CIRA Takes Reins of .ca Registry

The .ca registry has been successfully transferred to CIRA (Canadian Internet Registration Authority) and is now fully operational.

by Paul Nicholls of internetnews.com [December 4, 2000]

CIRA is a not-for-profit organization mandated by the Canadian Domain Name Consultative Committee to operate the .ca top-level domain. It is responsible for setting policy, managing and operating the .ca domain database, and registering Domain Names.

The registry was transferred from the volunteer organization at the University of British Columbia to CIRA to provide a more streamlined and swift process for registration and re-registration of .ca domain names.

"We are very pleased that the CIRA registry is now operational. We're confident that the faster registration times and increased accessibility will make .ca the domain of choice for many individuals, organizations and businesses," said Maureen Cubberley, chair of the CIRA Board.

New .ca domains now available
CIRA's certified registrars have been accepting new .ca registrations under the new broader rules, and activating them in the UBC system since November 8, 2000 (see: .CA Registration Rules Take Effect, November 8, 2000).

Now .ca domain names will be registered and activated directly in CIRA's system.

This will result in reduced turnaround times for registration; under the old rules and processes, domain name registration could take several weeks. Out of 98,000 .ca domain name holders who had registered .ca domain names in the UBC registry before November 8, more than 50,000 have successfully re-registered with CIRA through a certified registrar.

Those .ca domain names not re-registered before the first of December have been de-activated. This means that associated Web sites and e-mail addresses are not operational.

Affected parties should select a certified registrar (a list is available on the CIRA Web site) and request re-registration. The domain name will be activated after the registrant has completed the re-registration process.

Since the broader rules were put into operation on November 8, 2000, more than 75,000 new .ca domain names have been registered. "This is good news; an indication of the potential growth of the .ca domain," said Cubberley.

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