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ICANN News

Fellowship Application Round Opens for ICANN International Public Meeting 45 in Toronto, Canada

Program Ensures Global Representation at ICANN's Public Meetings

23 May 2012

MARINA DEL REY, California: The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is now accepting online applications for the 17th round of the Fellowship program. Successful candidates will participate in the ICANN meeting to be held in Toronto, Canada from 14-18 October 2012.

The Fellowship program is open to applicants who are current residents of developing and least developed nations and interested in participating in ICANN and its supporting organizations, constituencies and stakeholder groups. Priority is given to individuals new to the ICANN environment from government and the ccTLD community, as well as those from academic, civil, business and non-profit entities, which are NOT involved in or associated with other ICANN supported travel programs. The program provides the support and opportunity for these participants to gain knowledge on how to have their voices heard in the Internet community and ICANN. More information regarding terms and conditions, as well as eligibility is available online at http://www.icann.org/en/fellowships/ or email at fellowships@icann.org regarding any questions about this process or program.

The Fellowship program arranges the airfare, hotel and a stipend for those individuals selected to participate in this ICANN meeting. Recipients are expected to actively participate in and contribute to ICANN processes, both at the meeting and in the future. As always, registration for ICANN's meetings is free for anyone wanting to attend.

Applications for the meeting in Toronto will be accepted from 23:00 UTC on 23 May 2012 until 23:59 UTC on 8 July 2012. Successful candidates will be posted on the ICANN Fellowship webpage by 17 August 2012.

What Is ICANN?

To reach another person on the Internet you have to type an address into your computer - a name or a number. That address has to be unique so computers know where to find each other. ICANN coordinates these unique identifiers across the world. Without that coordination we wouldn't have one global Internet.

ICANN was formed in 1998. It is a not-for-profit public-benefit corporation with participants from all over the world dedicated to keeping the Internet secure, stable and interoperable. It promotes competition and develops policy on the Internet's unique identifiers.

ICANN doesn't control content on the Internet. It cannot stop spam and it doesn't deal with access to the Internet. But through its coordination role of the Internet's naming system, it does have an important impact on the expansion and evolution of the Internet.
TAS Reopens

Statement by Akram Atallah, COO

21 May 2012

The TLD Application System, or TAS, has reopened. All registered applicants can now log in, review and submit their applications.

The system will remain open until 23:59 GMT/UTC on 30 May 2012. Consistent with our previous practice and to allow the application window to open as soon as possible, two-hour maintenance windows have been scheduled as follows: 22 May at 16:30 GMT/UTC, 25 May at 23:00 UTC, and 29 May at 22:00 UTC.

Applicants are encouraged to review "Top Things Users Should Know When TAS Reopens," posted on the new gTLD microsite at http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/tas/top-ten. The document provides advice on logging into and completing applications, submitting wire transfers, and contacting customer service with any issues users might encounter.

During the last few weeks, we have fixed the technical glitch that caused us to take the system offline. Also, to address user feedback, we have improved the overall system performance and the HTML preview function.

In our continuing review of the system logs and system traffic, we determined that in two instances, a single file might have been temporarily unavailable to an applicant. Full access to those two files has been restored. ICANN notified the affected users.

We recognize and regret the inconvenience caused by this glitch and the delayed closing of the application window.
Approved July 2012 - June 2015 Strategic Plan Posted
18 May 2012
Based upon the Board Resolutions resulting from the recent Special Meeting of the Board of Directors held in Amsterdam on 6 May 2012, the adopted 2012-2015 Strategic Plan [PDF, 864 KB] is now posted.

2012-2015 Strategic Plan

English [PDF, 864 KB]

العربية - coming soon

中文 - coming soon

Français - coming soon

Español - coming soon

Русский - coming soon

During the Special Meeting of the Board of Directors held in Amsterdam the Board approved the July 2012-June 2015 Strategic Plan, and directed the President and CEO to move forward with the Internationalization survey and community-based operational planning process based on the strategic objectives as set forth in the plan. The aspects of the 2012-2015 Strategic Plan that cover the expansion of ICANN's international presence and engagement efforts are deferred pending further direction from the Board.

