Heads to Austin for HostingCon — Domain industry

Ten Eleven Twelve domain name firms are exhibiting at HostingCon 2013, and many of them will be pitching fresh TLDs.

Next week a number of domain name firms are headed to Austin for HostinCon.

Whereas in previous years most of the firms were reseller registrars and the like, there’s a bit of a shift this year as fresh top level domains creep toward reality.

Exhibit A: Minds + Machines, a pureplay top level domain applicant, has a booth.

Web hosting firms are a big conduit for domain name sales, so it makes a lot of sense. I suspect we’ll see more fresh TLD providers at the show next year.

Here are the domain firms I’ve spotted that are exhibiting:

.Host – applicant registry for .host domain names. Booth 226.

Afilias and DotMobi – Looks like their focus will be on GoMobi and FlexDNS, but Afilias has applied for a number of fresh TLDs (and is supporting the backend for others). Booth 731.

Ascio – ccTLD-focused registrar managing over two million domains. Booth 706.

eNom – eNom is a mainstay at HostingCon, where it recruits fresh resellers. I suspect it will also push its fresh TLD “expressions of interest” service to resellers. Booth 825.

InternetX – promotes its domain services and white label domain management software AutoDNS 3.0. Booth 932.

LogicBoxes – Provides backend “registry in a box” services and registrar accreditation consulting services. Booth 512.

Marcaria.com – ccTLD specialist. Booth 936.

Minds + Machines – part of Top Level Domain Holdings, which has 88 TLD applications (counting for clients). Booth 837.

Neustar – backend registry provider for a number of fresh TLD applicants. Booth 438.

OpenSRS – Tucows’ domain registrar reseller platform. Booth 332.

ResellerClub – Reseller platform for domains. Booth 303.

Verisign – .com registry and backend for many fresh TLD applicants. Rumor has it they’ll be handing out literature regarding the dangers of fresh TLDs. Booth 726.