Key-Systems Takes Over Majority of Polish Domain Registrar AZ.pl

Leesburg, VA, April 09, 2010 --(PR.com)-- With AZ.pl Key-Systems wins a strong partner in the growing Polish market. Both companies complement each other perfectly in profile and competences. With Key-Systems' take-over of the majority in AZ.pl many attractive business opportunities are formed. “Our investment in AZ.pl is a great success for us – from a strategic and operative point of view,” says Key-Systems' CEO Alexander Siffrin. “With AZ.pl we can better position our business in Eastern Europe. There are direct synergies in the day-to-day business which we can use – the consolidation of registry accreditations is just one example.”

Among others, Key-Systems provides AZ.pl. with its globally valued technical infrastructure for the fully automated domain registration. Thus, the domain portfolio of the Polish internet service provider (ISP) is enlarged to more than 200 domain endings. On the other-hand side, the AZ.pl offerings are mostly targeting end customers and thus expand Key-Systems' more reseller specific business activity.

“We will benefit enormously from the AZ.pl team's detailed knowledge about the Eastern European market,” Key-Systems COO Thorsten Smeets is convinced. “We have long lasting personal relationships with the management of AZ.pl. The professional and personal competence of the whole team perfectly matches with Key-Systems.” AZ.pl was founded 1996 in Stettin. The company currently administers more than 240,000 internet addresses for its customers. With a market share of above ten percent AZ.pl takes rank three of the Polish .PL registrars.

“The investment of the 12th largest ICANN registrar in the world opens up access to its technology and experience. We are filled with joy and plans for the future”, says AZ.pl Executive Albert Jerka. “AZ.pl's strategy is very broad. Soon we will provide our redesigned web site with new products: a domain marketplace, “Online Drives,” internet shops. As a next step we are going to run a low margin panel to register domains, based on the Key-Systems engine. Domain extensions from all around the world, numerous of accreditations, low margin on the price of registrations and renewals of domains bring an element of competitiveness. The synergy of technology and offers of both entities together with our experience on the Polish market means a great potential. With great deference and respect, we ask our clients to help us utilize the opportunities.”

The market of the country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) .PL is one of the strongest growing ccTLD markets. In the course of 2009, the number of .PL domains increased by 335,000 to a total of about 1,650,000 (Source: hosterstats.com). AZ.pl is the first ICANN accredited registrar in Poland with accreditation for global domain names like .COM, .NET, .ORG, .BIZ, .INFO, .ASIA and .TEL. The company is also accredited for the top-level domains (TLDs) .PL (Poland), .DE (Germany), .AT (Austria), .UK (United Kingdom), .CC (Cocos Islands) and .TV. The Polish registrar is still headed by the Executives Jerka and Kostrzewa after the investment by Key-Systems. They will take part in forming the company's strategy and contribute to the further growth of AZ.pl. Key-Systems and the other, Polish shareholders will decide together on the future strategic orientation of AZ.pl.

Key-Systems was one of the first companies outside Poland to offer .PL registrations. The domain expert currently takes the second place among the non-Polish registrars of .PL domains. Key-Systems is an international domain registrar from Germany with subsidiaries in the USA and in Mexico. The company belongs to the leading providers of domain names in Europe; concerning the registration of generic top-level domains such as .COM, .NET, .ORG etc. Key-Systems takes rank two in Europe. The registrar administers altogether 2.6 million internet addresses for its clients.

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