As Andrew at Domain Name Wire revealed, Fabulous.com is going to be releasing a new solution for Registrars and Resellers by the name of Yexa. According to the PDF published on the preview site, that also hosts a sign-up form for the beta of the software, The software is going to allow customers to sell domains, SSL certificates and Hosting.
DNN chatted with Jen Sale about the launch and the features of the new product via Instant Messaging. Read the full interview and learn more about the new product after the jump.
DNN: Thank you Jen for taking the time to talk to DNN today about this new product by the name of Yexa you are going to be launching at HostingCon. Can you tell us more about it?
Jen Sale: Thanks Frank! Of course. Approximately six months ago, we were on the hunt for an all-inclusive platform to manage a new retail registrar. We spent almost two months researching and testing a number of solutions but found them confusing, incomplete and expensive. Plus, there wasn’t just one solution that would do everything we required, or at the level of quality we expect for both ourselves and our customers. It was at this point we discussed creating our own solution, and many of the people we spoke to along the way expressed great interest in what we planned to develop.
For our initial product release, we have developed two software solutions – Yexa Registrar and Yexa Reseller. These two products are designed to work in conjunction with each other, and will address the gap we believe exists in the current marketplace. Yexa Registrar provides a fully functional white-labelled registry-registrar manager with a built-in reseller network. Yexa Reseller provides a cohesive, easy to set up and use, retail-facing domain and hosting solution.
DNN: So who are those two solutions mostly meant for existing registrars and resellers or new ones? It seems an interesting expansion of focus for you, considering you are launching it at a hosting conference.
Jen Sale: The two software solutions will cater to both existing and new registrars and resellers.
Yexa Registrar services individuals with ICANN and/or other ccTLD accreditation. This allows them to manage either their own personal domains directly (domainers), or operate a retail registrar with the option of creating their own reseller network.
Yexa Reseller services people wanting to run a retail-facing domain and hosting business, regardless of whether they’re an ICANN registrar or not. Existing resellers who wish to expand their customer offerings, and/or explore better provider offerings, can integrate Yexa Reseller which will support existing software via a comprehensive API.
One of the things we’ve been repeatedly asked for is an interface similar to Fabulous.com, and whether we’d be white-labelling it in the future. So this product is really a natural progression for us in offering domain services to our domain portfolio customers, and also extending into new business.
We’ve been on both sides of the fence, and have found the market distinctly lacking in suitable solutions, and we think we can do better.
DNN: Considering Fabulous.com’s background it seems that the software is mostly focused on selling domain names, yet the brochure also mentions SSL Certificates and hosting. Are you going to be offering a suite of different products?
Jen Sale: Yexa Registrar is targeted to domain operators (registrars). Yexa Reseller enables someone to create and manage a website which sells a number of web services, which may include domains, hosting, SSL certificates and more.
Yexa is fully flexible and provider neutral. It aims to provide a maximum level of choice to resellers, no longer tying them down to a single provider. Moreover, its modular structure will allow third parties to write custom extensions, in turn expanding choice even further and allowing resellers to provide innovative offerings to their end-users.
DNN: That sounds like a very smart and forward thinking platform design.
Yexa is described as a software in your material and on the site, but yet the description (at least for Yexa Reseller) sounds more like it is actually a hosted service for your clients. Can you share some more details on how a reseller or registrar sets Yexa up on their own server? What is handled on the customer’s side, what’s taken care of on your end?
Jen Sale: Yexa is a software application which is installed on the clients server platform of choice. The software has been designed to run on either Windows, Linux or OS X. The databases supported are MySQL, PostgreSQL and SQLite. Minimum supported PHP is 5.1.
In most cases the client’s customer IP belongs solely to them and is stored on their servers. Only in certain situations where we distribute information on their behalf (such as WHOIS data) does customer data need to be stored on our servers.
DNN: This sounds like a good solution to an age-old problem as to who owns the customer.
From what I understand you’re aiming at a very easy wordpress-like install of the software. So does this mean you don’t need to be too technical to use your solution, but yet one can also build on it if there is technical in-house knowledge (since there is an API)?
Jen Sale: Our primary goal was to create an easy-to-use solution which has the flexibility to cater for more sophisticated requirements, and to grow with the client’s business.
DNN: Can you tell us anything about the pricing structure yet, or is this too early to ask?
Jen Sale: Yexa Registrar pricing is a tiered cost-plus model. Whereas Yexa Reseller is a tiered monthly software license, plus cost per provider unit model.
Our pricing will be extremely competitive!
DNN: Yexa is an interesting name for the product – how was the name chosen? I can see from the whois history that it was apparently bought from a Canadian Domainer – is it an abbreviation or just a short name?
Jen Sale: We chose the name because it’s short and easy to remember. No, it doesn’t abbreviate to anything.
DNN: Judging from the whois the company is a separate entity – is it wholly owned by Dark Blue Sea or is it a division of Fabulous.com?
Jen Sale: Yexa is wholly owned by Fabulous.com’s parent company, Dark Blue Sea.
DNN: You took care of the DomainDistribution Network before and Yexa is your latest project – what was and is your involvement with this new product?
Jen Sale: I’ve been closely involved with the project since its inception, and have the dual role of Product Manager and Business Development Manager. I will also continue to manage the Domain Distribution Network and ROAR.
DNN: Thank you very much Jen again for taking the time for chatting with DNN and telling us more about your new product. We’re looking forward to learning more as the work progresses.
Jen Sale: You’re very welcome Frank! Thanks for the opportunity. If anyone would like more information, please sign-up for our exclusive beta program at www.yexa.com.
