reveals that only 17% have upgraded to IPv6. This is worrying news considering the current IPv4 address system is slated to run dry by 2011.

Adding further gloom and doom to the situation is the fact that only 8% of ISPs have started using IPv6. Most IPs are used for Internet access, so this is not good at all.

Internet providers and other companies are hesitant to upgrade to IPv6 because the transition is costly and would cut into profits. Most will likely wait until hardware is too old to use until upgrading to IPv6 compatible equipment.

In my opinion, the government needs to do more to step up IPv6 adoption. Why not offer tax incentives for ditching IPv4 or provide grants for purchasing new network hardware? At the rate things are moving now, IPs will run out long before the world is ready to use IPv6.

Photo | Rotorhead

600,000th .cz domain registered

Ireland’s .ie domain isn’t the only ccTLD reporting strong growth today. The Czech Republic’s extension, .cz, reached 600,000 registrations today.

The name’s growth has been phenomenal. In less than 10 months, the number of .cz registrations grew from 500,000 to its present level– an increase of more than 20%. Ondřej Filip, Executive Director of CZ.NIC, said:

The .CZ domain has held the position of most requested domain for a long time with Czech registrars, which essentially confirms the global trend for the preference of national domains. On average, this year we have recorded around 10,000 new .CZ names every month

With the increase in popularity of ccTLDs, what will happen to older TLDs like .com?

Photo | Flickr

Bulgaria's .bg domain now available in Cyrillic

Well ahead of ICANN’s planned implementation of IDNs, Bulgaria’s official domain registry, Register.bg, has announced the availability of .bg domains in Cyrillic. This makes the Balkan country one of the first to support a non-Latin alphabet.

There are some caveats, however. Most notably, only one Cyrillic character can be used and at least one Latin letter must be included. The registration requirements and fees for the new names are the same as Latin names, though the .bg extension must be used (there is no Cyrillic extension).

The introduction of internationalized domain names is predicted to greatly increase the number of web users. Currently, one has to have knowledge of the Latin alphabet used in Engish to access the web– a major hurdle to people in developing countries. By allowing individuals to use their native language online, one more barrier to Internet access has been removed.

Source | Novinite.com

Photo | Flickr

New gTLD proposed for Bavaria

Germans will always consider themselves German, but Germany is a land of many different groups with stiff cultural loyalty. One region, Bavaria, wants to further express its unique identity by applying for a gTLD– .bayern.

“Bayern” translates literally to “Bavaria,” a state in southern Germany that was one of the last to join the country in 1867. It is one of a number of other German states and cities with plans to apply for a gTLD, including Berlin.

I think if accepted, .bayern would be see quite a bit of use. Germany has a very high number of Internet connections per capita, and .de is currently the most-used ccTLD.

Source | Domain News

Photo | svenic

U.S. to team with Italy in fight against cyber crime

The U.S. Secret Service has signed an agreement to join forces with the Italian Police and Postal Service to fight cyber crime. The new team will be called The European Electronic Cime Task Force and will specialize in fighting identity theft, malicious hacking and other forms of cyber crime. The group will be headquartered in Rome.

Massimo Sarmi, the CEO of the Italian Postal Service, said the new task force would be open to contributions from outside Europe as well. “We provide our services to more than 20 million customers and we are able to monitor in real time that operations are proceeding normally, and not turning into criminal events,” Sarmi said.

This alliance might strike some as odd, but it appears to be the first of many western government aligning their forces to combat cyber crime. Their hope is to extend it beyond Europe into a global effort. The United States and Britain have both formed new cyber security chief positions in their countries, and other nations are expected to take a similar approach, treating cyber crime like terrorism and other forms of high profile, international crime.

“This morning we detected seven phishing attacks from various parts of the world. If the criminals had been allowed enough time, our clients might have become victims of fraud,” Sarmi said. The Postal Service CEO said the quickest online thief he had encountered was able to start withdrawing funds just 39 seconds after a successful identity theft.

“We will exchange information and alerts with the Secret Service to prevent this type of event before it happens,” Sarmi said.

Source: ComputerWorld
Photo: Flickr

UK to get its own "Cyber Czar"

Following suit with the American announcement of a new cyber security advisor position, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown is expected to announce the creation of Britain’s own cyber security chief. The new chief will be responsible for protecting the country from hackers, cyber spies and every other sort of tech baddie out there.

Brown’s plan was endorsed by the Cabinet, and sources anticipate that he will name Neil Thompson to the position. His biggest concern, upon taking the position will be hackers in China and, to a lesser degree, Russia, where the cyber worlds are essentially lawless by UK standards. He will also have to tackle the possibility of terrorists who decide to attack through viruses and network security breeches rather than conventional means.

A lesser publicized role of a nation’s cyber chief might also be developing cyber warfare to attack enemy infrastructure, as the U.S. has used in the past to disable Taliban anti-aircraft systems. One can only imagine how many other countries will soon have their own cyber chiefs, which does raise a question. Will the “cyber czars” of the world’s nations have their conferences on Twitter, or will they start a Facebook group?

Source: Independent
Photo: Flickr