RIDGEWOOD, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In support of its mission and vision to establish the .Health new generic top-level domain (gTLD) as a safer and more secure online namespace for global health stakeholders, DotHealth, LLC is pleased to announce it has applied to Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) for the exclusive rights to operate the .Health top-level domain registry. DotHealth has the support of health sciences industry organizations throughout the world because of its commitment to providing a safe and secure online namespace, using distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) threat mitigation and compliance monitoring services.
“.Health will improve user’s ability and confidence to discover, access and utilize health-related information and resources in a trusted and secure environment,” says Andy Weissberg, CEO of DotHealth. “With increased adoption of the Internet and its expanded role in strengthening healthcare systems worldwide, we believe that a broad and diverse range of registrants will value .Health as an attractive solution for promoting and delivering their products and services.”
To ensure that launch and operations of the .Health registry are aligned with the needs and interests of health stakeholders, DotHealth has secured affirmations of policy support from numerous health sciences industry organizations throughout the world, including: the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, The Inter-American College of Physicians and Surgeons, The Association of Black Cardiologists, The Regulatory Harmonization Institute and The World Federation of Chiropractic, a non-governmental organization or NGO in official relations with the World Health Organization (WHO). Collectively, these organizations represent the interests of hundreds of thousands of physicians, pharmacists, nurses, complementary and alternative healthcare professionals, insurance providers, hospitals, integrated delivery systems, manufacturers and service providers spanning numerous segments of the global healthcare ecosystem.
“To foster large-scale awareness and global adoption of .Health, should DotHealth achieve delegation as the registry operator by ICANN, DotHealth plans to work proactively with these organizations and others representing the public health and private sector interests of the health and wellness industries,” says Weissberg.
To ensure that the .Health gTLD is a safe and secure online environment, DotHealth will use Neustar’s DDoS Mitigation Services and established relationships with international law enforcement agencies in order to identify, detect, catalog, and disrupt malicious activities within the .Health namespace, such as phishing, malware distribution, exploit hosting, and botnets.
Furthering its enterprise commitments to safety and security, and to monitor registrant compliance with its Acceptable Use Policies for .Health, DotHealth also has executed an exclusive agreement with LegitScript LLC, to vigilantly monitor the .Health namespace for the illicit promotion or sale of prescription drugs, controlled substances, tainted dietary supplements, ingredients for psychoactive highs, and others which have been validated by regulatory authorities as safety concerns. LegitScript is the only verification and monitoring service for Internet pharmacies recognized by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP), the non-profit organization that represents the government agencies that license and regulate pharmacies and pharmacists in the US, Canada, and other jurisdictions.
DotHealth, LLC is backed by two of the most recognized, well respected and successful names in the domain name registry business: Neustar Inc., well known for its highly reliable and secure registry; DNS technology services for .BIZ, .US and several other TLD’s and internationalized domain names (IDNs); and Straat Investments, LLC, which provided the initial funding for the launch of the .CO ccTLD which now boasts over 1.5 million registrations.
According to Jose Ignacio Rasco, managing director of Straat Investments, LLC, “As the Internet gets set to expand through new gTLDs, it also will become more specialized for end-users. Based upon the increasing demand for memorable domain names in the health space which are largely unavailable in other TLDs, .Health represents a meaningful opportunity to enable new online channels and health destinations that create value for registrants and their target audiences, and our Company.”
About DotHealth, LLC
DotHealth, LLC was founded to pursue the launch and commercialization of the .Health new generic top-level domain (gTLD) Registry in conjunction with Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and its official new gTLD Program. Our mission and vision is to establish .Health as the most trusted top-level domain for population health management, health education and healthcare innovation worldwide. For more information, visit www.DotHealthGTLD.com.
About Straat Investments, LLC
We are STRAAT, an investment company run by entrepreneurs and internet geeks. We make domestic and international investments across the capital structure, primarily focusing on technology and real estate. With roots in the acquisition and development of real estate since the early 80’s, our principals began investing in technology in the late 1990’s. Our goal is to create value by focusing on what we know, backing entrepreneurs with the right experience and incubating companies ourselves, when appropriate. We are inspired by our entrepreneurs’ vision, drive, and passion. We continue to seek opportunities to deploy our own capital and that of our extensive network of partners and high net-worth family offices, into exceptional web-based product and service companies. For more information, visit www.straat.co.