SECTION D13.2

II.2    BUSINESS PLAN FOR THE PROPOSED REGISTRY OPERATIONS

JVTeam has developed a registry solution which incorporates realistic business goals, thorough market analysis as well as comprehensive financial and operational planning.

The success of a competitive registry environment and the introduction of new TLDs is not just dependant on good ideas. It requires detailed analysis, understanding and planning for all components of the registry. It also requires a substantial commitment of time, resources and people. JVTeam has carefully considered all of these issues in its approach by leveraging our existing knowledge of registry operations, by undertaking market research and most importantly by thinking through the implications of our choices. The decisions we have made represent, we believe, the best available and most sound solution, one which will ensure the stable and successful introduction of new top level domains. This section provides explicit detail of our business planning and an explanation of how we will achieve our goal of providing the next generation registry. Following is an overview of issues discussed in this section.

HIGHLIGHTS

u            JVTeam’s suite of registry services will provide the registrar community access to the highest standards of support, security, and administration

u            JVTeam’s business plan incorporates the requisite resources, capital expenditures, facilities, systems, and people to ensure success

u            JVTeam has developed a revenue model that will ensure the registry is both competitive and commercially viable.

u            JVTeam has worldwide, world-class facilities with high-quality data services and secure environment.

u            JVTeam will assess risks and employ mitigation strategies/actions on an ongoing basis

JVTeam’s suite of registry services will provide the registrar community with access to the highest standards of support, security and administration. In addition, these services will be provided in an entirely neutral and even-handed manner. The JVTeam registry will maintain a tight customer focus in all its operations and will cultivate effective two-way communication between registrars and the registry.

In order to facilitate the timely provision of the registry’s services, we have carefully evaluated the requirements for resources, capital expenditure, facilities and people. Our plans incorporate details of exactly what the registry will need and how.  JVTeam will acquire and fund each and every component. JVTeam will implement proven program management techniques to maintain a balance between the needs of our customers and the resources required to meet those needs. 

Our revenue analysis and projections are founded on intensive market profiling, bottom up forecasting and a rigorous analysis of market sensitivities and dependencies. We have been meticulous in understanding the addressable market for the new TLD and have developed a revenue model that will ensure the registry is both competitive and commercially viable.

While the JVTeam registry is committed to success, we are also cognizant of the fact that any successful business plan must take into account both current and future risks. Our approach to risk management includes proven techniques for identifying, analyzing, and mitigating risks and potential risks on an ongoing basis.

JVTeam’s business plan is designed to ensure success for both the registry and the current program for introducing new TLDs. The JVTeam registry will contribute responsibly to the evolution of the domain name system and a competitive registry environment for the benefit of the whole Internet community. 

 

HIGHLIGHTS

u            Our services will be tightly user-focused  with an emphasis on ensuring effective two-way communication between the registry and registrars.

u            A next generation Whois service will provide solutions to existing issues and enhance security and automation.

u            An Intellectual Property Notification Service will discourage “bad-faith” registrations.

SECTION D13.2.1

II.2.1           SERVICES TO BE PROVIDED

By combining experience and innovation, JVTeam will redefine the meaning of registry services. Together with ICANN, the JVTeam registry will set new performance and reliability standards for fundamental domain name operations and will provide integration, reporting, and support services that make the registration and administration of domain names simple, efficient, and secure.  

For a TLD registry to provide services in the appropriate way it must have an in-depth understanding of the technical, business and policy components of the space. More importantly, the registry must understand the needs of both the registrar community and the end users. This kind of knowledge cannot be found in books or business plans. Knowledge of the domain name system and the needs of its users can only be gained through experience. Many organizations will recognize the financial opportunity of operating a TLD registry, making assumptions based on speculation. The registry provider must bring substantial knowledge to this kind of operation if it is to provide services which will meet the needs of the DNS community and blaze a trail for the introduction of true competition to the TLD registry marketplace. JVTeam is the only entity capable of bringing such a wealth of experience in registry operation to management of a new TLD.   

Since the new TLD will exist in a competitive environment, it is critical that the registry be fair and even-handed in its provision of services. The registry must implement policies and procedures that ensure impartiality and objectivity.  Registrars must be able to anticipate and rely on clearly defined services and service levels. JVTeam, in co-operation with ICANN and the registrar community, will develop clear guidelines and service levels for the provision of TLD registry services. In addition, the JVTeam registry will operate according to a strict code of conduct, which ensures its absolute neutrality. This will result in an open and fair competitive environment beneficial to registrars, other registries, and most importantly the Internet community.

JVTeam Understands the Issues

JVTeam brings to this process an intimate understanding of the key operational issues involved in administering and publishing zone files as well as with the existing registry/registrar system for TLD names. Combine this with unparalleled experience in registry operations, data administration, and IP networking, and you have the world’s most qualified registry solution team. Not only does JVTeam understand what registry services are needed, it also has the know-how and experience to deliver these services effectively.

