原文：https://sedo.com/us/about-us/news-press/newsroom/ae-the-new-star-in-the-cctld-sky/
.AE：ccTLD 天空中的新星
来自AEserver的Munir Badr分享了有关新的流行扩展的见解。AE
除了.io和.ai之外，最近几乎没有任何“新”国家代码顶级域名（ccTLD）与已经建立的扩展名（如.co，.me，.de或.co.uk）一起脱颖而出。情况与 不同。AE – 阿拉伯联合酋长国的国家/地区代码扩展名。auto.ae 101.000 美元和 invest.ae 75.000 美元的域名等域名的高价销售已经将 .AE扩展是企业和投资者关注的焦点。但是我们知道什么.AE的崛起从何而来？
我们采访了AEserver的创始人兼首席执行官Munir Badr。虽然AEserver总部位于阿拉伯联合酋长国，但与来自世界各地的客户合作，在中东和北非地区拥有强大的影响力和足迹，目前是最大的私营认证公司。AE 域名注册商按市场份额划分。在我们的采访中，穆尼尔不仅为我们提供了很多关于世界见解。AE，还有关于迪拜人使用这些域名以及域名景观在什么条件下在那里发展。
1. 嗨，穆尼尔，请告诉我们更多关于你是谁的信息。
我的名字是穆尼尔·巴德尔;我是 AEserver.com（AEserver）的创始人兼首席执行官，这是一家位于阿联酋的公司，我于2005年创立。如今，AEserver 是域、Web 托管、生产力应用程序、云服务和其他 Web 存在解决方案的家喻户晓的名称，并且是中东地区的关键参与者。
自1996年以来，我一直是阿联酋居民;这是我和家人住在一起的家。
2. 您的客户和企业对哪些 TLD 特别感兴趣？
.ae 是阿拉伯联合酋长国的国家代码顶级域，是阿拉伯地区最受欢迎和使用最广泛的本地域名（或 ccTLD），拥有超过 250，000+ 个活跃注册。除了 .ae 域名外，AEserver 还提供其他地区域名，例如 .QA（卡塔尔）和.波黑（巴林）。可用域名列表不仅限于本地 ccTLD：我们支持数百种流行的扩展名，包括知名的 .com .net 和各种新 gTLD，如 .email、.online、.photography、xyz 等。
3. 您对 .ae 域名有着浓厚的兴趣，该域名自 90 年代初以来就可用。告诉我们您的第一次经历，以及对域名和 .ae TLD 的热情从何而来。
阿拉伯联合酋长国在石油、建筑、房地产和酒店业蓬勃发展。这为数字世界创造了一个甜蜜点。这个地区的整体增长激发了我的热情，我想将这种增长反映到国家域名 .ae 上。我们通过寻求在阿联酋市场起步的国际客户经历了巨大的扩张，他们自然会寻找匹配。其品牌的AE域名。
我们提供了一个简单的全数字流程，包括通过我们的网站注册 .ae 域名的本地代表服务。看到快乐的客户得到他们想要的名字是我一天中最美好的部分！
今天，.ae 域名是一个不受限制的区域。来自任何国家/地区的任何人或企业都可以实时注册域名并将其托管给任何提供商。无需任何文档或手动操作，就像.com一样！
4. 关于 .ae 域名的增长，您能告诉我们什么？在过去两年中是否有任何特别的发展和里程碑？
今年早些时候，管理.ae注册机构（aeDA）的地方监管机构电信和数字政府监管局（TDRA）宣布在2021年注册15，000个新域名，截至2022年初，注册域名总数达到237，000个。这一增长证实了公司，企业家和投资者对国家领域提供的优势的信心，从阿联酋作为活跃的经济中心的声誉中汲取力量，具有全球和区域地位。
5. 对哪些公司使用 .ae 域名在线的快速研究表明，从拐角处提供送货服务的小咖啡馆到各种服务和品牌，应有尽有。您如何描述您的目标受众？谁是 .ae 域名的所有者？
我们的客户包括打算彻底改变世界的年轻、100% 数字游牧民、各种性质的零售商——时尚咖啡店、汽车车身店、出售古董的家具店和杂货店——政府组织、提供瑜伽或网球课程等服务的个人、大公司以及在建筑等广泛行业运营的企业， 健康、酒店、媒体、加密、旅行等。由于数字解决方案和服务的不断传播，我们已经能够满足在阿联酋、中东和北非地区和国际上运营的不断增长的企业和企业家社区不断变化的需求。
说实话，当来自美国或欧洲的客户依靠AEserver的解决方案来满足他们的数字需求时，我发现了自豪和个人满足感的元素：这是对迄今为止所做的出色工作的间接确认。
