Before he had even commenced, Thomas Spiller has informed ICANN that he will not be joining the organisation as its Vice President of Europe. ICANN announced Spiller’s appointment to the position on 23 June, during its 41st public meeting in Singapore. A search for an appropriate replacement has already begun. According to a Domain Incite report, Spiller decided to take a position at another company instead, and his decision not to take up position at ICANN “may have predated the announcement of CEO Rod Beckstrom’s July 2012 departure earlier this month.” Spiller is a French national who was to have been responsible for driving ICANN’s strategic objectives in Europe and manage the Brussels office. Previously Spiller has worked for the French Prime Minister’s Office and most recently headed up global policy strategy at SAS, one of the world’s largest independent software vendors. Spiller has worked on topics ranging from education, sustainability and innovation to data privacy and cloud computing.

Social.com, the largest reported domain name sale of 2011, has also topped the June DOMAINfest Europe Auction, selling for $2.6 million. The sale was part of the premium domain name auction that so far has raised over $7.2 million and is expected to reach $9 million. Another big sale was data.com that sold for an officially undisclosed price that significantly exceeded its $1.5 million reserve. To read more, see the news release below: Million Dollar-Plus Figures for Social.com, Data.com, and DOMAINfest Europe Auction Totals Demonstrate Value of Premium Domain Names DOMAINfest NYC Meet-Up and Moniker/SnapNames Online Auction Planned for August 23 LOS ANGELES, Calif. (July 19, 2011) —Moniker® and SnapNames®, both Oversee.net® companies, said today that sales of premium domain names from their June DOMAINfest Europe Auction have now exceeded $7.2 million and are expected to reach over $9 million as a result of the auction. Top contributing sales include the recently closed transaction for Social.com, for $2.6 million, and Data.com, for an officially undisclosed price that significantly exceeded its $1.5 million reserve. The sale of Social.com is the largest publicly reported domain name sale to date for 2011. “These record domain name sales for Moniker are strong indicators that businesses are continuing to embrace generic domain names as strategic tools to build brand equity and enhance market presence,” said Craig Snyder, General Manager of Oversee’s Aftermarket Division. “With two of the largest sales happening before and after the DOMAINfest auction itself, sellers understand the power of leveraging our auction events to showcase premium domain names to corporate buyers.” DOMAINfest New York Meet-up and Moniker/SnapNames Online Auction The DOMAINfest NYC online auction will include top quality domains that offer instant monetization or destination website build-out opportunities. The auction begins on Tuesday, August 23 at noon US Eastern time (9 a.m. US Pacific) and concludes on Tuesday, September 20 at 3:15 p.m. Eastern (12:15 p.m. Pacific). The submission deadline for the auction is Friday, July 29. Details can be found at: domainauctions.moniker.com/2011/DOMAINfest-Meet-up-NYC The New York meet-up will take place August 23 from 7-10 p.m. at the Mad46 Rooftop Lounge, located on the 19th floor of the Roosevelt Hotel at Madison Avenue and 46th Street. Networking opportunities, food and drinks are included. Registration is $150 and is available online: www.domainfest.com/NewYork2011/register

The newly elected ICANN chair, and one of the internet’s founding architects, has been announced as the keynote speaker at the upcoming “newdomains.org – The Munich Conference on new TLDs” meeting in September. The two-day conference will kick-off in the Bavarian capital of Munich on 26 September and will bring experts in the fields of technology, trademark law and business from around the world. The focus of the conference will be the recent approval of the new TLD programme that ICANN approved at the beginning of their recent meeting in Singapore. The announcement of Steve Crocker as the new ICANN chair replacing Peter Dengate Thrush was one of the last announcements of the meeting. Being the first of its kind in Europe, the conference offers a unique opportunity for all interested parties to build valuable connections and network with experienced industry professionals. Additionally, it will deliver answers to all questions concerning this major change for the internet The conference organisers are anticipating over 400 applications for new TLDs from cities, regions, brand names and special interest groups. “Who better to open the only event in Europe focusing on this important topic than one of the people who has had such decisive influence on the development of the internet–a tool we all now so commonly use,” said Markus Eggensperger, co-founder of united-domains, the host of the newdomains.org conference. Regarding the upcoming event, Dr. Crocker stated, “The internet has experienced unprecedented changes in its 40 year history and the introduction of new top-level domains will be one such challenge. I’m delighted that I can contribute the keynote and hope we can all make the most of this unique moment for the good of the global Internet community.” More information about the conference at www.newdomains.org

Balkans.com, the leading news and technology portal for the Balkans region, has announced it has chosen WebHostingBuzz as its web hosting provider. Balkans.com is the largest business news portal for Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, FYR Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, and Turkey

Codero Sponsors Social Business Summit and Strategy Workshop Web Hosting – Lenexa, KA – Codero, a leading provider of optimized infrastructure including dedicated hosting and the new cloud hosting solution in beta, is sponsoring the upcoming Social Business Summit and Strategy Workshop. The event, produced by Social: IRL, features Jeremiah Owyang and will be held April 26, 2011 at the Embassy Suites, Kansas City International Airport

A screen shot of the Social: IRL website (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) –- Web hosting provider Codero ( www.codero.com ) announced on Wednesday it is sponsoring the upcoming Social Business Summit and Strategy Workshop ( www.socialirl.com/social-business-summit/ ). The move comes a week after Codero introduced a few new green measures , such as donating of office furniture to the Salvation Army in Phoenix, implementing more energy-conscious power supplies in place for all its servers, and participating in the Plant-a-Tree program.

A screen shot of the Social: IRL website (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) –- Web hosting provider Codero ( www.codero.com ) announced on Wednesday it is sponsoring the upcoming Social Business Summit and Strategy Workshop ( www.socialirl.com/social-business-summit/ ). The move comes a week after Codero introduced a few new green measures , such as donating of office furniture to the Salvation Army in Phoenix, implementing more energy-conscious power supplies in place for all its servers, and participating in the Plant-a-Tree program. Produced by Social: IRL, the event will be held April 26 at the Embassy Suites, Kansas City International Airport