 

JVTeam Sees the Opportunities for Innovation

The domain name system is still in its earliest stages of growth. As the user base of the Internet continues to expand into all areas of personal and commercial activity, the DNS will continue to play a significant role. JVTeam benefits from having a diverse commercial background which includes activity in telecommunications, e-commerce solutions, software and database development, telephone numbering systems, electronic trust products, and most importantly the DNS itself. This affords JVTeam access to an expansive network of information and opportunities, which provides the foundation for the ongoing evolution of the DNS. But for the DNS to evolve in this way, it requires the next generation of registry services. Only JVTeam has the experience and the vision to provide those services. Exhibit II.2-1 provides an overview of the services to be provided by the JVTeam registry.

Core Domain Name Services—The JVTeam registry will offer a complete suite of domain name registration and administration services. These will include all functional domain name operations and will be accessible via the registry’s main system interface, the eXtensible Registry Protocol (XRP).

Registrar Support Services—The JVTeam registry will provide the registrar community a range of support services to assist them in providing high quality domain name services to end users. These services will include 24 x 7 x 365 technical support, billing assistance, and dedicated account management.

Information Services—The JVTeam understands the critical nature of information flow between the registry and registrars. The registry will facilitate multiple means of two-way communication. The JVTeam web site will also serve as a central information source for registrars.   

Enhanced Registry ServicesIn addition to basic registration and support functions, JVTeam registry will provide workable solutions to the real world problems currently experienced by registrars and registrants and continue to innovate and enhance the role of the registry.  As part of its mission to foster the evolution of the DNS, the JVTeam registry solution will build upon the basic services already offered within the RRP through enhancement, extension, and addition.

 

II.2.1.1        CORE DOMAIN NAME SERVICES

The JVTeam registry will support all of the domain name operations currently using the Registry-Registrar Protocol (RRP). In addition, JVTeam’s solution will introduce new operations and enhance some of these components with greater security and administration tools. The JVTeam registry will provide services exclusively to accredited registrars and will not provide these services directly to end users. In this way the registry can maintain absolute neutrality in performing domain name administration functions.

Top level Domain Registration Services—Accredited registrars will be able to enter new domain names into the registry database in real time. This will be done through the XRP interface using a multi-faceted security procedure. The JVTeam registration functions will be more robust and extensible than the current system, allowing registrars to benefit from more control over the way in which they interact with the registry. The functions required to create a new domain name will be augmented by two supporting components enabling registrars to A) check the availability of a domain and B) to cancel the registration within a specified time frame without incurring a registration fee. The XRP interface will provide these services in real-time, enabling registrars to fully integrate their own domain name registration web sites and brand them as their own. When combined with near real time zone file updates, the JVTeam registration services will facilitate the creation of a fully functioning domain name in less than one hour. This represents a significant advantage over the current 24-48 hour time frame. As part of the whole JVTeam offering, the registration services will provide a more automated, efficient service enabling the new TLD to compete effectively with .com and raise the standard for the registration services across the board.   

Top level Domain Administration Services—Registration is only one component of a domain name’s life cycle.It is easy to forget that a domain name must be maintained throughout its license period. In many cases this will be as long as ten or more years. During that time it is critical for registrants to have easy access so they can move their domain names between Internet Service Providers (re-delegation) as well as between registrars if they so choose. It is also imperative that all relevant information for the domain name be kept current and valid. For registrars to ensure that their customers can perform these tasks easily, they must have access to simple, real-time maintenance functions.  Registrars must be able to automate these processes wherever possible so their support costs can be kept low and the price provided to the registrant remains competitive.   

 

Using the XRP protocol, accredited registrars will have access to all required domain name maintenance operations including contact information updates, registrant changes, re-delegations, license renewals, registrar transfers and cancellations. All of these services can be engaged directly, allowing the registrar to fully automate all domain name maintenance operations. Currently, several of these operations require expensive manual authentication. The JVTeam solution will facilitate easy automation of these operations by combining the XRP with a centralized Whois service and a “fat” registry.  In this way, the operating costs for registrars will be significantly reduced, registrants will enjoy real-time maintenance services, and the TLD will offer a substantial competitive advantage over existing TLDs.

Top Level Domain Whois Service—The Whois service is central to the operation of a top level domain. The JVTeam Whois service will centralize all relevant data for domain name registrations in the registry, including contact and authentication data. As under the current system, accredited registrars will have responsibility for creating and maintaining all associated registrant records for any domain name registered under their account. By providing this service at the registry level, the difficulties currently experienced in operations such as registrar transfers will be solved as initiating and authorizing such a request will be simply an additional function call on the registry. In addition, modifications to the Whois database will be enacted and visible in near real-time, further facilitating automation of operations such as ownership changes. The next- generation Whois service provided by JVTeam will enhance the stability of the Internet by cultivating consistency and minimizing end user confusion. The Whois service is described in detail in Section III.2.8