6. 例如，在德国或其他欧洲国家，用户通常非常信任他们的国家代码顶级域，因此在各自的国家代码顶级域中拥有在线存在至关重要。与此同时，在美国，没有太多公司关心.us。.ae 在人群中对公司的相关性和接受度有多高？
.ae 域名在这里引领潮流。许多令人难以置信的短名称可供以正常价格注册;因此，这是希望瞄准本地受众的新企业和现有企业的首选。这个名字非常值得信赖，因为政府监管机构支持它。域名註冊人相信，通過預訂 .ae 網域名稱，他們的權利將受到嚴格和透明的政策的保障。阿联酋以拥有基于最佳国际惯例的精心制定的政策而闻名。注册处为此目的创造了一个创造性的术语：“如果它在阿联酋，它必须是 。AE”。
与许多其他国家一样，品牌保护在阿联酋受到高度重视。因此，我们的客户通常会获得多个区域性 ccTLD 和最受欢迎的国际 gTLD（通常为 .com 和 .net），以确保他们的萌芽想法或现有业务能够在数字空间中成功扩展。
7. 域名在公司的营销组合中扮演什么角色？域名在社交媒体时代有多重要？
让我重申一下，虽然域名仍然占AEserver业务的很大一部分，但我们的服务和解决方案组合远不止域名。这是满足已开始数字之旅的各种客户需求的关键。让我分享两个例子：一个新生的和一个成熟且不断增长的企业。
在融入新想法时，选择正确的领域至关重要。如前所述，品牌保护可能转化为识别具有必要扩展名的域名的几种排列。多年来，新的域名可能会被添加到原始投资组合中：然而，更现实的是，随着业务的成熟和发展，其他数字服务变得更加核心，并且与成功运营业务相关。备份解决方案、生产力工具、CRM 服务和安全产品是成长型企业随着时间的推移应该考虑的一些合乎逻辑的补充。
在AEserver，我们根据现有业务的发展来满足所有这些需求，提供正确的工具，甚至更相关的超级专业客户服务，通常是杀手级功能。
8. 现在我们正在搭建通往二级市场的桥梁：还有好的.ae域名可以注册吗？
简短的回答是肯定的。.com域的数量接近175M，这意味着1.75亿个不同的名称（和URL）具有.com扩展名。因此，天空是.ae的极限！虽然所有两个字母和大部分三个字母的名字都被取走了，但有一个伟大的字典单词的海洋。售后市场对.ae域名的需求也在增加。这可以从向公众报告的大量销售中得到证明，一些名字的价格高达六位数，顺便说一下，这些销售是通过Sedo的平台完成的。
9. 您如何评价 .ae 域名在国际二级市场上的表现？
在过去的12个月里，售后市场的表现达到了顶峰。有两个5到6位数的公开销售报告：auto.ae 为101，000美元，tv.ae 为95，000美元。但是，大多数其他销售仍然是私人的，因为我们有时会注意到我们的客户将域名内部转移到另一方，并且他们在新询问时提到原因为“出售”。
总体而言，.ae 售后市场有超过 100+ 公开报告的销售额;平均售价约为13，000美元。
10. 当我们在世界各地的贸易展览和会议上与人们会面并解释我们的商业模式 – 域名交易时，我们总是会遇到不知道您可以在二级市场上买卖域名的人。中东地区有哪些关于一级和二级域名市场的知识？
我想这种情况与任何其他先进市场都没有区别。行业专家的意识很高，在大型组织中可能是平均水平，而在最终用户中则很低。教育我们的客户是我们在AEserver的目标之一。我们定期制作各种主题的原创内容，以告知我们的客户并提供灵感。我们将很快广泛提供一系列文章，介绍、教育和解释二级市场提供的好处和机会，提供具体示例和详细的操作指南，以消除对如何在这个领域运营的任何恐惧和疑虑。对于客户来说，正确解释拥有域名的规则和规定也很重要，以确保权利和投资受到保护。
对贵重物品和数字资产的需求不断增加，例如唯一的手机号码、短车牌、NFT 等。域名成为拥有和展示的流行资产只是时间问题！
11. 对于需要 .ae 域名的企业，您有什么建议，对于希望将 .ae 域名添加到其销售组合中的投资者，您有什么建议？
让我与您分享阿联酋和该地区的众多独特特征之一：花式车牌号。当地司机愿意为带有独特字母和数字组合的车牌支付高价。2021 年，一位竞标者为一位数的迪拜车牌支付了超过 1000 万美元。因此，我的第一个建议是同时具有创造性和描述性，因为要知道有效的SEO策略始于精心构思的域名。
如果您的想法之前已被其他人注册，请不要害怕并仔细评估您在二级市场上的选择。投资正确的域名是一种明智的营销举措，随着时间的推移会产生积极的影响和投资回报率。
品牌保护是另一个建议，重点关注当前和潜在的未来兴趣和扩张地域。
最后一个完全公正的建议是…与AEserver开展业务!!!
