Registrant Data for 90 Million Domain Names Protected
BOSTON, Nov. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Iron Mountain Incorporated
(NYSE: IRM), the global leader in information protection and storage services,
today announced that its technology arm, Iron Mountain Digital, has been
selected by the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to
provide escrow services which will be available to the more than 900
ICANN-accredited domain name registrars. The escrow program will protect
registration data for the 90 million domain names they support. This
agreement solidifies the security and stability of the Internet's domain name
system by safeguarding the data associated with registered domain names in
secure escrow accounts managed by Iron Mountain Digital.
A domain name registrar accredited by ICANN has the authority to register
Internet domain names -- commonly thought of as web site addresses -- on
behalf of consumers and businesses. ICANN has authority over gTLDs, or
Generic Top Level Domains, such as .com, .net, .org, and .mobi. With nearly
every major corporation in the world having registered a .com domain name
extension, billions of interactions are supported every day.
Iron Mountain Digital is a neutral third party that offers escrow services
to safeguard intellectual property assets, until a release event occurs.
Under this escrow program, the pertinent and critical information for a party
registering a domain name is held in escrow with Iron Mountain. This protects
all of the consumers and businesses that have registered domain names with an
ICANN-accredited registrar because their data will be safeguarded even if the
registrar goes out of business or ceases operations. Holding this data in
escrow also helps with business continuity efforts in the case of a failure
with a registrar's data storage systems.
"The vast majority of ICANN's accredited registrars offer high levels of
service and integrity; however, as we have seen, there is the risk that poorly
performing registrars can hurt registrants significantly," said Dr. Paul
Twomey, President and CEO of ICANN. "ICANN has selected Iron Mountain Digital
as its escrow agent to help implement the Registrar Data Escrow program, a
sensible and practical measure to protect registrants by storing and
safeguarding a backup copy of domain name registration data in escrow."
The Registrar Data Escrow (RDE) program is designed to ensure that the
information associated with registered domain names is never at risk. This
data can be used by ICANN to allow continuity of registrar operations in the
event a registrar's accreditation agreement is terminated or expires without
renewal. ICANN-accredited registrars must deposit registration data with
ICANN, through its designated escrow agent, Iron Mountain Digital, or with
another approved third party provider of escrow services, as a condition of
their accreditation agreement.
"As the founder of the technology escrow industry, Iron Mountain is proud
to have been selected for such an important escrow program," said John
Boruvka, vice president of Intellectual Property Management for Iron Mountain
Digital. "ICANN joins thousands of customers worldwide who rely on Iron
Mountain's technology escrow services to protect their intellectual property."
With the Registrar Data Escrow program in place, ICANN can provide
assurance to the Internet community that a copy of the domain name
registration information held by that registrar is safe. With this data in an
Iron Mountain escrow account, the domain name information is secure, and the
confidence of consumers and businesses registering domain names is
strengthened.
For more information on Iron Mountain Digital's Intellectual Property
Management services, visit http://www.ironmountain.com/ipm.
About ICANN
ICANN is responsible for the global coordination of the Internet's system
of unique identifiers like domain names (like .org, .museum and country codes
like .uk) and the addresses used in a variety of Internet protocols that help
computers reach each other over the Internet. Careful management of these
resources is vital to the Internet's operation, so ICANN's global stakeholders
meet regularly to develop policies that ensure the Internet's ongoing security
and stability. ICANN is an internationally organized, public benefit
non-profit company. For more information please visit: http://www.icann.org.
About Iron Mountain Digital
Iron Mountain Digital is the world's leading provider of software -- and
storage-as-a service solutions for backup and archiving. The technology arm
of Iron Mountain Incorporated offers a comprehensive suite of data protection,
archiving and intellectual property management solutions to thousands of
companies around the world, directly and through a world-wide network of
channel partners. Iron Mountain Digital is based in Southborough, Mass. with
European headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany.
About Iron Mountain
Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE: IRM) helps organizations around the
world reduce the costs and risks associated with information protection and
storage. The company offers comprehensive records management and data
protection solutions, along with the expertise and experience to address
complex information challenges such as rising storage costs, litigation,
regulatory compliance and disaster recovery. Founded in 1951, Iron Mountain
is a trusted partner to more than 100,000 corporate clients throughout North
America, Europe, Latin American and Asia Pacific. For more information, visit
the company's Web site at http://www.ironmountain.com.
Media Contact:
Maria Doyle
Public Relations
(781) 964-3536
dmmkdoyle@comcast.net
SOURCE Iron Mountain Incorporated