Frank Schilling

Frank T. Schilling
Photo by Amy Strzalko. Dec 2014
Photographed in advance of Namescon (2015)
Born Frank Taylor Schilling
July 29, 1969
Tübingen, Germany
Occupation Internet Investor
Nationality Canadian
Website
frankschilling.com

Frank Schilling (born July 29, 1969) is a Cayman Islands based Internet-investor and the founder of Uniregistry, Corp. A GTLD (global top-level domain name) registry operator, Schilling has been a long-time participant in the evolution of the commercial domain name space. His registry, domain marketplace and assorted name-holdings are estimated to be valued in the vicinity of $500 million.[1]

Early years

The eldest son of German/Canadian immigrants, Schilling claims he was born in the right time to be an early Web adopter. He began registering single domain registrations at the turn of the millennium. Schilling became one of the first to speak publicly about the subject of domain investing during a Tech TV interview with Matt Markovich in 2002, describing those who invest in high-value generic domain names for the purpose of future development. The concept of trading generic names for financial gain was publicly considered far fetched during that era. Today participants in this space are collectively known as domainers or 'commercial registrants'.[2]

Career

Schilling's bidding and investment activities (2004–2006) helped expand the expiring domain name auction houses; and later, other ICANN accredited registrars selling their registry connections as a drop registrar. Frank Schilling patented the "Generic Top Level Domain Rerouting System" in 2001, financed the Caribbean's first ICANN accredited domain name registrar in 2003, joined as a member of the ICANN business constituency and co-founded the non-profit Internet Commerce Association in 2006.[3] He began domain blogging on Seven Mile in 2007.

A 2008 book by WSJ reporter David Kesmodel entitled "The Domain Game" touches on the history of Schilling and the evolution of the industry in which he continues to participate.[4]


In 2011, Schilling created InternetTraffic.com and the DomainNameSales.com marketplace (ITC/DNS). The independent traffic monetization, syndication and secondary-sales business quickly grew to become the largest privately owned domain traffic monetization platform on the Web.[5]


In June 2012, CNET revealed Schilling as the founder of Uniregistry.com, a large scale applicant in ICANN's New GTLD arena. The un-contended applicant for more than 20 top level domain names, positioned itself as "a registrant centric registry operator providing proficient stewardship of names for the good of registrants and stakeholders".


On March 19, 2014, Schilling opened Uniregistry to the general public. Uniregistry was billed as a "modern domain registrar", offering a wide-range of services and tools for domain registration and management. In less than a year of launching, Uniregistry.com had nearly 1 million domain names under management across all extensions.


In the result of a poll of industry participants, revealed August 20, 2014, Schilling was voted the "Greatest Domain Investor of All Time",[6] and in March 2015 was feted as "the Most Influential Person in the Domain Name Industry."[7]


Schilling was one of the first to administer very large portfolios of domain names for third parties and is one of the best known figures in the commercial domain-name space.[8] His re-investment in the field which brought him notoriety continues to create interest inside the esoteric domain-space, and in the mainstream.

References

  1. ↑ Jackson, Ron (December 2007). "Nice Guy Finishes First: How Frank Schilling Won the Domain Race After Starting at the Back of the Pack". DN Journal. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  2. ↑ Sloan, Paul (1 December 2005). "Masters of their Domains". CNN Money. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  3. ↑ Jackson, Ron (November 2006). "T.R.A.F.F.I.C. East 2006: How Domain History was Made at the Westin Diplomat". DN Journal. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  4. ↑ Kesmodel, David. "The Domain Game". Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  5. ↑
  6. ↑ Hackley, Raymond (20 August 2014). "The Results Are in Frank Schilling Tops our Poll “Greatest Domain Investor of All Time”". The Domains.com. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  7. ↑ Allemann, Andrew (20 March 2015). "The most influential person in the domain name industry is…". domainnamewire.com. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  8. ↑ Sloan, Paul (22 May 2007). "The man who owns the Internet". CNN Money. Retrieved 7 December 2014.

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