Zone File Update, Administration and Distribution Service—The most important function of the DNS is to assist users in finding an Internet address and accessing the information stored there. Therefore, it is essential that domain names can be easily directed and re-directed to the appropriate IP address. To facilitate this, the zone file for the TLD must be easily updated and secure. Under the current system, it can take as long as 48 hours for a domain name to be redirected from one host to another. The JVTeam solution will allow registrants to easily modify the delegation details for their domain name and for those changes to be reflected in the TLD zone file in less than one hour.  Utilizing the XRP interface, registrars will be able to facilitate these changes in real time allowing complete automation of the process. The registry will then make the requested changes directly into the zone file by updating the specific zone file entry. The registry will update all TLD zone nameservers across the network simultaneously and because of this, registrants will enjoy a real-time domain name experience and the TLD will be able to leverage this as a point of differentiation from. com. JVTeam will provide zone file administration and distribution services which will ensure a secure and stable top level domain space.

Nameserver Administration Service—A domain name may also be used to construct a host name. For example, the domain name example.com (referred to as the parent) has a nameserver called ns1.example.com (referred to as the child). These nameservers are created by making an entry in the .com zone file which assigns the host name to a matching IP address. Since several thousand-domain names may be delegated to a single nameserver, it is imperative for the stability of the Internet that these nameservers be easily created and maintained. The XRP will facilitate the creation and administration of nameservers in real time and those changes will then be reflected in the zone file in less than one hour. Under the current system, a change to a nameserver can bring down all of the domain names delegated to it for as long as 48 hours. Because the JVTeam registry solution will provide nameserver updates in near real time, these changes will have substantially less impact and will significantly reduce costs for many Internet Service Providers.

 

 

II.2.1.2        JVTEAM REGISTRY SUPPORT SERVICES

JVTeam’s unparalleled experience in providing domain name and data administration solutions makes it the only entity truly capable of providing the technical support and administration services necessary for the operation of a TLD registry.

JVTeam support services will be provided by account managers, First Tier Customer Support, Second Tier Customer Support and the Billing and Collections Team. JVTeam will ensure that the registrar community will have access to the right support from the right people. 

Interfaces for Accessing Support—JVTeam recognizes that a truly internationalized registry service must be capable of providing customer support through a number of different mediums. This will encourage development of the registrar community in all nations throughout the world. A registrar who finds telephone support particularly expensive may prefer to use email or an online messaging facility.  The JVTeam registry will provide multiple interfaces to maximize effective communications between the registry and registrars.

Registrars will interface with registry support services via several different mediums including:

·         24 x 7 x 365 telephone access

·         24 x 7 x 365 email access

·         24 x 7 x 365 self help via our web site

·         Online messaging support

·         Extensive self-help provided via the registry web site including detailed documentation and FAQs

·         Easy to use training manuals

·         Discussion and news lists

·         Password access to reporting tools via a secured section of the registry web site.

These interfaces will be constantly refined by monitoring service levels and via feedback from the registrar community. The registry support interfaces will then continue to grow and change with the needs of our customers and other communication options such as real-time online chat and Voice Over IP (VOIP) support will be explored and deployed in accordance with the needs of the registrar community. 

Dedicated Account Management—Each registrar will be assigned a dedicated account manager. Account managers will pro-actively build solid customer relationships and ensure that all service levels are met. More than this, account managers will serve as the human interface between the registry and registrars to maximize communications in both directions and to assist registrars in developing their domain name businesses.

Some of the account manager’s responsibilities will be to:

·         Act as a central point of communication between the registry and registrars for all business issues

·         Actively educate registrars to maximize their efficiency in using the registry system

·         Be a point of escalation for any problems encountered

·         Understand the registrar’s business model and determine how the registry can assist in growing that business

·         Identify and provide solutions for any areas where the registry is not meeting the registrar’s needs

·         Actively encourage and facilitate input from registrars in system development and enhancements

·         Communicate any system or procedural modifications.

Registry First Tier Customer Support—JVTeam will provide a dedicated support team to assist with integration and operational issues. The Customer Support Team will service the registrar community 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The Customer Support Team will provide assistance with domain name registration and administration operations, provide troubleshooting assistance and problem resolution for first level technical and integration issues, answer questions regarding policy and procedures, address charging and payment issues, and explain general guidelines over the phone. In addition, Customer Support team members will actively follow customer requests through to resolution. If unable to provide resolution for an issue, the registry Customer Support Team will follow clear guidelines for escalation to either the registrar’s account manager, the Second Tier Customer Support Team,or the relevant management team.

All customer support queries, phone or email, will be logged and tracked through assignment of a “trouble ticket” provided to the registrar. Technical and general customer support for registrars will be provided according to a clearly defined Service Level Agreement (SLA) between registrars and the registry, bringing an unprecedented level of service standards to this field.

While it is envisaged that 90-95% of technical enquiries will be resolved by the First Tier Customer Support Team, any technical issues which cannot be adequately resolved at that level will be immediately escalated to a second tier of technical support. 