Rationale for Resolution 2012.05.06.06

To remain accountable to the global Internet community, the Board is taking this action to allow for community input on the further planning for ICANN's international presence and engagement. There has been a community survey on these items, and a paper will be produced that will be the subject of public comment and discussion. In addition, continued work towards these efforts as set forth in the 2011-2014 Strategic Plan is not prudent, therefore those portions of the 2011-2014 Strategic Plan are deferred.

After review of these inputs, and as appropriate to respond to inputs, initiatives to expand ICANN's international presence and engagement may be updated within the 2012-2015 Strategic Plan, and included within the 2012-2013 Operating Plan. In order to allow for the 2012-2013 operational planning cycle to proceed, the Board approves the 2012-2015 Strategic Plan.

While there will likely be a fiscal impact as a result of this work, the fiscal impact of undertaking the survey and review process is minimal. Further, the deferral of current initiatives within the 2011-2012 Operating Plan regarding the further allocation or reallocation of staff and resources that relate to ICANN's international presence and engagement prior to the Prague Meeting will preserve resources from having to be reallocated as necessary after this review is complete.

This action is not expected to have any impact on the security or the stability of the DNS.

This version of the Strategic Plan includes extensive community feedback, including a 45-day Public Comment period (10.3.11 – 11.17.11). Many thanks to the Community for its continued support and input.

ICANN's Strategic Plan is a three-year rolling, annually updated strategic planning process and feeds in to the larger ICANN planning process as the adopted Strategic Plan guides the development of the FY13 Operating Plan and Budget.

DRAFT - ICANN Language Services Policy and Procedures

18 May 2012

Forum Announcement:	Comment Period Opens on	Date:	18 May 2012
Categories/Tags:	Policy Processes; Transparency/Accountability; Reviews/Improvements; Participation; Events/Conferences
Purpose (Brief):	ICANN Language Services is submitting for public comment the draft Language Services Policy and Procedures. The purpose of this document, although implicit in its title, is to establish policies and procedures for all services related to languages – translation, simultaneous interpretation, teleconference interpretation, transcription (of recorded sessions) and RTT (real-time-transcription, also known as scribing).
Public Comment Box Link:	http://www.icann.org/en/news/public-comment/language-services-policy-18may12-en.htm

New L-Root DNS Server Enhances DNS Fault Tolerance and Resistance to DDoS Attacks

18 May 2012

A new instance of L-Root has been installed in Odessa, Ukraine, increasing the Domain Name System's (DNS) overall fault tolerance and its resilience against certain types of cyber threats, such as Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.

The launch of the server node is a joint operation between ICANN and Ukrainian domain registry Hostmaster. DNS Root Servers form a key part of the Internet infrastructure that contribute to the global security and stability of the DNS.

"Odessa is one of the largest Ukrainian cities, with one of the highest Internet penetration rates in the country," said Dmitry Kohmanyuk, a Hostmaster official. "Moreover, the Internet provider we opted for has quality connections to Western Ukraine, which is precisely why we decided to deploy the node there."

Hostmaster, the Ukrainian administrator of the .UA domain, supplied the equipment necessary for the installation of the new L-Root node.

"In addition to the newest L-Root server in Odessa, two other L-Root nodes, in Kyiv and Kharkiv, were also deployed through collaboration between ICANN and Hostmaster." said Joe Abley, Director of DNS Operations at ICANN."

Period of 17-27 May 2012: Public Comment Periods Approaching Closing Date

17 May 2012

The Following Public Comment periods are approaching their Comment or Reply Period Close dates, May 17-27 2012. As a member of the ICANN community, your timely feedback is critical to our accountability and transparency efforts. For your convenience, we have included direct links below to comments that will soon close.

During the Reply period for Public Comments, participants should only address previous comments submitted and new posts concerning the topic should not be introduced. When constructing Replies, contributors are asked to cite the original poster's name, comment date, and any particular text that is pertinent.

Please note that comments submitted after the posted Close Date/Time are not guaranteed to be considered in any final summary, analysis, reporting, or decision-making that takes place once that period ends.

