As of 22 August, the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center commenced providing .domain name dispute resolution services for both QA and قطر. (Qatar) in accordance with the Qatar Domains Registry Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (“Policy”) and Rules for Qatar Domains Registry Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (“ Rules ”), and WIPO Supplemental Rules for Qatar Domains Registry Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (“Supplemental Rules”). Qatar Domains Registry provides for registration of domain names which utilize the two-letter country code in Latin characters, i.e., .QA, as well as the قطر. IDN ccTLD in Arabic script. قطر. results from ICANN’s IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process which was designed to introduce into the Domain Name System Internet extensions (top-level domains) corresponding to a meaningful representation of a country or territory name in non-Latin (or non-ASCII) script. The Policy, Rules and Supplemental Rules are applicable to disputed domain name registrations within both the Latin script (.QA) and Arabic script IDN (قطر.) ccTLD spaces. The Policy, Rules and Supplemental Rules for .QA and قطر. also feature upgrades based on the WIPO-proposed paperless Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) model, the latter in effect at WIPO since December 2009. This includes paperless filings by parties while retaining the safeguard of hardcopy notification by the WIPO Center. In addition to .QA and قطر. (Qatar), the Center also provides domain name dispute resolution services for both .AE and امارات. (United Arab Emirates).

Erick Iriarte, General Manager of the Latin American and Caribbean ccTLDs Organization (LACTLD) has announced his resignation to further his political ambitions in the upcoming Peruvian election. Iriarte is a candidate for the Peruvian Congress and will be missed at both regional and international meetings such as ICANN, being a very popular figure. During the last three years under Iriarte’s leadership, he was fundamental to LACTLD in strengthen its role in the regional and global arena, introducing a relevant number of workshops for the benefit of LACTLD membership.

Peruvian domain name expert and general manager of Latin American and Caribbean TLD Association (LACTLD), Erick Iriarte Ahón, is seeking election to parliament. Iriarte, a regular at ICANN and domain name meetings in Latin America, is a candidate for the Peruvian Congress in the upcoming election representing the Partido Aprista Peruano (Aprista Party).

Usman Arshad, director of business development at HostDime (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — In his presentation “The Challenges of International Business – a Latin American Example”, HostDime director of business development Usman Arshad looked at the many benefits of expanding a hosting business internationally, as well as the strategies for taking on such a initiative. Though HostDime has opened branches in many locations around the world, Arshad uses the company’s expansion to Latin America as the primary case study for his presentation. The main and most obvious advantage of expanding a business internationally is that there is a faster growth rate compared to firms that operate locally

Web Hosting News – LOS ANGELES – Streaming Media West – Highwinds, a leader in content delivery, network and IP services, today announced that it has established an operation in Latin America to support the region’s growing content delivery and network services needs.  Highwinds’ foothold is supported by the infrastructure expansion of its RollingThunder® network into Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the hiring of two Brazilian industry veterans.  This move is rooted in Highwinds’ strategic objective to provide fast, reliable CDN, IP Transit, Transport, Peering and Colocation services to and from the region. “Our content delivery and network services business is growing rapidly, and we are keen to invest in emergent markets such as Latin America,” said Steve Liddell, president of Content Delivery and Network Services for Highwinds.  “The hiring of an experienced Brazilian team, coupled with the significant network investment in the region, establishes a strong presence in this high-growth market.” Highwinds’ RollingThunder network consists of a ringed, redundant architecture made up of multiple 10 Gbps connections between its more than 70 points of presence worldwide.  The network boasts more than 1,600 peering sessions and has visibility into 12,000 networks.  Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are connected to North America and Europe by multiple dedicated 10 Gbps waves into Miami.  Highwinds will scale the infrastructure in line with sustained traffic growth in the region

Registrants will be able to register .DE domain names that include the “ß” character, DENIC have announced. A sunrise period will commence on 26 October 2010 at 15:00 CEST that will allow holders of domains containing the character set “ss” will be granted special registration rights that expire on 16 November 2010, 10:00 CET. The change comes about as a result of DENIC abolishing the rule that forbids the Latin small letter sharp “s” to be used as an independent character in .DE domain names as of 16 November

In a corporate video, Afilias chief marketing officer Roland LaPlante announced the expansion of DNESSEC to Latin America and the Caribbean, stressing how import it is to the safety of Web users. (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Internet infrastructure services provider Afilias ( www.afilias.info ) announced Wednesday that it has enabled Domain Name System Security Extensions (known as DNESSEC) for five country code Top-Level-Domains in Latin America and the Caribbean region.