如上所述，仍有名称可在AEserver注册，并且已经注册的名称可供出售：在此处查看完整列表。
感谢穆尼尔抽出宝贵时间与我们分享您的知识！
.AE: The new star in the ccTLD sky
2022-08-31
Munir Badr from AEserver shares insights about the new popular extension .AE
Besides .io and .ai, there have been hardly any “new” country code Top Level Domains (ccTLDs) in recent times that have stood out alongside the already established extensions such as .co, .me, .de or .co.uk. The situation is different with .AE – the country code extension for the United Arab Emirates. High-priced sales of domains like auto.ae for $101.000 and invest.ae for $75.000 have put the .AE extension in the focus of businesses and investors alike. But what do we know about .AE and where did its rise come from?
We spoke to Munir Badr, founder & CEO of AEserver. While based in the United Arab Emirates, AEserver operates with customers from all over the world, has a strong presence and footprint in the MENA region, and is currently the largest privately owned accredited .AE domain name registrar by market share. In our interview, Munir not only gives us a lot of insights into the world of .AE, but also about the people in Dubai using these domains and under which conditions the domain landscape has developed there.
1. Hi Munir, please tell us more about who you are.
My name is Munir Badr; I am the founder & CEO of AEserver.com (AEserver) – a UAE-based company that I started in 2005. Today, AEserver is the household name for domains, web hosting, productivity applications, cloud services, and other web presence solutions and is a critical player in the Middle East.
I have been a UAE resident since 1996; this is my home where I live with my family.
2. Which TLDs are of particular interest to your customers and your business?
.ae is the ccTLD for the United Arab Emirates, the most popular and widely used local domain (or ccTLD) in the Arab region with over 250,000+ active registrations. In addition to .ae domains, AEserver offers other regional domains such .QA (Qatar) and .BH (Bahrain). The list of available domains is not limited to the local ccTLDs: we support hundreds of popular extensions, including the well-known .com, .net, and a wide variety of new gTLDs such as .email, .online, .photography, xyz, etc.
3. You have a deep passion for .ae domains, which are available since the early 90ties. Tell us about your first experiences and where this enthusiasm for domains and the .ae TLD came from.
The United Arab Emirates has been booming in the oil, construction, real estate, and hospitality industries. This created a sweet spot for the digital world. The overall growth of this region fueled my passion, and I wanted to mirror this growth onto the national domain name, the .ae. We experienced a tremendous expansion through international clients seeking to start in the UAE’s market and they would naturally look for the matching .AE domain name for their brands.
We offered an easy, all-digital process, including a local representative service to register .ae domains via our website. Seeing happy clients getting the name they want was the best part of my day!
Today, the .ae domain is an unrestricted zone. Any person or business from any country can register a domain name in real-time and host it with any provider. There are no documents or manual action required, just like the .com!
4. What can you tell us about the domain growth of .ae? Have there been any particular developments and milestones in the last two years?
Earlier this year, the local regulator, The Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA) which manages the .ae registry (aeDA), announced the registration of 15,000 new names under the national domain (.ae) in the year 2021, bringing the total number of registered names to 237,000 as of the beginning of 2022. This increase confirms the confidence of companies, entrepreneurs, and investors in the advantages provided by the national domain, drawing its strength from the reputation of the UAE as an active economic hub, with its global and regional standing.
5. A quick research on which companies are online with a .ae domain shows that everything from a small cafe with delivery service around the corner to various services and brands is represented. How would you describe your target audience? Who are the owners of .ae domains?
Our customers include a young, 100% digital nomads who intends to revolutionize the world, retailers of every nature – a trendy coffee shop, a car body shop, a furniture store selling antiques, and grocery stores – governmental organizations, individuals offering services such as yoga or tennis lessons, large corporations, and businesses operating in a wide range of industries such as constructions, health, hospitality, media, crypto, travel, and others. Thanks to the constant diffusion of digital solutions and services, we have been able to address the constantly evolving needs of a growing community of businesses and entrepreneurs operating in the UAE, the MENA region, and internationally.
To be 100% honest, I find elements of pride and personal satisfaction when customers from the US or Europe rely on AEserver’s solutions for their digital needs: it’s an indirect confirmation of the excellent work done so far.
