The Shared Registry System (SRS)

The .CO Internet Shared Registry System solution is compliant with all Industry EPP and RFC standards — and has a proud history of exceeding all Industry standard SLAs.

It includes a centralized database, application servers and protocol servers.  Components exist that ensure consistent management of Registrar access via firewalls and connectivity throttling.  The SRS has been exceeding Industry standard SLAs since 2001 and includes a fully redundant and secure backup data center in addition to its main data center.  The SRS is the basis for all data, reporting and billing at both a TLD level and Registrar level. 

"Thick" and Publicly Available WHOIS Database
The .CO registry solution includes a WHOIS service built upon a sophisticated architecture that optimizes the constraints of query performance, dynamic updates, and flexible configuration. 

The .CO registry centralizes the authoritative registrant and other contact data at the registry level to provide stability and data consistency.   The value of the thick registry model is particularly great in cases where a registrar ceases business operations.  Without thick data at the registry level, registrants risk losing their domain names.
The key components of the .CO WHOIS service are:

• WHOIS Service – The WHOIS service is responsible for handling port 43 queries, optimized for speed using an in-memory database
• Web WHOIS Page – The web based WHOIS allows .CO Internet to provide the following enhanced services in addition to those mentioned above:
  • Extensive support for international domain names (IDN)
  • Ability to perform WHOIS lookups on the actual Unicode IDN
  • Display of the actual Unicode IDN in addition to the ACE-encoded name
  • A Unicode to Punycode and Punycode to Unicode translator
  • An extensive FAQ
  • A list of upcoming domain deletions
• Local WHOIS Database – a local in-memory database is used in each WHOIS server, optimizing the speed of lookup queries