Web hosting and domain registrar DiaMatrix has become the first registrar of .co.za domains to incorporate SA domain administrator UniForum’s new extensive provisioning protocol (EPP), which is used to register and manage domains and will eventually come to replace the current system called Legacy.

EPP is an increasingly common international standard and, in conjunction with DiaMatrix’s new multi-registrar control panel — run at www.domains.co.za — Internet service providers (ISPs) or other would-be domain registrars can now gain full registrar accreditation into the .co.za system in as little as an hour, a process that previously could take months.

The control panel is linked to directly to UniForum’s system, which means registrars can both provision and administer new domains and migrate existing domains from the Legacy system to EPP.

DiaMatrix MD Wayne Diamond says that previously an ISP wanting to become a domain registrar had to undergo “two to three months of development time”, followed by a testing period, in addition to completing the documentation required by UniForum.

“It’s now possible to get full registrar accreditation in less than hour,” says Diamond, but adds that registrars still need to complete UniForum’s “admin accreditation process” which generally takes less than 24 hours.

Diamond says SA’s Internet industry has been eager for a streamlined domain registration system for a decade and a half. “EPP is a far more advanced, modernised and secure way of doing so. It is most definitely the way forward for all ISPs as all domain maintenance is done automatically.”

Though one needs to be accredited with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) in order to administer top-level domains like .com, .org and .net, the move to EPP is a step in the right direction because local registrars will now be in keeping with international norms.

Diamond says DiaMatrix’s offering has “huge implications for the ISP industry because EPP is an international way of transferring domains amongst registrars worldwide.”

He says the move “puts SA on an international playing field” and allows even big companies with large numbers of domains to become registrars and administer them autonomously should they so wish. Similarly, smaller companies can now administer their own domains with ease, where previously they would require far more technical skill to do so.

“You’ll find a lot of smaller ISPs using EPP before the bigger guys,” says Diamond. “Suddenly the smaller guys can have the competitive advantage of being on EPP already.”

DiaMatix has also built an application programming interface (API) for its system, which will also make it possible to sell .co.za domains internationally.

“Currently, via UniForum, anyone who knows how to can register a domain,” says Diamond. “Now, with EPP, there’s a move to the international standards of registree and registrar. UniForum is now a registree with 705 000 registered .co.za domains, which previously could mean dealing with 100 000 people. Now it need only deal with a couple of hundred registrars.”

DiaMatrix is the first accredited registrar on the EPP system, but expects many other companies to follow suit in coming months. Diamond says the move to EPP has advantages further down the line, and adds that its simplicity can also help save companies money.

Though there is no obligation to move existing domains to EPP from the Legacy system, Diamond expects more companies and domain owners will do so as the benefits of the move become clear. “Eventually, it’s going to become the standard,” he says. — Craig Wilson, TechCentral