Registry Second Tier Customer Support—Acting as a second level of escalation in resolving registrar technical issues, the Second Tier Customer Support Team will be responsible for providing complex problem identification and resolution, in-depth system integration assistance, and system trouble shooting. This team will be a subset of the Production Support Team. Some of the key functions supported by this team will be:

·         Addition of new registrars into the system

·         Maintenance of registrar security mechanisms such as public / private keys, passwords, etc.

·         System service reporting

·         Change management

·         Mass database modifications and updates

·         Non-standard database modifications

·         Production and updates of system documentation and integration guides.

Billing and Collections Support—The Billing and Collections Team will provide support for account statements, reconciliation, and other billing issues. While the primary point of contact for registrars on these issues will be the account manager, the Billing and Collections Team will be responsible for understanding and meeting the day to day billing needs of registrars. The core responsibilities of the registry Billing and Collections Team will be to:

·         Accept and process initial registration payments from registrars

·         Assist registrars to add funds to their account

·         Audit and produce monthly statements for registrars

·         Monitor available funds in registrar accounts

·         Audit and reconcile system registration records with accounting system records.

Staff Training and Documentation—The Customer Support Team will develop and distribute extensive training manuals to ensure that all staff have an intimate knowledge and understanding of registry operations and procedures. While staff will be chosen on the basis of domain name management experience, the very nature of creating a “new registry” with new operational procedures requires that all customer support staff are provided with substantial training and accreditation for providing support in the JVTeam registry environment. In this way, the JVTeam registry will ensure extremely high levels of quality, consistent support services.

Service Commitments

All customer support services provided to registrars will be executed according to stringent guidelines and time frames as defined by SLAs between the registry and its customers. In addition, all support staff will follow detailed escalation paths for unresolved issues. JVTeam will work closely with ICANN and the registrar community to develop service commitments and escalation paths that adequately meet the needs of registrars in providing outstanding responsiveness and service levels to their customers.

II.2.1.3        REGISTRY INFORMATION SERVICES

JVTeam will provide accurate, critical information to registrars via several different mediums. In addition to regular automated reports, JVTeam will provide access to various account informations via a secure section of the registry web site. JVTeam believes that reporting should not be a static service, and account managers will work closely with registrars to ensure they are receiving the information they need when they need it.

The Registry Web Site—JVTeam understands how critical information flow is for the registry to interact with registrars. JVTeam will implement an easy-to-navigate web site as the cornerstone in its communications strategy. Dedicated staff members of JVTeam will build and maintain the registry web site, which will provide a central point of contact for registrars to access information about all areas of the registry’s operation. The site will be designed according to best practice usability and functionality precepts.

Some of the key components of the site will be:

·         A password protected area where registrars can access a suite of reporting and auditing tools for monitoring all significant interaction with the registry

·         A central repository of all technical and system documentation

·         Detailed information and documentation regarding integration assistance

·         A comprehensive list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

·         All relevant contact information and escalation procedures

·         A collection of marketing material and information which may be freely used by registrars to assist them in promotion of the domain space

·         Free downloads of XRP client software and supporting software tools.

Automated Reporting Service—The JVTeam registry will include an automated reporting service which will provide a regular, high level description of information about the registrar’s interaction with the registry. The report will be emailed to designated registrar contacts. The specific information included in these emails will be developed in consultation with registrars to ensure that they have access to the information critical for their business. Different sets of information will be included for different time periods. The reports will include a set of data such as:

·         Total number of domains registered since becoming a registrar

·         Total number of domains registered in the previous 24 hours, 7 days, month, etc.

·         Total number of domains transferred from other registrars

·         Total number of domains transferred to other registrars

·         A complete list of domains registered/cancelled during the previous 24 hours, 7 days, month, etc. 

·         Remaining account balance.

On-Request/Ad hoc Reporting Service—JVTeam understands how critical it is for registrars to have access to up-to-date, accurate reporting. While the registry will provide a number of standard reports for registrars, it is anticipated that they may require additional, specific information from time to time.  Upon request, the Customer Support Team will develop reports for domain registration and maintenance activity such as:

·         Numbers and names of domains registered within any specified period

·         Domain names transferred to/away from the registrar within a specified period

·         Change of ownership activity, including exact time and date requests were processed

·         Re-delegation activity for domains assigned to a given registrar

These reports will be developed on an on-going basis in consultation with registrars and ICANN.

Low Account Balance Notification Service—JVTeam recognizes the critical nature of detailed and accurate account notifications. Registration of domain names will be managed on a pre-payment basis, eliminating the need for credit arrangements or invoicing. To commence registering domains with the JVTeam registry, a registrar will first provide a minimum payment. At all times the registrar’s account balance will be expected to be greater than a pre-determined level. If a registrar’s account balance falls below that level, they will no longer be able to enter new domain name records into the registry.  

To ensure that registrars do not lose business because of an unavailability of funds, the registry will establish a clear and automated low account balance notification system. The purpose of this notification system is to ensure that no registrar is prevented from adding new domain records into the registry. Upon being set up as a registrar with the JVTeam registry, the registrar will designate the email addresses, phone, and fax numbers of at least two, low balance billing contacts. At agreed balance points, the registrar and their account manager will be advised of low funds.

