OpenSRS Reseller Blog » Industry News

CIRA Seeks Nomination Committee Members

James Koole — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 13:51:40 +0000

The Board of Directors of the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) is currently seeking interested individuals to serve as members on its 2010 Election Nomination Committee. Applications for consideration to become a member of the Nomination Committee will be accepted from January 4 to January 22, 2010.

CIRA is the steward of the .CA domain extension in Canada. Tucows has a long history of working with CIRA on its Board of Directors, and we encourage our Resellers in Canada to take an active role in CIRA, where possible.

You can visit this CIRA Nomination Committee webpage for more information about how to apply for a position on the Nomination Committee and the eligibility requirements. Feel free to pass this information around to other people that you feel might be interested or qualified to serve in this fashion.

UPDATE: Important News About .CN Domain Registrations

Adam Eisner — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 15:50:57 +0000

Last week, CNNIC, the Registry operator for the .CN domain extension, unexpectedly set out new rules surrounding the registration of .CN domains.

Since that announcement, we’ve been working with Neustar, our .CN registration partner, to determine the exact impact that these new policies will have on .CN registrations through OpenSRS.

The news is not especially positive.

These new policies, as set out by CNNIC, have a direct, negative impact on the viability of continuing to offer .CN domain registrations through OpenSRS. If you are selling .CN domains through OpenSRS, please stay tuned over the coming weeks as we address the business impact and make further determinations about how we plan to address continued support of .CN domains.

New Policy Details

Beginning December 21, 2009, all new .CN domain registrations will require the submission of additional paperwork to CNNIC in order to ensure that the registration is completed. The full text of the new requirements is available at: http://cnnic.cn/html/Dir/2009/12/12/5750.htm

In summary:

Documentation for new registrations is now required to be submitted, by email or fax, directly to CNNIC. Do not forward documentation to Tucows/OpenSRS. Complete information about what is required along with documents for download can be found at http://opensrs.com/resources/domains/policies/#cn
Failure to submit the required documentation within five (5) calendar days of the registration will result in the domain being deleted.
New domain registrations will not appear in WHOIS or begin to resolve until the audit of the documentation has been completed by CNNIC. That process could take up to three (3) days from when the documents are received.
Currently there is no process to track the progress of the audit process.
Any .CN Registrations that fail due to incomplete documentation will be refunded monthly by OpenSRS.
Renewals are NOT affected.

We recognize the significant impact this will have on .CN domain registrations. We continue to support .CN registrations through OpenSRS, with the understanding that the onus is on the Reseller to ensure that the proper documentation is submitted directly to CNNIC.

Important News About .CN Domain Registrations

James Koole — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:56:41 +0000

Over the weekend, CNNIC (the Chinese Internet Network Information Center which controls the .CN domain) made an announcement that it is implementing a new policy beginning today, December 14th, 2009, that affects all new .CN registrations.

Under the new policy, individuals are effectively barred from registering .CN domain names as CNNIC now requires a paper application which includes a business seal, company business license (photocopy), and registrant ID (photocopy).

More information:

At this time, we are working with Neustar, our registration provider for .CN domains, to determine the exact details of the new policy. It is not yet known what impact this new policy will have on .CN registrations.

For the time being, we continue to process registrations as usual.

We will update the Reseller Blog with further information as we receive it.

.EU IDNs Coming December 10

James Koole — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:31:55 +0000

.EU is the latest ccTLD to announce that they are adding support for Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) registrations.

IDN support in .EU domains goes live on December 10th, 2009 at 10:00 UTC (view the time in your timezone). At that time, something of a landrush will occur as .EU IDN domains will become available on a first come, first served basis. Prior to that time, OpenSRS Resellers can create pending orders in OpenSRS. As soon as our Registry connection is re-enabled after .EU IDN support goes live at the Registry, we’ll begin attempting to register pre-orders as quickly as possible.

IDNs are domain names that contain non-ASCII characters. Generally, these are non-English domain names. For example, the Swedish å, the German ü, the Romanian ș and characters from the Bulgarian and Greek alphabets as a whole. It’s important to note that these IDN domains are so-called, “before the dot” registrations. That is, the IDN characters are restricted to the part of the domain that is before the dot – the “example” part of example.eu – as opposed to having a non-English version of the part after the dot – the “eu” extension itself.

Given the wide range of languages spoken throughout the European Union, it makes a lot of sense for .EU to offer IDNs and it’s expected that demand for IDN EU domains will be strong.

