Tucows will offer a live audio webcast of its presentation as well as a 30-day archived replay, which may be accessed in the “Investor Relations” section of the Tucows corporate website at http://tucowsinc.com/investors/ and the “Featured Events” section at www.mkr-group.com.

Conference Details:

• RBC Capital Markets Technology, Media & Communications Conference
• August 5-7, 2008
• The Four Seasons Hotel, San Francisco, CA
• More information can be found at: www.rbccm.com

About Tucows

Tucows provides Internet services for web hosting companies and ISPs. Through our global network of over 9,000 service providers our OpenSRS group provides millions of email boxes and manage over eight million domains. Tucows is an accredited registrar with ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). We hold a domain name portfolio of approximately 150,000 domain names that are available for sale, monetized through advertising and support our wholesale Personal Names Service. Our Retail division sells Tucows services to consumers and small business owners through Domain Direct, IYD (It’s Your Domain) and NetIdentity. Tucows.com remains one of the most popular software download sites on the Internet. For more information please visit: http://www.tucowsinc.com.

Contact:

Leona Hobbs
Director of Communications
Tucows, Inc.
(416) 538-5450
lhobbs@tucows.com

Todd Kehrli or Mary Magnani
Investor Relations
MKR Group, Inc.
(323) 468-2300
tcx@mkr-group.com

We had the opportunity to listen to Ethan Kaplan, head of technology for Warner Records talk about the challenges and opportunities that the music industry is facing, and about how they are trying to develop strategies and put in place technologies to help maintain and grow their business.

We also had the chance to hear about a number of Canadian technology success stories. Lane Merrifield, Executive Vice President Walt Disney Internet Group, and Co-founder and General Manager of the kids virtual world “Club Penguin” provided some excellent insights into how they built a very successful online world by putting the needs of the audience first (in this case kids and parents), and maintaining a solid focus on the vision they had for their service despite the naysayers who told them it couldn’t be done.

In various breakout sessions, we had the chance to learn more about things like online video production from the likes of Amber MacArthur and gained an insight into the challenges that startups and entrepreneurs face through the stories of people like Pownce’s Leah Culver, Ryan Carson of Carsonified, and Julia Johnston of mEgo.

All in all, it was an educational and rewarding two days of interaction with our peers, and conversation with some of the Internet’s current and future leaders.

As you’d expect, the online coverage of mesh was extensive. One of the best places to get a good sense of what was talked about is at ScribbleLive which was launched at mesh conference. The co-founders put together running commentary and play-by-play throughout the various sessions and keynotes.

David Snead from TheWHIR has a nice summary of what Elliot talked about today.

Snead writes, “What Elliot talked about, that strikes me as true, based on those of my clients who are successful, is that successful Internet businesses are high touch, and that people will pay to have their problems go away.”

For the benefit of those not in Chicago for ISPCON, or for those at the show who want to have another listen, we recorded the keynote it in its entirety.

If the player doesn’t work for you for whatever reason, or if you want to listen on your MP3 player, you can download an audio-only version instead.

Wednesday, May 14th, is “our day” with three Tucows-related events on the ISPCON schedule:

• The day starts early with a panel discussion, “Who Should Be Running Your Email,” scheduled for 8:45 AM in Room 9. Rohan Jayasekera, Director, Tucows Email Service, will participate as a panelist.
• Then, at 10 AM, Elliot Noss, our President and CEO, will present, “Why YOU and lowfat lattes are Google‚Äôs Worst Nightmare.”
• And be sure to join us between 1:45 PM and 2:45 PM in Room 11 for “In Conversation with Tucows.” You’ll be able to meet some of our key people, ask questions, and find out more about our products and services and where things are headed.

We‚Äôre gearing up for the show, and we‚Äôre looking forward to getting the chance to meet potential new, and current customers face-to-face. We’ll be in booth 114 as you can see on the map. See you there!

The action for this free communications and social media unconference gets started at 6:00 p.m. The event starts with networking and interactive art in the bar, followed by four 15 minute case-study presentations from the good people at TD Canada Trust, RedFlagDeals.com, Story2Oh!, and the Hospital for Sick Children.

If you are planning to attend ISPCON, head over to their website to sign up today. The free exhibits and events pass offer only lasts through April 18th. Also of note, the price for conference and one-day passes also goes up after April 18th as well.

Tucows will be at ISPCON again this spring. Elliot Noss, Tucows CEO and President will offer up his thoughts in a keynote address on Wednesday, May 14th. Elliot will explain “Why YOU and lowfat lattes are Google’s Worst Nightmare.”

