Wants to make .brand domains easier for corporations — Authentic Web

Firm will act as domain name registrar and offer the workflows necessary for a corporate environment.

Most sizable firms have a process in place for registering fresh domain names. This may get more complex when brands secure their own top level domains, such as .ford and .deloitte.

Enter Authentic Web. The fresh firm wants to help businesses running closed registries manage the process, counting corporate controls, IT, and overall workflow. When employees want to register a domain name, they’ll go through Authentic Web’s system rather than the usual public domain registrar.

There is a definite need for this sort of service for .brand owners who plan to actually use their domains. .Brand applicants by now have registries for technical services, as disclosed in their applications. Authentic Web wants to work with the registry and operate as the accredited registrar. It will be interesting to see if the technical registry providers also offer solutions similar to Authentic Web.

Here’s a feature request: as part of the registration process of .brand domains, I recommend services like Authentic Web also provision a subdomain on the firm’s existing top level domain. For example, if a Ford employee registers rebates.Ford, then rebates.ford.com ought to automatically be created and forward to rebates.Ford. If rebatesFord.com is still available, that ought to also be registered. That will help catch error traffic.

[Update: on 9/26/13, Authentic Web disclosed that Tucows will act as its domain name registrar back end]