New.net and Multilingual Names Andrew Duff Director of Mktg and Policy, New.net December 2001

Quick detour….

Why is the “multiple roots” issue being raised? Multilingual name implementations may use multiple roots in one form or another Why have multiple systems arisen? Many reasons, mostly to do with number of domain name extensions available. Incumbents benefit from maintaining the status quo and attacking multiple roots

Consistency on the Internet Consistency does NOT mean de facto a single technical root structure Co-ordination between multiple systems can achieve consistency Consistency is currently “enforced” by ICANN, which helps to administer the US Government legacy root (all root zone updates go via US Government)

Issues arise through ICANN desire to “control” New.net supports ICANN with less control mentality at staff level. “Control” or “enforcement” have been shown to be impossible on the Internet ICANN needs to make itself a true international co-ordination body if it is to ensure continuing global relevance

New.net has created a system for offering better domain names New.net sells Internet domain names with extensions, such as.shop,.travel and.kids, that are more descriptive, meaningful and useful than traditional domain names –Easier for sites to describe what they offer –Easier for consumers to remember New.net domain names can be reached by users that access the Internet through one of New.net’s partner ISPs or by using a small client application

How New.net Works ISPs enable their entire network of users by making a simple modification to the software running their name servers –Routes queries for New.net domain names to New.net’s root server network –All other Internet traffic unaffected All others can gain access via a client application that appends “.new.net” to queries for New.net domain names Both solutions supports , ftp and other protocols in addition to Internet browsing

New.net has released domains in six European languages March 2001: English August 2001: Spanish, French, Portuguese October 2001: German, Italian Total of 88 unique, lower-ASCII extensions

Rapidly growing, voluntary network Over 75 million New.net-enabled users worldwide today Over 150 million by mid-2002

New.net will deploy an initial IDNA solution in Q Will be compliant with requirements of the IDN working group of the IETF Will resolve IDN.IDN domain names registered in the New.net registry via deployed base of client software Will continue to investigate possibilities of server-side IDN solutions in collaboration with local partners

Multilingual naming does not require massive immediate technical changes Continue with existing DNS naming and addressing infrastructure – because it works. No need for additional layers above or below DNS to increase availability of good names (identifiers). Continue to use current addressing syntax – (multiple character sets) understandable as an Internet address, and provides hierarchical structure.

New.net and Multilingual Names Andrew Duff Director of Mktg and Policy, New.net December 2001