Marcel Schneider The Swiss Education and Research Network

Why SWITCH ?  Foundation of the private sector since 1987  Focus on connecting academic and research institutions to the Internet  Non-profit, Swiss law  Financially stable  Multilingual (supporting 6 languages), multicultural  Proven know-how in networking and value- added services (e-learning, virtual campus, grid computing etc.)

Registry know-how  SWITCH operates CH and LI since 1987  Proven track record for registry functions  Well respected by Swiss registrars  Delegation contract with Swiss government  For ORG registry:  2 independent systems (Zürich and CERN)  Automatic immediate changeover (failure)  Scalable, designed to meet twice initial load

Registry know-how  SWITCH operates CH and LI since 1987  Proven track record for registry functions  Well respected by Swiss registrars  Delegation contract with Swiss government  For ORG registry:  2 independent systems (Zürich and CERN)  Automatic immediate changeover (failure)  Scalable, designed to meet twice initial load

Name servers (a.org-servers.net)  name servers globally distributed  Goal: variety of architectures and platforms  BIND & derivates, DJBDNS, Nominum GNS  Redundancy of hardware  TSIG (RFC-2845) and IXFR’s  Fast response times for resolvers ensured by  a) short RTT to nearest unicast name server (standard DNS system)  b) anycast system by Nominum based on routing protocols

Compliance with ICANN policies  Contract with ICANN accredited registrars  WHOIS for thin registry model  Follow developments in UWHOIS and WHOIS++ indexing services  SRS by improved RRP and later EPP  UDRP for ORG registrants  Zone file data escrow – rocket-proof backup

SRS with RRP+ and EPP  SWITCH to develop an improved SRS (RRP+)  Development team lead by Eric Brunner-Williams  Implementing suggestions and thorough testing by CORE registrars  Gateway allows simultaneous connections  500 info and 400 mod commands per second  Accept current registrar certificates  RRP+ will be made available to ccTLD’s at no-cost  EPP over TCP operational 1Q2003

Marketing strategies  Aware of diversity of existing registrants  No intention to impose restrictive registration policies  Focus on non-commercial organizations will create a stronger identity for ORG  Less attractive to commercial registrants  Conventional global marketing inappropriate  Co-operative marketing approach involving registrants, registrars and the registry

Making a difference for registrars  Best quality at lowest prices: initially $ 5  Global 24/7 registrar services with 3 offices  Competent personnel with high technical capabilities and financial know-how  Facilities to use their local banks for payments  Registrars’ platform, Business Steering Committee & regional working groups

Creating the ORG community  Community gateway to the “dot ORG culture”  A global home for non-commercial activities  A direct communication and interaction platform  ORG-at-a-glance data base  search engines, newsletters, polls, forums, meeting points for organizations and institutions with non-commercial objectives  ORG Community Council (ORGCC)  Allocation of surplus funds (enhanced services vs. lower prices)  Input to co-operative marketing strategies  Benefits:  Bringing like-minded groups together  Creating higher profiles for the ORG community  Genuine means of input to registry policies and practices

Transition plan basics  Sept.: Request additional data from VeriSign, final system design  Oct.: Main system (mid), second system (end) available  Oct.: RRP+ testing with CORE registrars  Nov.: Start of trial run with data from VeriSign  Dec.: Global registrar services operational  Dec.: Distribute zone to new name servers  Dec.: Registrar/community Web pages available  : IANA to activate new root zone file

The endowment  Qualify due to non-commercial status  Amount proposed: USD 1.8 Million  Exclusive usages:  to build-up registrar platform and community gateway  to found regional registrar working groups  to initiate community process

ORG: the chance for …  New blood in the gTLD registry business  A non-profit registry  A European, multicultural and multlingual enterprise  Credible, independent and neutral approach by registry (registry acting as facilitator)  An identity for the ORG community  Smooth transition

In short: