WILLEMSTAD, Curaçao – Blue NAP Americas (BNA) has recently marked a significant milestone in its mission to enhance the digital infrastructure by launching a secondary DNS service for the dot CW domain, the top-level domain (ccTLD) of Curaçao. To achieve this, BNA uses name servers in their data centre infrastructure.
In 2014 Curaçao switched from .AN top-level domain (for the Dutch Antilles) to dot CW domain for Curaçao. The dot AN ccTLD was originally housed at SETEL (now UTS) and is currently in transition after being acquired by FLOW some years ago. The server software systems have now, however, reached their end-of-life. With this secondary DNS service at BNA, a second step has been taken towards a more robust .CW domain.
Last year, the manager of the Center for Digital Learning at the University of Curaçao Dr Moises da Costa Gomez (UoC) and responsible for the dot.CW domain, Leendert Pengel, took a first step to further improve and guarantee continuity and accessibility for dot CW zone by partnering with SIDN to place a secondary name server in their ANYCAST network. This project was successfully completed at the end of August 2023. The dot CW zone currently has about 1,000 domain names, which also include domain names of several governmental organizations, financial institutions, education, and local and international entities with official local presence in Curaçao and some international 3rd-level domain names. To guarantee further continuity and stability, the dot CW registration has now also entered into a partnership with BNA, the largest datacenter in Curaçao and in the region with their TIER-4 infrastructure.
Together with BNA, SIDN and other (national and international) managers of the dot CW secondary DNS hostname servers infrastructure and the root services at IANA, the UoC is working on the next phase, where the primary server software will run completely in the BNA datacenter. The ultimate goal in collaboration with BNA, SIDN, FLOW and other partners is to also provide dot CW domain customers with IPv6 and DNSSEC services.
In addition to a robust infrastructure for the dot CW domain, customers can also expect a modern and secure administrative environment for managing their own domain names.
“With the planned and implemented changes, we are working towards a more robust approach so that we can continue to comply with the accountability agreements with ICANN. Together with our new partner BNA (in addition to SIDN, FLOW and others), we support the BNA Datacenter initiative in setting up a Digital Hub for the region and the Caribbean in particular,” says Leendert Pengel, responsible for the dot CW ccTLD at the University of Curaçao Dr Moises da Costa Gomez.
“These strategic initiatives underscore our unwavering commitment to fostering a resilient digital infrastructure for Curaçao and the broader Caribbean region. By partnering with esteemed organizations and leveraging state-of-the-art technology, we are poised to redefine the digital landscape and empower businesses and individuals alike, ” says Giovanni King, CEO at Blue NAP Americas.
