The Interactive Advertising Bureau proved that they too are asleep at the wheel belatedly complaining to ICANN about its plan for new generic Top Level Domains, saying that the programme to assign hundreds of thousands of new domain names would cause incalculable financial damage to brand owners, including the hundreds of media brands in its membership. The complaint coming after the ICANN board approved its Applicant Guidebook in June at the Singapore meeting, also comes after America’s Association of National Advertisers woke up and complained about new gTLDs last week. While it subsequently came out that the ANA had complained about the new gTLD programme back in 2008, something the organisation seems to have forgotten in its complaints to ICANN, one has to wonder what they have been doing to more or less ignore the proposal for so long. “ICANN’s potentially momentous change seems to have been made in a top-down star chamber. There appears to have been no economic impact research, no full and open stakeholder discussions, and little concern for the delicate balance of the Internet ecosystem,” said Randall Rothenberg, CEO and President, IAB. “This could be disastrous for the media brand owners we represent and the brand owners with which they work. We hope that ICANN will reconsider both this ill-considered decision and the process by which it was reached.” The IAB is comprised of more than 500 leading media and technology companies who are responsible for selling 86 per cent of online advertising in the United States.

The 2011 ICANN Nominating Committee (NomCom) has completed its selections for eight leadership positions within ICANN. The NomCom’s Chair, Adam Peake, said “We are very pleased to have been able to select such high quality people to join ICANN. They are a great group, bringing skills and experience that will serve the community well. It’s been a tough job, the NomCom had to choose from a very strong applicant pool, with many highly qualified candidates for every position, including a record number of female applicants. After many hours of teleconferences and meetings, and then almost two and half days of discussion locked away in a room in Singapore, we reached unanimous agreement on all the selected nominees and the overall slate that includes individuals from China, Germany, Jamaica, Malaysia, Nigeria, Philippines and United States. Thanks to my committee for their hard work, and on behalf of all the NomCom a very sincere Thank You to all 88 candidates who gave their time and effort in volunteering to help ICANN”. The NomCom is charged with recruiting and selecting a portion of ICANN’s leadership. The NomCom is mandated to ensure that overall, ICANN’s leadership is diverse in geography, culture, skills, experience, and perspective. The basic criteria is that selectees are people of integrity, objectivity and sound judgment, can support decision-making within groups, can work effectively in English, have an understanding of ICANN’s mission and operation, are committed to its success, experienced in world affairs, contribute to cultural, professional and geographic expertise, and can work long and hard as volunteers in the global public trust. The NomCom evaluated over eighty-eight candidates, many of whom with exceptional qualifications in relation to the key criteria as set out in the ICANN Bylaws. With such a rich pool of candidates and very few seats to fill, the NomCom found itself unable to appoint all the applicants the Committee members would have desired to see on the Board and on the other bodies. Selectees listed for each ICANN body, in alphabetical order by family name. ICANN Board of Directors Steve Crocker , United States Judith Vasquez , Philippines ALAC Titi Akinsanmi , Nigeria Rinalia Abdul Rahim , Malaysia Carlton Samuels , Jamaica GNSO Council Lanre Ajayi , Nigeria Thomas Rickert , Germany ccNSO Council Hong Xue , China These individuals will take up their positions after the end of ICANN’s Annual General Meeting in Dakar, Senegal, on 28 October 2011. This year’s Nominating Committee received 88 Statements of Interest from candidates all over the world (23 female and 65 male), during its open nomination period from 17 December 2010 to 4 April 2011. The regional breakdown of this year’s candidates is: 19 from Africa, 24 from Asia/Australia/Pacific 14 from Europe 15 from Latin America/Caribbean 16 from North America For more information about the NomCom, please visit nomcom.icann.org/ This ICANN announcement was sourced from: www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-05aug11-en.htm

With ICANN approving the Applicant Guidebook for new generic Top Level Domains and the window for applications opening on 12 January, the second .NXT conference in San Francisco in late August is focussing on giving potential applicants, registries and consultants the very latest information on the process and prepare for launch. The conference will be held Wednesday to Friday, 24-26 August at the San Francisco InterContinental. A full conference pass includes all sessions, exhibit hall access and lunches. It is also anticipated there will be great networking opportunities with hundreds of internet professionals and education to take your career to the next level. One of the key speakers is Chris Disspain, CEO of auDA, the .AU policy and regulatory body, member of the Internet Governance Forum’s main decision-making body, the Multi-stakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) and as of the last ICANN meeting held in Singapore in June is now an ICANN Board member. Disspain will steer both the opening and closing sessions of the conference, pulling out critical details about the internet’s expansion from a series of experts, as well as summarising the outcomes of the conference itself on the last day. Other confirmed speakers include Shawn Gunnarson (Kirton & McConkie), Markus Kummer (ISOC), John Matson (Architelos), Rob Hall (Momentous.com) and Monte Cahn (co-founder and President of Right of the Dot). Registration costs $695. For more information and to register, go to dot-nxt.com .

