>New Domain System Starts To Take Shape
> By Todd Spangler
>
>http://www.webweek.com/current/news/19971027-new.html
>
>87 registrars to oversee .web, .store, others
>
>An Internet governance body that has been working to create seven new
>Internet top-level domain names said last week it had selected 87
>companies--many of them major international players and only a third
>of them from the United States--to act as registrars for the new
>system.
>
>They include MindSpring Inc., an American ISP, France Telecom, and
>the China Network Information Center. The large international
>representation reflects pent-up demand for a more active role in the
>evolution of the Internet, which has been dominated by U.S. companies.
>
>The group, known as the generic Top-Level Domain Memorandum of
>Understanding (gTLD-MoU), also announced it selected Emergent Corp.,
>a high-performance database development company in San Mateo, Calif.,
>to design and operate the central database and other components of
>the new system.
>
>Under the plan, all 87 registrars will be able to process domain-name
>registrations under seven new Internet TLDs--.arts, .info, .web,
>.firm, .rec, .nom, and .store--using what is expected to be the
>Internet's first open, shared international domain-name registration
>service.
>
>However, some doubt remains as to whether Network Solutions Inc., the
>Herndon, Va., company that manages the "root" or primary Internet
>domain name server system under authority of the Internet Assigned
>Numbers Authority (IANA), will actually enter the new domains into its
>own root server database when it comes time to activate the new
>system. NSI manages the lucrative .com domain, as well as the other
>traditional TLDs, including .org and .gov.
>
>"IANA has not asked the root server operators about adding the seven
>new TLDs into the root servers," said Jon Postel, director of IANA.
>Postel is a longtime supporter of the gTLD-MoU plan and one of two
>principal signatories, along with the Internet Society, of the
>memorandum of understanding itself.
>
>Until Postel directs NSI to include the new names in its root
>servers, the names will be unavailable for use across the Internet.
>
>NSI may already have taken steps to prepare, though. The company
>recently added the domain name "j.gtld-servers.internic.net," which
>could be for a new secondary root server in addition to the eight
>("b.root-servers.net" through "i.root-servers.net") that today
>support the DNS. However, an NSI spokesman denied that the company is
>preparing to add the seven TLDs of the gTLD-MoU.
>
>The registry members of the gTLD-MoU, known as the Council of
>Registrars (CORE), aim to break the monopoly that NSI currently holds
>on registering within the generic .com, .net, .org, and .gov domains
>under a contract with the National Science Foundation. The NSF
>contract expires on March 31, 1998, but is likely to be extended for
>another six months beyond that.
>
>CORE said it hopes to have its registration system experimentally
>operational by Feb. 1, 1998, running live with all seven domains on
>Feb. 9, and fully functional by March 1--in time to start accepting
>new .com registrations if NSI's contract is allowed to expire. Curt
>Mayer, Emergent's co-founder and chief technology officer, said the
>company is working quickly to bring the system online according to
>CORE's design specifications and production schedule. "We're excited
>to have this opportunity to show our stuff on the Internet," he said.
>
>Emergent said it has built database systems that can handle load
>rates of 70 Gbytes per hour for corporate clients, such as banks and
>computer companies. Mayer, who had previously been with Oracle as a
>system software designer, said he will use an Oracle database as the
>foundation for the new system.
>
>Kevin Connolly, a lawyer negotiating the contract with Emergent on
>behalf of the members of CORE, said that of the four companies in the
>running for the shared database registry contract, Emergent was by
>far the most impressive candidate.
>
>Expecting the system to be in place in less than four months, several
>new members of CORE have been taking reservations for domain names
>for the new system. None of the registrations, though, is guaranteed
>until the system is functional, according to the registrars.
>
>One of the 87 new CORE registrars, NetNames USA, currently operates a
>registration service for NSI's domain names as well as for most
>country-code domains like .uk (for the United Kingdom) and .fr (for
>France). It has received about 1,000 applications for new domain
>names under the gTLD-MoU plan, said Antony Van Couvering, president of
>NetNames USA.
>
>"We don't like the word 'preregister,' but yes, we have been doing
>that since March," he said.
>
>Another CORE member company, Internet Domain Registrars, Vancouver,
>British Columbia, began taking reservations for names under the new
>TLDs on Oct. 1, said executive director Paul Lum.
>
>A search of Internet Domain Registrars' database showed that as of
>last week, someone-- the company would not disclose its clients--has
>already expressed an interest in reserving "sex," "Internet," and
>"business" for all of the new TLDs, as well as "Microsoft," "Yahoo,"
>and "IBM" for all of the TLDs except .nom (which is intended for use
>by individuals).
>
>"Most of our applicants are companies just applying for their own
>use," Lum said. "A lot of companies with trademarks have registered
>already, because they don't want to go through the trouble of
>tracking down whoever has taken them."
>
>The gTLD-MoU plan also has a trademark-dispute resolution system in
>place with arbitration panels to settle any conflicts. Still, CORE
>members do expect litigation in connection with their registrations.
>
>To ensure fairness among the registrars when the shared registry
>opens, CORE members have proposed a round-robin system, said
>Emergent's Mayer. However, Lum said the group was still deciding
>whether the system would enter registrations from CORE members based
>on the date a member company was approved as a registrar, or whether
>the order would be random. "It's a lottery for the most popular
>generic domain names, like 'Internet.web,'" said Lum.
>
>CORE's domain-name registration fees are at the discretion of
>registrars, but Van Couvering said he expects all of them to charge
>less than the $50-per-year rate that NSI charges. Another advantage
>over NSI is that domain names in the CORE system are portable: If
>customers aren't satisfied with their registrar, they can switch, Van
>Couvering said.
>
>-------------------
>Also in this issue:
>
>- Conference Gauges Effect Of Net On Books
>- Afghan Women Use Web Site To Tell Of Country's Plight
>- Listen to E-mail for $12 Per Month
>- E-Mail Snooping, Required by Law
>- New Domain System Starts To Take Shape
>- Parents, Offspring in College Open Up Online
>- New Lists and Journals
>-------------------------------
>Excerpt from CSS Internet News (tm) ,-~~-.____
>For subscription details email / | ' \
>jwalker@tor.hookup.net with ( ) 0
>SUBINFO CSSINEWS in the \_/-, ,----'
>subject line. ==== //
> / \-'~; /~~~(O)
>"On the Internet no one / __/~| / |
>knows you're a dog" =( _____| (_________|
>-------------------------------
>