Technical Support Mailing List and Discussion Groups—Registrars will be able to participate in and provide feedback on any and all technical issues involved with the registry’s operation via mailing lists and discussion groups. In this way the registry can continue to evolve as a tightly customer-focused service provider. These communication channels will provide a means for sharing information regarding the registry’s operation with a view to better informing future TLD and registry development.

The registry mailing list will be administered under the guidance of the Customer Support Team and will be accessible to approved registrar subscribers. Hence, the registrar community will be able to actively promote ideas and discussion on the registry’s direction.

 

 


II.2.1.4        ENHANCED REGISTRY SERVICES

As the next generation registry, the JVTeam solution will offer additional and enhanced functionality for registrars, which can in turn be provided to registrants.

This new functionality will add significantly to the TLD’s ability to compete with existing domain spaces, provide solutions to some of the existing operational issues, and construct the framework for innovative applications of the Domain Name System.

A Centralized, Standardized Whois Service

The current registry/registrar model uses multiple Whois databases and database managers without any clearly defined standard to determine what information is stored within these databases or the format required for that information. The fundamental flaw in the existing system is this lack of uniformity. The current approach belies the fact that domain names move between registrars. For instance, if a registrant were to move its domain name example.com from registrar A to registrar B, then registrar B must have some means of verifying ownership and authorization details. In order to achieve this, the gaining registrar (registrar B) must view the Whois entry for example.com in the Whois database maintained by registrar A. Serious problems arise, however, when registrar A has a vastly different Whois format from that of registrar B (and C, D, and E for that matter) and so registrar B cannot automate a verification procedure for modifying this domain name.

JVTeam will provide a registry Whois which stores all significant contact and authentication data for domain names, thereby ensuring that domain name Whois records are consistent regardless of who the registrar may be. This will allow for full automation of domain operations such as moving a domain name from one registrar to another and will significantly enhance the security which can be implemented. This is a significant advantage for all parties: registrars will enjoy reduced administrative costs through automation, registrants will have the benefit of increased security and faster turn around on their requests, and the TLD itself will be ultimately more competitive.

Provision and Maintenance of the TLD Nameserver Network

Unlike the current TLD zone distribution network, the JVTeam registry will assume responsibility for development and maintenance of the nameservers. This will facilitate much more reliable and scalable architecture and will allow for near real-time zone file updates whenever modifications are made. JVTeam will establish and administer a network of nameservers within a fully secure and stable architecture. JVTeam will replace the traditional primary nameserver with a cluster of redundant, zone distribution database servers. This will allow us to rapidly and easily accommodate increasing query loads. The nameservers will be located in geographically diverse locations to ensure faster performance in specific areas which will enhance the ability for the new TLD to be accessed globally. These nameservers will be housed within data centers which ensure security and stability for the domain space. They will also be supported by 24 x 7 x 365 service, automated and manual monitoring systems to guarantee maximum reliability and response times. Further details may be found in Section III.2.5. The JVTeam strategy for a new, scalable, and more reliable nameserver network will ensure the Internet’s stability and evolution both now and for many years to come.  

Intellectual Property Notification Service

JVTeam recognizes the complexities raised by intellectual property issues and will provide a service whereby interested parties are able to monitor the registration of domains, which may infringe on their intellectual property.  This service will be facilitated by the registry but offered and administered via registrars.

The points below provide a high level overview of the operation of the Intellectual Property Notification Service (IPNS) prior to the new registry going “live”.  The process will continue to be in operation once normal registration operations have commenced.

Phase 1: The registry provides advance information describing the process—Ninety days prior to the registry going live, a notification will be placed on the ICANN web site advising interested parties of the process for enrolling in the Intellectual Property Notification Service. This may also be broadcast by providing a button to accredited registrars for placement on their web sites. The button will link to the ICANN web site and include a title such as “Enroll in the Intellectual Property Notification Service for new TLDs”. During this time, information kits will be freely distributed to the press, registrars, and the general public. The kits will provide detailed information regarding the Intellectual Property Notification Service and how it can be implemented.

Phase 2: The Registry accepts pre-registration enrollments—Within 30 days of the registry going live, entities who hold a registered trademark may lodge a request to be notified when a domain name, which they believe may infringe their intellectual property rights, is registered. To activate this system, the entity completes an online form. The form is intended to capture details of the party claiming intellectual property over a particular domain name together with the justification for that claim. Since this system is intended to afford protection to parties with genuine, registered trademarks, the registration details of the trademark will also be captured.

Below is an example of the information required from an entity wishing to enroll in this service.

·         Domain name

·         Exact trademark

·         Country of registration

·         Trademark or other reference number

·         Date of first use

·         Contact details including: trademark holder entity name, address, phone, fax, email

·         Contact person name, address, phone, fax, email, and relationship to trademark holder entity

·         Additional comments.

Each submission will contain only one domain name and in order to activate this service, there will be a nominal fee per submission. This charge will cover administrative costs and provide a mechanism for discouraging frivolous use of the service.

