Scottsdale, Arizona - February 25, 2008 - Web hosting firm, GoDaddy’s network of registrars, are reportedly the first to back-up all customer information with an outside data storage firm under new regulations set forth by The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

The Registrar Data Escrow (RDE) program is an ICANN initiative designed to protect consumers from losing control of their domain names should a registrar lose its accreditation or go defunct. Of course, Go Daddy, the global leader in domain registrations, has always backed up its data - including the registrant and other contact information - through a multi-pronged program that also protects registrants - privacy.Escrowing the data with ICANN, per the new regulations, provides an additional layer of security, while also setting a good example for the registrar community.

Bob Parsons, CEO and Founder of Go Daddy noted, ”Go Daddy’s customers already enjoy unparalleled, world-class customer support and security. But as the world’s undisputed leader in domain registrations, we feel it is our responsibility to take the lead on this important issue.”
Go Daddy’s registrars are partnering with information protection and storage firm Iron Mountain, also the ICANN designated Registrar Data Escrow Agent, on the project. The new initiative requires all registrars to deposit a copy of their registration databases each week, with high-volume registrars depositing incremental updates daily.

John Boruvka, Vice President of Iron Mountain’s Intellectual Property Management services noted, ”By getting industry leaders, such as Go Daddy, on board - early in the process - our testing with large volumes of data is streamlined. Go Daddy’s participation has been key to ICANN’s rollout of the Registrar Data Escrow program.”

The Go Daddy Group is led by its flagship, GoDaddy.com, the world’s largest domain name registrar. Go Daddy has more than 27 million names in its portfolio and serves 5 million customers worldwide. It is also one of the planet’s best web hosting providers. It hosts more web sites with SSL certificates – which guarantee the encryption of sensitive data - than any other company on the globe.

The Go Daddy Group, Inc. is a domain name registrar with more than 22 million domains under management and 24-hour-a-day customer support. More than 4 million customers are serviced by Go Daddy for domain registration, web site hosting, email and related Internet services. Go Daddy is a provider of services designed to enable individuals and businesses to establish, maintain and evolve an online presence. Go Daddy also provides a variety of on-demand and other services. GoDaddy.com is the world’s No. 1 domain name registrar according to Name Intelligence, Inc. GoDaddy.com is also rated the world’s largest hostname provider according to Netcraft Ltd. During 2006, The Go Daddy Group registered approximately one-third of all domain names registered in the top six generic top-level domains, or gTLDs, including .com, .net, .org, .biz, .info.