Editor’s note: This is a sponsored article, which means it’s independently written by our editorial team but financially supported by another organisation, in this case, .CLOUD.
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We recently published a great article penned by Francesco Cetraro, Head of Registry Operations for the new .CLOUD domain name extension, about how companies can now (and should) think way outside of the box when it comes to registering or switching to alternative Web addresses.
In the past few weeks, we have published a series of articles showcasing practical examples of how companies are creatively making use of the .CLOUD extension to give a new spin to their online presence.
These include Germany's Fashion Cloud, on a mission to help the fashion industry reap the benefits of the cloud by streamlining and optimising their marketing efforts.
Irish startup FoodCloud helps big retailers like Tesco minimise food waste and make a positive contribution to their communities.
And finally Nerdalize, the Dutch startup that turned around the problem of dissipating heat generated from servers and used it to provide free hot water to the household, and build a competitive cloud computing offering in the process.
It's worth noting that .CLOUD is a subsidiary of Aruba, an Italian hosting and Web services group that was founded more than 20 years ago. With .CLOUD, the company wants to offer businesses, individuals and innovators from around the world the opportunity to express themselves and associate their brands and ideas with the concept of 'the cloud', a term that beyond just referring to “cloud computing” has become a familiar part of everyday life and is now recognised worldwide.
After completing one of the most successful sunrise periods (the registration phase reserved for holders of registered trademarks) to date for a new extension, .CLOUD recently completed its Priority Registration phase with more than 2,600 applications. Starting from February 16, it will finally be possible to register any available .cloud domain via accredited registrars such as Gandi, 1&1 and GoDaddy, and start using it right away.
It's not hard to see why .CLOUD is one of the most anticipated new domain name extensions; the cloud has changed the fundamental nature of computing and how business gets done (and will continue to do so).
To wit, the global SaaS market is projected to grow $67 billion in 2018, global spending on Infrastructure-as-a-Service was estimated at roughly $16.5 billion in 2015, and cloud applications will account for 90% of worldwide mobile data traffic by 2019, according to recent cloud computing forecasts. In the EU alone, recent estimates are that the EU cloud sector's revenues could balloon to nearly €80 billion by 2020.
That certainly makes yourcompany.CLOUD a very attractive domain name to own for companies in the cloud computing industry, but it's also obvious how the new extension could apply to a wide variety of uses outside of that market. It's all a matter of creative thinking.
As Francesco wrote earlier:
Buried in a long list of very important decisions, business owners often just want to get online quickly and settle for the first available option.
But what if instead of seeing this as one of many meaningless chores on the way to greatness, we stopped and looked at this as an opportunity to shine and differentiate ourselves from the pack?
What if the domain we choose actually contributed to making our story clearer and more compelling to our audience? What if, by simply taking a bit more time to look beyond what everyone else is getting, one was able to find something that truly fits?
One of .CLOUD's early adopters is ClouDesire, an Italian startup that helps software companies take their applications to the cloud to distribute and monetise them more efficiently. Recently in the news for securing a €600.000 seed funding round, the company's CEO Eddy Fioretti talks about their positive experience with their switch to .CLOUD:
ClouDesire is all about making the benefits of the cloud easily accessible to the wider audience, and rebranding to a .CLOUD domain was an obvious choice for us. It has given us enhanced visibility and will become a great asset as we prepare to launch our SMB-focused public store in a few months.
The people at the .CLOUD Registry were genuinely interested in what we do: they did not see us as just case study material, but were keen to engage with us and find ways to support us. They are true geeks who love to connect with other geeks, and it definitely shows in the passion they put in their effort to bring .CLOUD to the world.
If you'd like to check just how geeky and passionate about this space the .CLOUD folks are, you can meet with Francesco or others in person to discuss all of the above; here's a handy list of events they'll be attending around the world in the coming months.
Also read:
Thinking outside the .com box: how getting creative with new domain names can help you make a mark
Germany’s Fashion Cloud wants to help fashion retailers bridge the online content gap
Ireland’s FoodCloud is solving the food waste problem for businesses and charities
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