After trademark holders have successfully lodged a request to be notified, they are advised that:

·         Their submission has been received

·         Their submission does not guarantee the name will be reserved for or allocated to them

·         There may be other parties claiming intellectual property over that particular domain name.

They are also provided information regarding the Uniform Charter Dispute Resolution Policy (UCDRP).

At the registry system level, the domain name (which doesn’t yet exist as a registered name) has a code attached to it indicating that someone has claimed intellectual property rights over that name.

 

Phase 3:  The registry begins accepting registrations and notifies of possible trademark infringement—When an application is lodged for a domain name which has been enrolled with the Intellectual Property Notification Service, the domain name applicant is advised that a third party or parties has claimed intellectual property rights over that domain name.  They are then directed to the section of the UCDRP/registration agreement referring to intellectual property infringements and told that their license may be revoked if they are acting in “bad faith”. The applicant is not prevented from completing the registration.

Once the application has been completed, all parties who have engaged the notification service for that exact domain name are advised by email that “a party” has registered it.  Included in the email will be further information on the UCDRP and an explanation of steps to take for further dispute action.

The Intellectual Property Notification Service will provide an additional level of protection for holders of registered national trademarks and will work in conjunction with the UCDRP to discourage incidences of domain names being registered in bad faith.

Registry External Test Environment

The JVTeam registry/registrar system is designed to minimize the barriers for registrar integration. In accordance with this principle, JVTeam will provide a fully functional, externally exposed test system which registrars may use to develop and actively test their systems before deploying to a live environment.

The services provided by the JVTeam registry will be more than a reliable simulation of the existing registry services.  The JVTeam registry will lay the groundwork for an innovative evolution of the registry/registrar paradigm and the domain name system.

 

 

 

 

 

 

HIGHLIGHTS

u            Scalable system design allows for scalable resource requirements

u            Resources directly pegged to market projections and system requirements

 

 
SECTION D13.2.2

                   II.2.5.          IATA REVENUE MODEL. A FULL DESCRIPTION OF THE REVENUE MODEL, INCLUDING RATES TO BE CHARGED FOR VARIOUS SERVICES.

 

For the revenue model including rates for the Sponsoring Organization, see E9, Services and Pricing and Attachment C.12.B

 

 

 


SECTION D13.2.3

II.2.5.          IATA MARKET. MARKET DEFINITION, SIZE, DEMAND, ACCESSIBILITY

Market Definition

The market for the “.travel” TLD is defined as any business whose core competency involves the supply of travel services or distribution of services for the travel industry. This includes travel transport operators (airlines, shipping, railway authorities, and bus authorities), travel agencies, consolidators, tourism groups, travel insurance providers, financial services, airports, ground transportation providers, hospitality participants (hotels, inn, hostelry, bed and breakfast), governmental tour and vacation authorities provided by country, province, country or city jurisdictions, and associations managing relationships with travel-related concerns. Traditional brick and mortar businesses and online travel agencies are eligible for application to “.travel”.

 

The membership in “.travel” TLD is restricted by an accreditation process contingent upon the applicant providing business fitness as a legitimate travel provider. Membership in good standing from a recognized travel association may be a component of the accreditation process but is not a requirement for “.travel” application. This process is not designed to restrict application. Instead, its role is to provide standardization of services and buyer’s assurance within the “.travel” TLD.

Market Size

The estimated total market size ranges from 675 to 759,000 applicants, who may request between 13.5 to 15 million unique domain names. These estimates are for travel suppliers including airlines, bed and breakfasts, travel agencies, tour operators, consolidators, charters, theme parks, coach operators, cruise companies and resorts. These estimates are based on association figures reported by the major travel industry sectors referenced above.

 

The growth rate of the travel industry is estimated at 4%.

 

The IATA membership today represents a sampling of the market for a restricted TLD. This group includes 270 airlines, 198 Industry Partners and 90,000 accredited travel agents have met the strict IATA accreditation standards. 

 

The goal of this restricted TLD is to establish a certification program for both IATA-certified and non-IATA members to ensure that domains registered at “.travel” adhere to quality business and professional standards. The certification process would reach every regional, domestic, international and in-country provider, regardless of geographical location.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The potential market for the “.travel” TLD is significant and is based on the total numbers of travel suppliers and distributors worldwide as follows:

 

-          Airlines

-          Airports

-          Associations

-          Bed and Breakfast Houses

-          Bus Coach Operators

-          Car Rental Companies

-          Camp Facility Operators

-          Cruise lines

-          Ferries

-          Financial Services

-          Ground transportation providers

-          Rail Operators

-          Tourist Boards/Associations

-          Tourist Facility Operators

-          Travel Guide Publishers

-          Travel Agents

-          Tour Operators

-          Consolidators
Current Internet Service Providers for Travel

-          Computer Reservation Systems/Global Distribution Systems

 

The travel and tourism market sector has an economic impact worldwide of some US$3,575 billion according to the World Travel & Tourism Council. This market supports approximately 200 million jobs worldwide. Some 657 million tourists traveled to foreign countries in 1999, spending almost US$455 billion, according to World Tourism Organization data.

