A screenshot from the Novell website, showing a banner announcing the deal (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — According to a variety of reports, software firm Novell ( www.novell.com ) agreed to be acquired on Monday by software firm Attachmate Corporation for $2.2 billion. The offer amounts to $6.10 per share. Shares of Novell closed at $5.69 on Friday.

The joint ccNSO and GNSO IDN working group (JIG) is pleased to announce the publication of the working group’s Initial Report [PDF, 192 KB] on the introduction of Single Character IDN TLDs. This Report is intended to be a stocktaking of the policy issues regarding the introduction of Single Character IDN TLDs and some viewpoints on possible policy implementations that could address those issues. The JIG solicits input and comment from the community on these policy issues and viewpoints

New Zealand’s porn king Steve Crow has spoken out against the proposed .XXX generic Top Level Domain saying it is a waste of time in a 3 News report. The report quotes Crow as saying that unless regulations force porn sites to change to the .xxx domain it will have a negligible effect on filtering, as adult content will remain in existing domains. “The new domain could make it easier to filter pornography, but it is a matter of moving all pornographic content to the ‘.xxx’ domain,” says Mr Crow

On 19 February 2010, the Independent Review Panel issued its Declaration in the Independent Review filed by ICM Registry challenging ICANN’s denial of ICM’s application for the .XXX sTLD. Pursuant to ICANN’s Bylaws, the Board of Directors considered the Panel’s Declaration at the Board’s meeting on 12 March 2010, and directed ICANN’s CEO and General Counsel to finalize a report of possible process options for further consideration, and post that report for no less than 45 days of public comment

ICANN today voted to delay consideration of the .XXX Top Level Domain (TLD) in its board meeting at their 37th meeting held this week in Nairobi, Kenya. Among other decisions, the board also decided that there will be no co-ownership between registries and registrars for new gTLDs.

Click here to RSVP to WHIR Events: Houston – February 18, 2010 New York City – March 25, 2010 Chicago – April 22, 2010 Five Most Recent Posts News: Web Host 1&1 Launches AMD Hexa-Core Dedicated Server Line Worldwide News: NetSuite Announces New Channel Sales Program News: K3 Buys Cloud Firm DigiMIS for $3M News: TelecityGroup to Expand Frankfurt Data Center (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Business planning software provider K3 Business Technology Group ( www.k3btg.com ) announced on Tuesday it will pay up to $3.18 million (£2.13 million) for Scottish cloud computing services firm DigiMIS ( www.digimis.com ). K3 said it would initially pay $1.2 million (£803,000) in cash, loan notes and shares for DigiMIS with a further consideration of up to $2 million (£1.325 million) based on the company’s performance over the next two years. The companies already have a existing relationship, as DigiMIS currently provides hosting services to many customers of K3, which provides business planning and management software to manufacturers and retailers.

Click here to RSVP to WHIR Events: Houston – February 18, 2010 New York City – March 25, 2010 Chicago – April 22, 2010 Five Most Recent Posts News: K3 Buys Cloud Firm DigiMIS for $3M News: TelecityGroup to Expand Frankfurt Data Center News: Layered Tech Brings Enterprise-Class Cloud Computing to Channel (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Business planning software provider K3 Business Technology Group ( www.k3btg.com ) announced on Tuesday it will pay up to $3.18 million (£2.13 million) for Scottish cloud computing services firm DigiMIS ( www.digimis.com ). K3 said it would initially pay $1.2 million (£803,000) in cash, loan notes and shares for DigiMIS with a further consideration of up to $2 million (£1.325 million) based on the company’s performance over the next two years