Cybele Negris and the Origins of Webnames.ca

Cybele discusses the origins of the .ca domain in 1987, when it was first created by the co-founder of webnames, John Demco, who, together with Cybele, created and grew Webnames.ca to sell and manage domains with the .ca extension.

She goes on to discuss the importance of the .ca domain extension to Canadian companies. By using a .ca extension a company inherently communicates to Canadian consumers that not only are they dealing with a Canadian company, but with one that will deal in Canadian currency, will ship from Canada, avoiding heavy duties, and will keep their data in Canada.

Cybele discusses the evolution of companies’ and individuals’ use of domain extensions as part of their marketing. For example, many companies have used the loophole of utilizing extensions associated with certain countries to distinguish their industry (.tv, .io) while countries have created industries out of selling domain extensions to companies and individuals for profit. Since 2012 regulations opened up so new extensions could be created and owned to be sold. Now certain companies are coming up with new, creative extensions (e.g. .ninja, .eco) and are marketing those to certain industries, sometimes with specific qualifications, in order to create their own niche.

Cybele has worked her way up in the traditionally male-dominated tech industry and has struggled at times doing so. Her perseverance has paid off and she now says the industry has shifted considerably to be much more inclusive of women in all roles. Now Cybele spends much of her time speaking about her entrepreneurial endeavours and has been named one of Canada´s 100 most powerful women 4 times, putting her in the Hall of Fame.

Written by Claudia Palomino