GMO Internet Group Supports an International Conference ICANN64 To Be Held from Saturday, March 9 to Thursday, March 14 in Japan, Joining as Japan’s Largest Domain Registry and Domain Registrar

Tokyo, Japan – March 1, 2019 – GMO Internet Group (https://www.gmo.jp/en/ ) supports for the second time in the last nineteen years an international conference ICANN64 (https://meetings.icann.org/en/kobe64 ) to be held by Internet resources management group ICANN at Kobe Portopia Hotel and Kobe Convention Center in Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan from Saturday, March 9, 2019 to Thursday, March 14, 2019.
GMO Internet Group will also run a harmony (Wa) themed booth at the ICANN64 jointly with Ito En (https://www.itoen.co.jp/ ).
About 2,500 parties related to Internet companies from about 100 countries including domain registries^*1, which manage the domains, and domain registrars^*2, which are registration businesses, will gather at ICANN64. The participants will discuss how to develop rules and policies to realize a secure Internet resources infrastructure at the meetings hosted by the ICANN Board of Directors. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will be a subject for discussion, and an international conference ICANN64 are attracting attention from all over the world. Anyone who registers can participate in ICANN64.

*1 Domain registry is an organization that manages a database, on which domain information is registered. Domains include .com and .shop. One database for one type of domain.
*2 Domain registrar is a domain registration business. Domain registrar recognized by ICANN can directly sign a contract with the domain registry and directly register domain information on the database.

▲Booth is decorated to portray harmony (Wa). Visitors can have matcha tea under a cherry blossom tree.

Background of supporting ICANN64

With the development of the Internet in Japan, since it began its internet business in 1995, GMO Internet Group has continued to grow.

In the domain industry, after providing domain registration services for the past twenty years since 1999 when we became the first domain registrar recognized by ICANN in Asia, the number of domains registered with us reached approximately 19.8 million as of February 27, 2019, and we established the position of the market leader within Japan. We are also among the top ten registrars in the world^*3. As of today, we have grown into a group that supports Internet infrastructure environment in Japan, offering a wide range of services, from domain registry that supports domains, hosting and cloud, security (SSL), to online payment.

In consideration of the fact that an international conference ICANN64 will be held in Japan for the second time since the 6th Yokohama conference was held in 2000, GMO Internet Group has become a member of ICANN64 Local Host Committee to welcome the participants as Japan’s leading Internet company.

The GMO Internet Group will drive the development of an Internet in Japan through supporting the activities of the ICANN and will contribute to the development of infrastructure of the Internet all over the world.

*3 Source: https://webhosting.info/domain-registrar-statistics/ (as of January 2018)

■Running a booth at the ICANN64

About ICANN (https://www.icann.org/ )

ICANN (The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is a private not-for-profit corporation established in the USA in 1998. The purpose is to manage Internet resources - such as domain names and IP addresses - globally and to discuss how to develop rules and policies related to technology and management.

GMO Internet Group

GMO Internet Group is an Internet services industry leader, developing and operating Japan’s most widely used domain, hosting & cloud, ecommerce, security, and payment solutions. The Group also includes the world’s largest online FX trading platform, as well as online advertising, Internet media, and cryptocurrency related services. GMO Internet, Inc. (TSE: 9449) is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. For more information, please visit https://www.gmo.jp/en/