[ncdnhc-discuss] some news stories from Shanghai

[KathrynKL at aol.com]

FYI -- some articles about activities and discussions taking place at ICANN.  
These do not involve the Noncommercial Constituency (but may be interesting 
anyway).

regards, kathy kleiman
from shanghai

Copyright 2002 Warren Publishing, Inc. 
WASHINGTON INTERNET DAILY

OCTOBER 28, 2002

SECTION: Vol.3, No.208

LENGTH: 245 words

HEADLINE: Domain Names

BODY:
Increased domain-name registrations spurred "pretty healthy" growth in the 
generic top-level domain (gTLD) zone file in the 3rd quarter, SnapNames said 
in its quarterly report on the "State of the Domain." .com, .net and .org 
(CNO) saw nearly 300,000 new registrations, while new gTLDs .biz, .info and 
.name added 163,000, the report said. NeuStar, the .biz and .us registry, "is 
probably pleased" by the takeup of names under its new .us operation, 
SnapNames said. If current trends continue, it said, .us will break the 
400,000 total by year's end. Go Daddy remained the fastest-growing registrar 
in the 3rd quarter, SnapNames said, with eNOm close behind. Lead registrar 
VeriSign dropped more market share in the quarter, sinking to 30.13% from 
32.99%, the report said. Overall, SnapNames said, .com still is the preferred 
gTLD domain address. ------

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) will be the sole 
domain-name dispute resolution service provider for the .edu top-level domain 
(TLD) under an agreement with EDUCAUSE, the .edu registry, WIPO said. The 
domain is restricted to regionally accredited, U.S. degree-granting higher 
education institutions. In resolving .edu cybersquatting claims, WIPO will 
apply the .edu Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (eduDRP), a modified 
version of ICANN's Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy, WIPO said. Under the 
WIPO-EDUCAUSE contract, WIPO said, all arbitration panelists must be American.

LOAD-DATE: October 27, 2002



Copyright 2002 Warren Publishing, Inc. 
WASHINGTON INTERNET DAILY

OCTOBER 29, 2002

SECTION: Vol.3, No.209

LENGTH: 689 words

HEADLINE: Unhappy with ICANN, ccTLds, RIRs Eye Takeover of IANA Functions

BODY:
SHANGHAI, China -- Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) and some country-code 
top level domain (ccTLD) managers warned ICANN Oct. 27 either to fix its 
Internet Assigned Names Authority (IANA) services or have them taken over. 
"We could take out the IANA function," said Nominet U.K. Mgr. Willie Black at 
a meeting of ccTLD managers at the ICANN session here. "IANA is just doing 
fine," responded ICANN ccTLD liaison Herbert Vizthum. IANA is charged with 
keeping the ccTLD database up to date as well as allocating IP address space. 
Neither the RIRs nor many ccTLDs have formal contracts with ICANN, and the 
Dept. of Commerce (DoC) conditioned the recent renewal of its Memorandum of 
Understanding (MoU) with ICANN in part on securing such agreements (WID Sept 
23 p1). ccTLD managers complain the IANA function is "broken" because ICANN 
has been too slow to answer requests from the 250 countries and has tried to 
force some managers to accept bilateral agreements as a precondition to 
simple nameserver changes. Just last week, ICANN officials ended a dispute 
with German DENIC eG, which had been requesting a nameserver change for 
months but was denied because DENIC disagreed with ICANN on the necessity of 
giving ICANN a complete set of its actual zone file. While ICANN insists it 
has to store the data for backup and security reasons, DENIC CEO Sabine 
Dolderer said: "It is completely local." Other ccTLD representatives charged 
ICANN treated ccTLDs just like its generic TLD contractors.

ICANN's formal agreements with ccTLDs have given both sides headaches for 4 
years. Under the terms of its MoU with the DoC, ICANN is obliged to sign 
agreements with all ccTLD managers but has failed to do so because of 
differing opinions on the relationship among ICANN, ccTLDs and their 
respective local govts. "You did not take the [opportunity] to apologize for 
the way you have chosen the ccTLD assistance group," Peter Thrush, a member 
of the Domain Name Supporting Organization ccTLD Constituency administration 
committee, told members of the Evolution & Reform Committee (ERC). The ERC 
had invited people to work on the future role of the ccTLDs and on their 
possible supporting organization without asking ccTLD members for input.

While the ccTLD community weighs its chances for self- organization of 
technical services such as nameserver changes -- or even an alternative bid 
to Commerce for the IANA function (that ICANN and Commerce must renegotiate 
next spring) -- RIRs have taken a bolder step. At the ccTLD meeting, Asia 
Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) representatives Paul Smith and 
Geoff Huston unveiled a plan to establish an "Internet Number Resource 
Registry" (NRR). Founded jointly by all 4 RIRs worldwide (APNIC, the American 
Registry for Internet Numbers, Reseaux IP Europeens Network Coordination 
Centre and the Latin American & Caribbean Network Information Center), the 
NRR would be handed another big piece of the ICANN pie -- allocation of IP 
number blocks. RIRs would take turns chairing the NRR and maintaining the 
actual master database for IP allocation. The only role left for ICANN then 
would be reviewing NRR and RIR actions through the Address Supporting 
Organization.