 

The online travel market is the largest retail e-commerce category, projected to grow from US$7.8 billion in 1999 to US$32.1 billion by 2004 according to IATA Distribution Services Travel & Tourism Reference Guide (See Attachment C5). The European online travel industry is expected to generate US$1.7 billion in sales by 2002, up from US$ 7.7 million in 1997.

 

The trade journal, Advertising Age, reported in an American survey that travel purchases was the leading put the top five uses of the Internet for those with home Web access in all age groups included the purchase of travel-related products.

 

Travel is currently the second most profitable sector for online transaction on the Internet. It is also is reported to be the fastest growing segment on the Internet. The investment bank, Bear, Stearns Co, Inc. estimates hotel reservations made via the Internet will generate US$3.1 billion in revenues in 2002, up from less than US$100 million in 1997. That compares to a total market for hotel reservations of US$58 billion.

 

The combined consumer membership of online travel services such as Travelocity, Expedia, Preview Travel, Cheap Tickets, Travelscape, Gethere.com, LowestFare, Trip.com, Travelnow, Priceline.com, Ebookers, Worldres, and Hotel Reservations Network, Direct-Holidays, Biztravel, and LastminuteTravel is estimated at over 32,000,000. As the online .com travel services add “.travel” domains, the “.travel” market will grow from the more establish and publicized online travel services.

Demand

Demand for the “.travel” TLD is based on a number of factors.

Consumers are demanding an increased level of quality and service from travel providers. Travel agents have added a layer to the buying process by adding surcharges that are passed along to the consumer or to the airline.

 

In addition, consolidation or services in all sectors, airlines, hotels, travel agents have increased competition within the marketplace and in many cities, have reduced consumer access to storefront services.

 

Central databases, once available only to the airlines and travel agents, are now available to the consumer through online travel services such as Expedia and Travel.com.

 

The availability of the Internet has enabled brick and mortar travel services to reposition traditional service offerings, meeting the high service demands of the consumer. New entrants to the market place, have added further competition, and have motivated many new upstart travel services to take advantage of the high-growth Internet market.

Accessibility

The current market for “.travel” includes both online travel organizations and traditional brick and mortar travel operators and smaller storefronts worldwide.

 

The objective of “.travel” is to make a wide range of travel services available at a Top Level Domain that certifies the business worthiness of a participating organization. The “.travel” TLD will provide additional accessibility to travel concerns in countries with developing economies that may not have the sophisticated business infrastructure of an internationally known chain but strive to offer quality service and attract visitors to their country.

 

 


SECTION D13.2.4

II.2.5.          IATA MARKETING PLAN. OVERVIEW, OBJECTIVES, PROMOTION STRATEGY, ADVERTISING, PUBLICITY, ADVERTISEMENT DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY, RELATIONSHIP WITH ADVERTISING FIRM. USE OF REGISTRARS AND OTHER MARKETING CHANNELS

Overview

A detailed Marketing Plan will be developed to support the successful launch and on-going marketing of “.travel” TLD. The Marketing Plan will specify marketing policy and activities, assess the resources needed to achieve objectives and outline control and monitoring procedures to ensure these objectives are met.

 

The plan will use a two-phase approach. Phase I will support the pre-launch period, the start-up of the TLD and immediate post-launch period, the first twenty-four months of operation. Phase II will consist of a rolling annual plan, changing emphasis to focus on providing continuous marketing support of on-going activity of the TLD.

 

Objectives

The Marketing Plan will employ strategies to achieve the following objectives:

 

·         establish “.travel” TLD as a respected, credible brand in the travel industry;

 

·         communicate to suppliers, distributors and consumers of travel services world-wide the benefits of the “.travel” TLD brand, a restricted TLD providing accreditation procedures that authenticate the applicant’s business fitness as a legitimate travel concern;

 

·         drive registrations to “.travel” and serve to make the TLD an accepted segment of the travel industry meeting median projected market penetration outlined in II.2.6. below;

 

·         drive users to “.travel” and serve to make the TLD an accepted segment of the Internet industry meeting.

 

Marketing Infrastructure

To provide marketing support for the TLD, the sponsoring organisation will allocate an annual advertising budget and a decision-making authority. This authority will be responsible for developing the marketing plan, working in conjunction with resources drawn from the sponsoring organisation, designated advertising and public relations agencies and other advisory representatives established by the TLD.

 

 

Methodology

Strategies will be employed to reach the two distinct markets of participating travel industry organisations and end users.

 

The critical time for successful marketing of “.travel” is the period following approval of the application and prior to intended implementation. During this time, the strategy will concentrate marketing action initially on a communications programme to promote “.travel”, to potential participants. The branding campaign will be intensified in the immediate post–launch period in order to gain consumer acceptance.