EURID has put together a fairly extensive information portal for the IDN launch. You’ll find information about which languages and characters are supported, as well a list of frequently asked questions about .EU IDN registrations.

Tucows CEO on the Sad State of Canadian Broadband

James Koole — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 14:49:40 +0000

Tucows President and CEO, Elliot Noss appeared on Business News Network’s (BNN) “After Hours” program here in Canada yesterday to followup on his comments made recently on the Tucows Inc. website.

In that post, which is definitely worth a few minutes of your time for a full read, Elliot called out Canadian broadband providers as lagging behind much of the rest of the world when it comes to providing affordable, fast, and reliable broadband Internet access:

“In my role at Tucows I have the pleasure of traveling all over the world and having customers who are service providers all over the world. We are always discussing access markets. I could bore you with story after story but very few countries have slower, more expensive access offering than us in Canada. A fantastic study done for the FCC by the Berkman Center for Internet Studies at Harvard is just the most recent to confirm the sad state of broadband in Canada.”

Click here to view the clip at the BNN website.

No related posts.

The Impact of New IDNs

Adam Eisner — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:57:21 +0000

Since returning from the ICANN meeting in Seoul, I’ve received a lot of good questions about the Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) announcement made there.

The announcement garnered a lot of attention from our resellers and international media alike. It essentially approves the introduction of IDNs “after the dot” for country code Top Level Domains (ccTLDs). Currently, IDNs are only available “before the dot”, so the extension “after the dot” (such as .CN or .IN) has to remain in latin characters. Not so under the new ccTLD IDN structure.

So the question is, what has changed since the announcement? The answer is: nothing yet. ICANN’s announcement only opened the door for applications, and did not actually result in any new extensions being introduced to the domain name system just yet. Individual country representatives and ccTLD operators still have to apply for their IDN extensions, and systems will need to be adjusted (both by registrars and registries) to make the names available. As a registrar, we will start evaluating them as the ccTLDs we support start introducing them, but there are few time-lines available just yet. As we get more information, we’ll definitely be providing details.

In the meantime, ICANN has more information on the IDN fast track process for those looking to learn more.

ICANN 36 Is A Wrap

Adam Eisner — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:31:08 +0000

I’m back from Seoul, which played host last week to ICANN’s 36th International Meeting. As far as ICANN meetings go, this one was extremely busy, well-attended and led to several significant decisions on a policy level.

The decision which garnered the most international attention was ICANN’s approval of a “fast track” process for certain Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs). This will allow certain ccTLDs to introduce internationalized versions of their extension in native language scripts. Historically, IDNs have only been available “before the dot”, while the actual extension had to remain in Latin characters. IDN ccTLDs, however, will allow the extension “after the dot” to be entered in native language scripts as well. With the approval of the fast track process, ICANN will now begin accepting IDN ccTLD applications. Stay tuned for more developments on this new process in the coming months.

For those interested in the approval of new Top Level Domain names, the Seoul conference had both positive and negative developments. On the plus side, coming away from the conference, it is very clear everyone is committed to new TLDs. However, it is also now clear that the original time-line, which would have seen the first applications submitted in the first quarter of 2010, is now obsolete. Instead, there are no longer any clear time-lines for the approval of new extensions. On a positive note, ICANN did approve a motion to explore allowing those interested in operating a new TLD to submit an “expression of interest”. These submissions would be accompanied by a deposit, and would theoretically allow ICANN to gauge how many serious bids currently exist and help them garner additional support.

The next ICANN conference takes place February 2010 in Nairobi, Kenya. By that time, we should have some additional clarity on just how long the new TLD process is going to take. But will we see dates and time-lines before then? If we do, you can be sure we’ll discuss them in this space.

ICANN 36 Opens With A Flurry of Activity

Adam Eisner — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:13:21 +0000

Although ICANN’s 36th International Meeting here in Seoul has been underway for less than two days, it has already been quite eventful.

At Monday morning’s session on new gTLDs, a number of people voiced their frustration at a lack of definitive timeline around their launch (remember that applications were originally scheduled to be accepted in the early part of 2010, but it appears at this point that timeline is unlikely to be met). In the afternoon, representatives from Afilias, a registry services provider, and Demand Media, parent company of Enom, had a unique and spirited debate on the topic of Registry-Registrar separation. The session, held as a debate, addressed whether registrars involved in new TLD bids should be allowed to operate a registrar which sold the extension as well. An informal poll where participants were asked to shout their approval for one side over the other reflected the polarizing nature of the issue, as the room seemed split.