In addition, Rohan Jayasekera, Director, Tucows Email Service, will be participating in a panel discussion. That session, “Who Should Be Running Your Email,” is scheduled for the Wednesday, May 14th, but check the ISPCON conference schedule for the official word on times and for information about the other sessions.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Communication is a two-way street. Our membership in organizations like FISPA, and this kind of event in particular, provide us with a valuable opportunity to hear from members and to gain a better understanding of their needs. That, in turn, helps us to better tailor our services to those needs.

If you’re attending the meeting, either Max Lufer or Christian Goulart would be happy to talk to you about hosted email or domain names, and we’d love to hear what you’re looking for when it comes to providing quality Internet services to your customers.

The speakers list for T.R.A.F.F.I.C. reads like a who’s who of the domains industry including Kevin Ham, who Business 2.0 called “The Man Who Owns the Internet.”

For those in attendance, a reminder that Bill Sweetman will be part of a panel discussion taking place on Wednesday, February 20th, at 11:00 A.M. From the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. website:

Also of note are the domain auctions taking place throughout the week. Once again, Tucows is participating in the auctions with a total of five names up for auction this week including both the Live Auction on February 20th, and the Online Extended Auction.

Check back throughout the week for updates from T.R.A.F.F.I.C.

In addition to the auction, Bill attended a number of sessions over the last few days and provided some notes to summarize what was presented:

Domain Names and the Law

John Berryhill cautioned domain owners to be wary of vaguely worded purchase inquiries that don’t explicitly offer to buy the domain; they could be lawyers representing trademark holders who are trolling with a different agenda (e.g. gathering info for a future legal claim against the domain owner).

Berryhill says, “The best trademark search tool is Google,” as opposed to relying on official trademark databases.

Domainers Town Hall with Frank Schilling

This session provided an opportunity to collect knowledge from one the most famous domainers in the world. Here are some quotes from Frank Schilling (pictured at right):

• “Domain names ARE the Internet.”
• “Focus on the niche that you like” ‚Äî when asked what domain names he recommends domainers buy.
• “$100 bills are raining out of the sky…gather a big hat and keep quiet…” ‚Äî on how the first domainers viewed the early secretive days of domaining (just a few years ago).
• “There’s no shelf life on domain names…domains are like Cognac” ‚Äî on domain names as assets.
• “Owners of even just ten domains will be the media companies of the future.”

When asked, Frank said he owns about 370,000 domain names which are managed as a business by a small team of five, including himself and his wife.

Understanding the Big Picture

Monty Cahn from Moniker provided some insights into the overall strength of the domain industry. Cahn says 70% of Internet users are using direct navigation (typing a domain into browser address window) to get to a site. He also predicts that aftermarket domain name sales will be a $1 billion business in 2010. And also by 2010, Cahn estimates that 240 million domain names will have been registered. For reference, that’s about double the amount that are registered today.

With that, DOMAINfest is a wrap.

Bill has also been talking with some of the domain industry heavyweights about where the industry is, where it’s headed, and specifically in terms of the growing domain name aftermarket.

The DOMAINfest venue — larger than life just like the domain industry, and some of its players. Photo by Bill Sweetman

Bill reports that attendance is up this year with over 600 people attending versus about 400 that were at last year’s show. Those attendees represent more then 25 countries, providing proof of the worldwide marketplace for domains. Bill says there’s a good mix of both what he calls “mom and pop domainers” alongside the big guys. For reference, 28% of domainers at DOMAINfest report owning over 1,000 domains.

On the subject of the growing aftermarket for domains, Bill had a chance to speak with Tom Murphy from BuyDomains.com. Tom tells Bill that 82% of the domain names BuyDomains sells are to new business owners, vs. domainers, who end up using the domains for their corporate sites — the aftermarket is clearly more than a place for domainers to trade around names.

Tom also says that aftermarket domain names that are appraised are ten times more likely to sell than those without an appraisal. I found that interesting, given Rick Schwartz’s comments just yesterday in which he questioned the value of domain name appraisals.

Bill also tracked down Dan Warner of Fabulous.com who tells Bill that half of the aftermarket domains that Fabulous sells are made up of three words or more, as opposed to “short and sweet” names.

And, if more was required in terms of proving that the aftermarket for domain names is flourishing, Bill tells me that Register.com says they now have 300 people in Nova Scotia, Canada, handling inbound queries regarding aftermarket domains they sell.

Tucows offers aftermarket domain names from both BuyDomains and Fabulous as part of our Premium Domains service.

Later today the first of two live auctions take place. Bill confirmed that two domains from the Tucows portfolio have been selected for inclusion in the live auctions. 110,000 domains were submitted for consideration, with 400 chosen for the two-day live auction event. Proceeds from a selection of domains will benefit Grassroots.org.

We’ll have more from Bill on DOMAINfest, probably next week, when he’s back in Toronto.