Connecting the dots

ICANN looks for stability in new top level domains The changes under way in the Internet world seem innocuous at first blush - a few more top level domain names, some competition for Network Solutions Inc. But the choices made by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers in the next month or so could have long-term consequences - not just for the Internet and e-commerce, but for telecom as well.

Maintaining the stability of the Internet is a stated priority for ICANN. Choosing applicants that can bring carrier-grade reliability and availability to the network and maintain it is one way to achieve that. Also, ICANN's choices - particularly with the "dot-tel" top level domain (TLD) - could have significant impact on the future direction of Internet telephony.

Recognizing that the time for the "dotcom" eminence has come and gone, ICANN is holding a contest of sorts to name and manage the new additions.

Forty-seven applicants have the required $50,000 application fee or a sponsor and have submitted their applications to ICANN to become registries for the new TLDs, which range from "dot-ads" to "dot-web." Contracts for approved names are expected to be completed by year's end.

Since the Oct. 2 deadline, subject matter experts for ICANN have been reviewing those applications. By the time this article hits the street, ICANN will have published a review of the applications and opened its Web site, www.icann.org, to a second round of public comment.

A new round of comments aimed at the results of ICANN's evaluations should provide more substance than the initial round, which included chat room-like commentary that accused companies of bribery, slander and conflicts of interest.

Applications came from companies across the globe, including Australia, Canada, China, Japan, Monaco, South Korea, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the U.K. Many are multinational applications. They came from financial institutions, health organizations, museums and postal unions.

Naturally, telecom also had its hat in the ring. NeuStar, the current administrator of the local number portability (LNP) database and ICANN-accredited registrar, submitted applications for the following TLDs: "dot-biz,""dot-dot,""dot-web,""dot-info,""dot-site,""dot-spot," "dot-surf " and "dot-per." Nokia was among a group suggesting "dot-mob," and XO Communications is part of the dotNOM consortium that proposed - what else - "dot-nom."

Also, pulver.com, along with the Inter-net-Telephony Address Board, or iTAB, a non-profit, neutral policy-making body - of which pulver.com's President and CEO Jeff Pulver is chairman - and NetNumber zeroed in on the "dot-tel" TLD. NetNumber runs the Global Internet-Telephony Directory, or GITD, service, which was launched in July and is used by IP-enabled platforms to convert standard telephone numbers into Internet address information. The organization would act as the registry operator of the "dot-tel" TLD. pulver.com and iTAB are sponsors.

The group's proposal, called the Pulver/Peek/Marschel proposal, is named for partners David Peek of iTAB, Glenn Marschel of NetNumber and Pulver. It is one of three proposals for the dot-tel TLD.

"pulver.com is in the business of advancing the growth of the global IP communications industry," Pulver said. "From this perspective, we believe the `dot-tel' implementation of ENUM is crucial to the growth of the IP telephony industry."

ENUM is a standard for linking telephone numbers to Internet addresses.

There is a push by the International Telecommunication Union to advance an implementation of the Internet Engineering Task Force ENUM standard under the domain "e164.arpa." This implementation would distribute control of telephone number addressing on the Internet to the more than 240 national public network regulatory bodies that administer telephone numbers for the public network today, Pulver said.

It also would require the industry to work with national public network regulatory authorities on a country-by-country basis to implement ENUM services. "The other `dottel' applications... don't appear to understand that there is a huge industry movement behind the ENUM standard," Pulver said.

While Pulver and his group support the ITU's efforts because they create awareness for the ENUM standard,"we also support the `dot-tel' TLD because it will create needed competition for the `e164.arpa' implementation, which will bring direct benefit to the emerging IP telephony industry," Pulver said.

Public comments generally have been supportive of the Pulver/Peek/Marschel proposal. Other applicants for the `dot-tel' TLD are Number.tel in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., and Telnic from the U.K.

"Clearly, there is a wide range of experience reflected in the applications," Pulver said. "NetNumber is well-positioned to deliver the necessary infrastructure, reliability and availability."

NetNumber deployed a fully redundant support its efforts if implementation of its GITD in July.

Reliability and availability are the strengths NeuStar emphasized in its bid for several TLDs. It hopes to exploit the"wide range of experience" held by some applicants and points to its experience as a provider of mission-critical applications such as LNP to convince ICANN it can carry out its No. 1 priority: maintaining the stability of the Internet.

"We have [proved that ability] in several instances as the number plan administrator and the local number portability registry, which is critical because every telephone call that originates in the U.S. today touches a copy of our database," said Ken Hansen, director of corporate development for NeuStar.

NeuStar's strength and experience and infrastructure is just one aspect of stability, Hansen said. The other is financial. NeuStar's backers have more than $1.5 billion waiting to support its efforts if approved, Hansen said.

NeuStar's mission is to provide competition for NSI, the only current registry.

"This is like selecting a global telephone company," Hansen said. "Sure, the Internet grew organically, but businesses now depend on it so much it is tantamount to dial tone. And there is only one company in the Internet world today, and that's Network Solutions."

NeuStar teamed with Melbourne IT to form the JVTeam. This group is pursuing the "dot-biz" and "dot-per" TLDs, while NeuStar conducts a solo pursuit of other TLDs, including "dot-web."

The team says it would manage things differently than NSI, especially with the "dot-biz" domain. "Dot-biz" would be a commercial-only domain in which businesses would have to prove their legitimacy in the world of commerce to be given this extension.

"One of the important elements in our proposal is that a mutual third party operate the registry," Hansen said.

The JVTeam also would develop a process for a more efficient distribution of names. "There are a lot of names that have been registered that aren't even in use. They were registered by speculators or auction sites and are being held for ransom," Hansen said.

JVTeam would have a low bar for what is considered in-use."It can't be just `under construction.' It has to provide some business content of some sort," Hansen said.

The "dot-per" TLD is the polar opposite of "dot-biz": No commerce allowed. Only persons of a non-commercial entity would register here for personal Web pages and potentially portable e-mail.

"You could keep your digital identity your entire life. As you move from e-mail provider to e-mail provider, you wouldn't have to change your e-mail address," Hansen said.

NeuStar also proposes other changes such as a centralized "whois" database and a new open protocol to support the interface between registries and registrars. Its emphasis, however, is on its ability to provide the proper network and support infrastructure to maintain the stability of the Internet.