The final session I attended Monday was an open meeting of the Post-Expiration Domain Name Recovery Working Group (PEDNR-WG), which is examining topics related to the abilities of registrants to recover domain names post expiration. This group is still in its early stages, with further updates expected in the coming months.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to attend the workshop on Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs), another highly-anticipated discussion topic at the meeting. During that session, it was announced that the IDN application process was expected to begin November 16 (subject to ICANN Board approval). This will allow ccTLD operators to offer their extensions in native scripts should they choose to do so.

All three sessions I attended were standing-room only, as was the IDN session. It is clear that this conference is touching upon a lot of hot-button issues that are going to have a significant impact on the future of the Internet.

Today (Tuesday) is Constituency Day, where various supporting organizations of ICANN get together to discuss relevant issues for a full day. Tucows’ CEO Elliot Noss and I will sit in the meeting of the Registrar Constituency alongside many other ICANN-accredited registrars, where we will discuss a wide range of topics affecting registrars industry-wide.

Editor’s note: For those not in Seoul, ICANN offers remote participation via its website that allows you to attend the meetings virtually, complete with a video and audio stream plus a chat window.

Thanks to ICANN for the photos on their Flickr page and for releasing them under a Creative Commons License.

ICANN 36 Preview: New CEO, New TLDs and More

Adam Eisner — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:11:55 +0000

ICANN’s 36th International Meeting, to be held next week in Seoul, Korea, promises to be an eventful one for a number of reasons.

The meeting will be the first under Rod Beckstrom, ICANN’s new CEO. Beckstrom was confirmed as the CEO during the Sydney, Australia, meeting in June 2009, and has had a very busy few months since. Probably the most important development during his short tenure has been the Affirmation of Commitments announced in late September.

The Affirmation of Commitments is largely considered a very positive step in affirming ICANN as a global organization while solidifying its role in governing the Internet. For more insight into the impact of the Affirmation of Commitments, I highly recommend reading Tucows’ CEO Elliot Noss’ blog post on the topic.

gTLDs a “hot” topic

There will also be much discussion on the progress of new gTLDs at the conference. A few weeks ago, ICANN published a third version of the new gTLD Draft Applicant Guidebook (DAG), which outlines requirements and procedures for those interested in applying for a new domain extension (ICANN plans to accept proposals for a round of new extensions in 2010). Anticipated time lines for the introduction of new extensions and proposed measures to protect trademarks, two issues related to new gTLDs which have not yet been settled, will also be “hot” topics.

IDNs on the agenda

Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) will also be widely discussed. ICANN recently submitted a final proposal to “fast track” certain ccTLD extensions, and this proposal will be considered at the meeting by the ICANN board. If approved, the proposal will clear the way to introduce IDNs “after the dot” – that is, making domain extensions (and not just the name itself) available and operational in different language scripts.

I’ll provide some notes on the meeting once I’m on the ground in Seoul, as well as a wrap-up. Keep an eye on this space for updates.

.INFO Site Contest Underway

James Koole — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:24:10 +0000

You’ve taken part in the .INFO promotion that has run off and on over the past year, and you’ve sold all kinds of .INFO domains to your customers who set up killer .INFO websites. Now they can reap the reward and snag some of the over US$15,000 in prize money that Afilias, the .INFO Registry, is putting up for the best .INFO sites on the web.

Here’s the details, courtesy Afilias:

The .INFO Awards reward the best professionally created .INFO Web sites from around the world. .INFO Site owners are able to submit their .INFO site for consideration until 11:59 p.m. on October 23, 2009.

Sites will be judged in two parts. First a panel of judges will create a shortlist of final contenders based on select criteria. These criteria include: presentation of content, functionality of the website, design, usability, and originality.

The shortlist of the top ten best sites will then be published at www.info-award.info on November 2, 2009, at which point members of the public will be allowed to cast their vote for their favourite site. Public votes will be combined with judges scores to determine the final top three winners.

Prizes for the awards include: US$7,500 for the first place winner, US$5,000 for second place, and US$3,000 for third place. All winners will be announced in November and will be notified directly via e-mail.

For more details or to submit your .INFO site for the 2009 .INFO Awards, please see www.info-award.info.

Feel free to pass this on to your customers and encourage them to enter their .INFO sites for a chance to win.