For more information please refer to the ICANN Public Comments page at: http://www.icann.org/en/news/public-comment

Title	Comment Period Close Date [UTC Time]	Reply Period Close Date [UTC Time]
Second Annual IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process Review	30 April 2012 [23:59]	21 May 2012 [23:59]
ICANN Draft FY13 Operating Plan and Budget	24 May 2012 [23:59]	15 June 2012 [23:59]
IDN Variant TLD Program - Revised Program Plan	25 May 2012 [23:59]	15 June 2012 [23:59]

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Domainer's Magazine Award Winners

Written by Domainer's Magazine Staff

Tuesday, 08 February 2011 20:32

If five years of publishing have taught us anything, it's that we wouldn't be here without the people and companies who go the extra mile to build our industry. That's why, at the end of 2010, we held nominations for the 1st Annual Domainer's Magazine Awards.

Nominations were made by our readers and site visitors, which were then assembled into an official ballot found on DomainersMagazine.com. Now, with the final counts tallied, we’re proud to present our winners. Thank you to our readers, site visitors and supporters for participating, and most importantly, thank you to our winners--who give our industry its continued success.

Domainers of the Year

Donna Mahony

Mahony began her foray into the industry by simple registration (her first was winfreecash.net). She soon became part of a the discussion in the domaining world, realizing that there were all kinds of possibilities in the digital real estate realm, particularly in making a business of buying and selling domains.

She has a strong work ethic which is a positive for the projects she’s undertaking now. One of her biggest hits, at least for industry insiders, is DomainBoardroom.com. Because they must be invited to use the service, users at DomainBoardroom.com are serious about what they do, allowing them to easily communicate with others in an involved community.

Adam Strong

Adam Strong is a well known and respected domain name broker who has built a solid reputation over 10 years in the domain space. As broker for both buyers and sellers, he has structured over $10 million dollars in domain name deals and maintains a portfolio of over 10,000 domains.

Strong’s quick sale of CamRoulette.com, resulting in nearly $150,000 in net profit in less than 4 months, made industry-wide headlines in 2010. Strong is a recognized commentator on the domain space and founded DomainNameNews.com in 2007. In 2010 he completed the acquisition of NameBio.com, one of the leading domain sales data services. Strong made headlines again in 2010 as co-founder of the company that purchased the domain Logo.com for $500,000. As a result of meeting great people through the domain space over the years, Strong has been fortunate to be an investor or founder in several other businesses. He is a happily married father of 2 young sons and resides in Illinois.

Rick Schwartz

If the words “domain name pioneer” had an archetype, it would be Rick Schwartz, an early and ongoing investor and developer of Prime Web Real Estate. Schwartz has been a trailblazer on the net since 1995, when he recognized the value of domain names early on.

In his own words, time has proven to be his best ally. Snatching up dictionary generics when the term “domain industry” was virtually unheard of, his oft-echoed nickname “The Domain King” is certainly well-earned.

Best Domain Conference

DomainFest Global

DOMAINfest is a premiere conference built to serve the domain industry. DomainSponsor, a part of Oversee.net, is the founding and primary sponsor of the DOMAINfest series. Their goal is to inspire and support the industry, not only by providing valuable content and informative sessions, but also by providing opportunities to network among the people who keep the domain industry moving. DOMAINfest was created with the industry as a whole in mind, and is open to all members of the domain community.

In 2006, it became apparent that the industry could benefit from a new kind of show, and DomainSponsor sought to create it, developing a vibrant event series to satisfy our customers’ needs. DomainSponsor has always stayed close to its customer base, and as a result, truly understands the domain world and domain professionals’ needs. The product of that understanding is a high quality industry event that brings domain industry professionals and constituents together to learn, network and do business with each other.