The Austrian registry nic.at appears to have been drinking plenty of Red Bull and grown wings to cover the German-language new gTLD market. It seems every announcement of a proposed new gTLD in the German-speaking countries is using registry services from nic.at. Last week nic.at announced they have signed up .VERSICHERUNG (insurance) and .REISE (travel), two of the most lucrative search keywords in German and likely to be quite successful gTLDs. “We are delighted that nic.at’s wave of successes keeps on rolling with the contract awards for .versicherung and .reise,” said Richard Wein, CEO of nic.at. “This is yet another demonstration that our expertise is valued and well-known among prospective applicants.” The announcement follows hot on the heels of announcements in recent weeks that nic.at has signed up to provide registry services for .BERLIN and .HAMBURG using their Registry In A Box service that provides a scalable solution for registry services. And prior to this, in early May nic.at signed an agreement to provide registry services for the Bahraini ccTLD .BH. ICANN approved its Applicant Guidebook and set an application window for three months commencing 12 January only two weeks ago at the commencement of their Singapore meeting. Following the board approval the corridors were full of wheeling and dealing with potential gTLD applicants and registries seeking to form partnerships in the days after the Applicant Guidebook approval. “In our industry trust, expertise and professionalism are particularly important – and all three are criteria and attributes that nic.at matches,” said Alexander Schwiersch, CEO of dotversicherung und dotreise GmbH commenting on why they chose nic.at to provide registry services.

by Adrian Kinderis, CEO of AusRegistry International , explains why choosing a registry services partner is the most important decision applicants will make. The ICANN Singapore meeting last week was all about certainty. The official approval of the new Top-Level Domain program and the delivery of an application timeline by the ICANN Board has provided the certainty we have all been eagerly waiting for. What I can also be certain about is that potential applicants are now desperately trying to finalise their new Top-Level Domain strategies. To those applicants, I have one very important message: Choosing a domain name registry services partner for your new Top-Level Domain is the most important decision you will make from here on in. As such, I think it is also important for potential applicants to understand that not all registry services providers are created equal. There are several key criteria for differentiation that can help potential applicants decipher all the spin and make an informed decision. Below is my summary of the criteria I believe are critical for your choice in registry services partner. 1) Experience – Your chosen partner must have long-term experience in developing, growing and operating a current, high volume namespace. In this game, experience counts for everything. 2) Financial Security – Financial security ensures long term viability of your provider. This means that your registry services partner will be around for as long as your TLD needs them to be. 3) Flexibility – Your solution must be built for the specific requirements of your new TLD. Flexibility from your registry services partner will ensure you aren’t restricted by technical capability. 4) Focus – Are new TLDs a primary focus of the business? They should be… 5) Diverse Expertise – Navigating the TLD minefield is no easy task. To ensure success, you’ll need a combination of dedicated industry consultants, knowledgeable technical resources and sales & marketing experts to meet ICANN’s stringent requirements. Great registry services require an equal balance of brain power and technology. 6) Commitment – Ask prospective partners how much of their own time has been invested understanding the intricate details of the Applicant Guidebook and ICANN’s processes. Have they been an advocate and influencer of the program since its inception? Are they committed to the success of this revolutionary program? 7) Price – Extremely low per domain pricing structures may seem like a good idea in theory, however  you must question the ability for that entity to manage a registry well and, importantly, support your ongoing business long-term. If your partner is hamstrung because they have over committed on pricing, you may experience some challenges long-term. What you are looking for is a service provider that can positively cover off all these points at a consistently high level. What you want to avoid is a provider that may excel at one point to the detriment of another. There is only six months until the 12 January 2012 application window opens and the time to act is now. I’ve provided you with all the information you need to make the right decisions about your new Top-Level Domain. There is just one more piece of information I forgot to include: info@ausregistry.com . Drop my team a line one day to see how we stack up. This article was sourced from the AusRegistry blog at: www.ausregistry.com/blog/?p=803

[news release] Afilias Limited, a leading provider of Internet domain name registry and Domain Name System (DNS) services, and RIGHT OF THE DOT LLC, a consulting firm with expertise in domain name valuation, today announced that they have entered into an agreement to assist applicants in ICANN’s forthcoming program for new Top Level Domains (TLDs). Under the agreement, Afilias and RIGHT OF THE DOT will collaborate to help applicants with a wide variety of services needed to successfully apply for and launch a new TLD. “Afilias has helped launch more new TLDs than any other provider, and has long been recognized as a leading provider of the critical registry services required by ICANN for new TLDs,” said Roland LaPlante, Senior Vice President of Afilias. “Many applicants are now developing their business plans and have found the need for additional expertise in areas such as premium name valuation. Monte Cahn and Michael Berkens of RIGHT OF THE DOT are well known valuation experts, and we are pleased to make these expanded resources available to applicants.” “We have worked with Afilias for years and are glad to form this alliance,” said Monte Cahn, Co-Founder and President of RIGHT OF THE DOT. “Proper valuation is a critical element in the success of a new TLD, as it helps put the TLD on sound financial footing. With decades of experience in the domain name secondary market, Michael and I can provide fact-based advice on what names might be valuable and how much they may bring. Each TLD will only launch once, and getting this part of the launch right can make the difference between financial success and failure.” Cahn and Berkens are widely recognized as two of the domain industry’s most respected valuation and sales experts, and have assisted in the strategy for several previous domain launches and re-launches. They have helped build some of the most successful appraisal algorithms and auction valuation models used in the domain business. Also, they have been central to more than $300 million in domain sales, including some of the highest profile domain sales in history, such as Slots.com, CreditCheck.com, Poker.ca, University.org and Dating.com. ICANN approved the new TLD program at its current meeting in Singapore and set January 12, 2012, as the date it will begin accepting applications. Afilias’ Global Registry and DNS services power 20 million registrations across 15 TLDs, including five TLDs operating under ICANN contracts. Afilias’ new TLD services include a state-of-the-art EPP registry, a globally diverse and redundant Anycast DNS network, 24

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