"We have successfully engaged industry stakeholders and governmental bodies," 
Huston said. "And we believe we have the necessary track records to do this." 
The RIRs are "truly self-organized" bodies and takeover of the IP addressing 
coordination would help avoid imposing top-down ICANN decisions on the RIRs, 
he said. The ccTLDs applauded the RIR blueprint, but officials of ICANN's 
Governmental Advisory Committee had a more skeptical view on the RIRs' 
chances to win approval for the superregistry. In his first reaction to the 
proposal, ICANN director and ERC head Alejandro Pisanty said details would 
have to be discussed.

RIRs already function quite independently of ICANN, and it's an open question 
how they would react to a "no" from the ICANN board. "We have no Plan B, we 
are not playing games," APNIC Dir. Gen. Paul Wilson said. "We play straight." 
-- Monika Ermert

LOAD-DATE: October 28, 2002


Copyright 2002 Business Wire, Inc. 
Business Wire

October 28, 2002, Monday 08:10 AM Eastern Time

DISTRIBUTION: Business Editors/Technology Writers

LENGTH: 615 words

HEADLINE: UltraDNS To Provide DNS Infrastructure for .ORG; UltraDNS Replaces 
Verisign's DNS With Next Generation Non-BIND DNS Infrastructure

DATELINE: SAN MATEO, Calif., Oct. 28, 2002

BODY:
 UltraDNS Corporation, the single largest provider of DNS infrastructure for 
the top-level domain (TLD) space, today announced its replacement of Verisign 
as the provider of global DNS services for .ORG, the fifth largest TLD. Last 
week, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Board 
of Directors selected the Internet Society (ISOC) as the new registry 
operator of the .ORG top level domain. UltraDNS is ISOC's chosen global DNS 
infrastructure provider for the .ORG TLD. .ORG's DNS infrastructure currently 
uses the Berkley Internet Name Domain (BIND) system. By shifting one of the 
most important TLDs to a cutting edge non-BIND based system, ICANN is 
eliminating the many known BIND vulnerabilities exploited by hackers, as well 
as the possibility of an Internet-wide catastrophic failure.

UltraDNS is already the industry's single largest provider of DNS 
infrastructure for the TLD space. Its industry leading, non-BIND based 
Managed DNS Service(TM) already handles DNS resolutions for several generic 
top-level domains (gTLDs) and several country code top-level domains 
(ccTLDs), including .INFO, .COOP, .AERO, .NO (Norway), .LU (Luxembourg), .IE 
(Ireland), and .CX (Christmas Island). UltraDNS' selection to implement the 
DNS infrastructure for .ORG only enhances its position in the industry.

"While this is very big news for UltraDNS, it is also an important 
development for the public Internet. By having .ORG domain names resolve 
through a non-BIND based DNS infrastructure such as UltraDNS', the Internet 
is immeasurably safer and more reliable," said Ben Petro, president and CEO 
of UltraDNS. "ICANN's decision to award the .ORG registry operation to ISOC 
is a vote of confidence in ISOC's selected service providers, such as 
UltraDNS, and their capabilities."

UltraDNS' DNS infrastructure guarantees mission-critical, 100 percent 
directory services reliability and high performance - unlike legacy BIND 
systems. Utilizing proprietary Directory Services Platform, UltraDNS has 
built the first global, fail-safe server network designed to meet demands for 
100 percent, SLA-guaranteed reliability, scalability, security, and high 
performance data management in today's Internet and telecom environment - 
supporting millions of users managing billions of records.

"We are honored to have been selected to provide what is clearly a critical 
service for the global Internet community. By leveraging UltraDNS' existing 
and significant carrier-class infrastructure, which supports our Fortune 500 
clients, we are able to provide unmatched DNS service for the .ORG community 
without having to impose a financial burden on it," said Rodney Joffe, 
chairman and CTO of UltraDNS. "It helps complement the community-based, free 
secondary.com DNS service UltraDNS has recently acquired and strengthened."

About UltraDNS

Based in San Mateo, Calif., UltraDNS(TM) Corporation is the leading Directory 
Infrastructure Services Provider (DISP), delivering solutions that enhance 
the reliability and performance of the world's largest directories and the 
mission-critical applications that access them. UltraDNS provides managed 
services and also develops custom infrastructure solutions based on its 
proprietary Directory Services Platform, the first global directory 
infrastructure capable of the most demanding database problems -- such as 
Internet site requests. Customers include Oracle, MSN Hotmail, Forbes.com, 
Corio, and Handspring. For more information, visit www.ultradns.com.

UltraDNS and UltraDNS logo is a registered trademark of UltraDNS Corporation. 
All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their 
respective holders.  CONTACT: UltraDNS Corporation
Stephanie Pike, 650/227-2638
spike at ultradns.com  URL: http://www.businesswire.com



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