Best Parking Company
&
Best Overall Solution

Sedo

With more than 1 million member accounts from around the world, and trading domains in more than 20 languages, Sedo stands alone as the world’s only global domain marketplace. Sedo’s marketplace connects buyers and sellers making it simple for individuals and companies to acquire the domain names they need for their success and online presence. Sedo’s domain marketplace is the most active in the industry and offers the world’s largest selection of premium domains with more than 16 million available for sale. Sedo offers all the tools needed to buy, sell, and monetize domains including domain appraisals, brokerage services, promotion and Sedo’s popular domain parking program. Members use Sedo’s parking program to earn revenue on more than 6 million domains while promoting those domains for sale.

Recently celebrating a decade in business, Sedo has experienced remarkable success establishing a global domain name marketplace and expanding into a wide selection of domain name services.

Best New Company

Domain Advertising

Currently led by CEO Dan Warner, DomainAdvertising is the first company in the history of domain publishing to focus solely on top-level interest and buy-in from the best advertisers and advertising aggregators for domain traffic across all types of ad inventory.

They’ve discovered that with the right treatment, domain traffic is capable of delivering more tangible value for each ad dollar spent than any competing online ad medium. Their objective? To evangelize this discovery and introduce domain advertising as a serious, strong and long-term advertising platform to brand managers, advertising agencies and direct advertisers while maintaining the benefits that come with working with aggregators and advertising networks.

DomainAdvertising.com is backed by leading investors including the Ashmore Group (www.ashmoregroup.com) and the Directi Group (www.directi.com).

Best Registrar

Fabulous

Four words: Fabulous caters to domainers. Fabulous specializes in generating revenue through pay per click (PPC), and has access to exclusive and established partnerships with PPC providers and comprehensive management tools originally created for their in-house domain portfolio.

Fabulous offers comprehensive account management services, but domainers also receive an unprecedented level of control over their portfolios using a unique set of domain management tools. Fabulous serves some of the most profitable domain owners online, and their customer service recieves excellent ratings at RegistrarJudge.com, where they are lauded for their ability to cater especially to domainers. To be eligible for a Fabulous Premium account, domainers must meet either of the following requirements: their domain portfolio must generate US$750/month, or they must transfer 750 domain names to Fabulous’ registrar service.

Developer of the Year

Scott Day /Digimedia

Founded in 1997, DIGIMEDIA owns and operates a portfolio of powerful, common, generic domain names and corresponding web sites. Their domains and websites are located by internet users via type-in navigation to their browser’s address bar. This form of direct-navigation has been found to contain some of the purest, most highly qualified web site traffic possible. DIGIMEDIA provides simple and inventive enhancements to help each visitor quickly find the information, product or service they need.

Scott Day, the face behind DigiMedia, is another early pioneer of the domain industry, piecing together the puzzle before the term was even being thrown around. An influential force in development, Day’s work with DIGIMEDIA proves that--given the right tactics--domainers can make the leap from simple PPC revenue to a range of site development that can create a brand and keep customers coming back.

Best Domain Blog

Domain Name Wire

Domain Name Wire is a news source for the domain name industry written by industry experts and edited by Andrew Allemann. Topics are relevant for domain name owners, intellectual property attorneys, trademark lawyers, domain registrars, domain services companies and anyone interested in the domain name industry.

Allemann, a resident of Austin, TX, has been in the domain industry since 1997. He has been quoted in The New York Times and Sydney Morning Herald, among others. In addition to writing Domain Name Wire, Allemann works for Directi’s media businesses including Media.net, Skenzo, and BigJumbo.

Best Domain Educator

Jeremiah Johnston

Jeremiah Johnston is chief operating officer & general counsel at Sedo (www.sedo.com), the largest online marketplace for buying and selling domain names and websites.

Johnston began his career with Sedo in 2004 as general counsel, helping the company keep a step ahead of the domain industry’s ever-changing legal landscape. Now serving in the joint role of general counsel and chief operating officer, Johnston oversees a variety of responsibilities for Sedo and helps lead its push into the North American market.

Johnston represents Sedo as a founding member of the Internet Commerce Association (ICA) and sits on the Board of Directors in the role of association president, helping to shape the future of domain names in the political space.

With more than nine years of experience leading internet-related companies and an academic background that focused on global intellectual property, Johnston has helped Sedo identify opportunities and risks while always keeping an eye on the horizon.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 01 March 2011 15:18