6. E.g., in Germany or other European countries, users generally trust their ccTLDs a lot, so having an online presence in the respective ccTLD is essential. At the same time, in the US, not too many companies care about .us. How high is the relevance for companies and acceptance of .ae in the population?
The .ae domain name leads the way here. Plenty of incredible and short names are available for registration at regular prices; hence, this is the first choice for new and existing businesses looking to target the local audience. The name is very trusted as a government regulator backs it. Domain registrants are confident that by booking a .ae domain name, their rights are secured by strict and transparent policies. The UAE is well known for having well-written policies based on best international practices. The registry coined a creative term for this purpose: “If it’s in the UAE, it’s gotta be . AE”.
As in many other countries, brand protection is highly regarded in the UAE. Therefore, it is common for our customers to secure several regional ccTLDs and the most popular international gTLDs (typically .com & .net), ensuring their nascent ideas or existing businesses can successfully scale in the digital space.
7. What role do domains play in the marketing mix of companies? How vital are domains in the age of social media?
Let me reiterate that while domains still represent a significant portion of the AEserver business, our portfolio of services and solutions is much broader than just domains. That’s key to addressing the variety of customers’ needs who have embarked on their digital journeys. Let me share two examples: a nascent and an established and growing business.
Choosing the right domain is critical when incorporating a new idea. As mentioned before, brand protection might translate into identifying several permutations of the domain name with necessary extensions. Over the years, new domains may be added to the original portfolio: more realistically, though, as the business matures and evolves, other digital services become more central and relevant to running the operations successfully. Back-up solutions, productivity tools, CRM services, and security products are a few of the logical additions a growing business should consider over time.
At AEserver, we address all these needs according to the evolution of an existing business, providing the right tools and – even more relevant –super professional customer care, often the killer feature.
8. Now we’re building the bridge to the secondary markets: Are there still good .ae domains to register?
The short answer is yes. The number of .com domains is close to 175M, meaning 175 million different names (and URLs) with a .com extension. Therefore, the sky is the limit for .ae! While all the two letters and most of the three-letter names are taken, there is an ocean of great dictionary words. There is also an increased demand for .ae domains in the aftermarket. This can be witnessed by plenty of sales that have been reported to the public, and some names have fetched as much as mid-six figures USD$, which by the way, have been completed over Sedo’s platform.
9. How do you rate the performance of .ae domains on the international secondary market?
The performance on the aftermarket has gone through the roof during the last 12 months. There have been two 5 to 6-figures publicly reported for sales: auto.ae for $101,000 and tv.ae for $95,000. However, most of the other sales remain private as we sometimes notice our clients doing internal transfers of domain names to another party, and they mention the reason as “sold” when new ask.
Overall, there have been over 100+ public reported sales in the .ae aftermarket; the average sale price was around $13,000.
10. When we meet people at trade shows and conferences worldwide and explain our business model – domain trading – we always meet people who don’t know that you can buy and sell domains on the secondary market. Which knowledge exists in the Middle East about the primary and secondary domain market?
I guess that the situation doesn’t differ from any other advanced market. Awareness is high among industry experts, probably average in large organizations, and low among end-users. Educating our customers is one of our goals at AEserver. We regularly produce original content on various subjects to inform our customers and provide inspiration. We will soon make broadly available a series of articles to introduce, educate and explain the benefits and opportunities offered by the secondary market offering concrete examples and a detailed How-To guide to remove upfront any fear and doubt on how to operate in this space. It is also important for clients to correctly interpret the rule & regulations of owning a domain name to be sure that the rights & the investment is protected.
There is an increasing demand for valuables & digital assets such as unique mobile numbers, short number plates, NFTs, etc. It’s just a matter of time for the domain names to become a popular asset to own and showcase!
11. What advice do you have for businesses that need a .ae domain, and what advice do you have for investors looking to add .ae domains to their sales portfolio?
Let me share with you one of the many unique traits of the UAE & the region: Fancy Plate Numbers. Local drivers are willing to pay premium prices for car plates with distinctive combinations of letters and digits. In 2021, a bidder paid over $10M for a single digit Dubai plate. So, my first advice would be to be creative and descriptive at the same time, knowing that an efficient SEO strategy starts from a well-conceived domain name.
If what you have in mind has been previously registered by someone else, don’t be afraid and carefully evaluate your options in the secondary market. Investing in the right domain name is a wise marketing move with positive repercussions and ROI over time.
Brand protection is another suggestion, focusing on current and potential future interest and expansion geographies.
The last utterly unbiased advice is … doing business with AEserver!!!
As mentioned above, there are still names available to register at AEserver and already registered names avalaible for sale: See the full list here.
Thanks Munir for taking the time and sharing your knowledge with us!