 

The Marketing Plan will form the basis for marketing activity. Reporting control procedures will be established with regular financial benchmarks/targets set. Initially, during the critical Phase I, audits will be conducted monthly and in Phase II on a three-monthly basis, to ensure activity is in line with the stated objectives and is being conducted successfully.

 

The specific vehicles used to support the strategy include the following: publicity, advertising and direct marketing to industry groups identified as the target market by this proposal.

 

 

Communication Strategy

The campaign will use a series of communication vehicles to advertise and promote the brand “.travel” and the benefits of participation in the “.travel” TLD to news media of a general nature, and all travel media world-wide.

 

The public relations strategy will be supported by detailed press kits, tailored to both trade and consumer press, that discuss the following topics:

 

1.      Benefits to suppliers, distributors, consumers and potential registrars derived from the certification and authentication process

2.      Marketing benefits to supplier and distribution channels within travel industry

3.      A description of potential registrants;

4.      Application process for registrars

5.      Endorsement from world-wide travel authorities on benefits of “.travel” TLD

6.      Statements of benefits from third world nations or underdeveloped countries with a current travel industry or future desire to increase their country’s viability as a travel destination;

7.      Risk management benefits to both travel providers and consumers to manage risks inherent in the travel industry and build in passenger safeguards.

8.      Potential revenue benefits at large for all stakeholders of new restricted TLD.

9.      Application process to become a “.travel” domain.

10.  Initial enrolment period.

11.  Fee structure.

 

The public relations program will launch a series of press releases designed to educate the business and consuming public regarding the new TLD. 

 

Channels

Marketing channels will include: electronic news services, Internet sites with a general news or travel focus, web sites, web ads, online and print newsletters, other news distribution channels for direct travel community(travel or related associations and their members, travel conferences, consolidators, rail agencies, car hire services), radio, television, print newspapers, journals and magazines with either a general consumer or industry viewpoint.

 

Existing channels of the Sponsoring Organisation will be used to reach principal target market such as the Sponsoring Organisation’s web site, travel conferences, exhibitions, meetings and seminars, industry publications, bulletins and through its Members and customers.

 

Airline ticket jackets and inserts for credit card companies will also be utilised to promote the “.travel” TLD and provide assurances to the travelling public.

 

The registrar community is also viewed as an essential channel with its own defined target market and programs.

 

Co-Operative Marketing Programs

Co-operative marketing programs will also be developed for registrars and domain holders to drive registrations and usage to the TLD. Co-op programs will enable registrars to partner with the “.travel” management to leverage the .travel brand name and drive new registrations. Sales slicks, collateral, key messages, talking points, and PowerPoint presentation materials will assist the registrar with their targeted marketing efforts. In addition, materials will be developed for the “.travel” domain holder to market the value of the “.travel” and subsequently drive usage to their own web sites.

 

Other channels include conferences and educational seminars to promote consumer travel and travel industry e-commerce or business, airline kiosks, web sites and online newsletters at major airports, airline news programs.

 

Advertising

A paid advertising campaign will also ensure that the message conveyed by the public relations campaign is conveyed to both the consuming public and to members of the travel industry.  A detailed advertising schedule will include space ads in major newspapers, travel industry journals, consumer destination publications, radio, television and Internet ads.

 

 

 

 

 

Registrar Program

A partnership program will generate registrars from the association and supplier communities. This program will pursue registrars based on the set of criteria of the sponsoring TLD.  This program will be supported by the communication strategies established by the marketing plan. A series of communication tools will be developed to stimulate interest in becoming a registrar including collateral describing benefits, information on the application process, policies, and sell-through benefits for the registrar’s stakeholders.

 

A separate marketing budget appears in the operation’s budget, Section C12 and E9, Services and Pricing.

 

 

 

 

 


 

SECTION D13.2.5

II.2.6.          IATA ESTIMATED DEMAND FOR REGISTRY SERVICES IN THE NEW TLD

Estimated demand for registry services in the new TLD. Projected total demand for registry services in the TLD, effect of projected registration fees, competition. Please provide estimates for at least 10%, 50%, and 90% confidence levels.

The Sponsoring Organization has provided financial projections are based on the following hypothesis:

 

-          There is a 90% likelihood that “.travel” will achieve a 4.5 % market penetration growing to 27 % during the initial four (4) years of operation.

-          There is a 50% likelihood that “.travel” will achieve a 6.5 % market penetration rate growing to 40 % during the initial four (4) years of operation.

-          There is a 10% likelihood that “.travel” will achieve a 8.5 % market penetration rate growing to 52% during the initial four (4) years of operation.

 

For the complete projections that have been broken down into global and domestic registrations, refer to Section E9, Services and Pricing.

 

SECTION D13.2.6

II.2.6.          RESOURCES REQUIRED TO MEET DEMAND

JVTeam has developed a resource plan that is in keeping with the goal of providing a state-of-the-art, innovative world-class solution that is reliable, scalable and exceeds customer expectation.

The successful development and ongoing operation of a gTLD cannot be accomplished without a comprehensive plan that scopes every facet of the registry business from software development through to the provision of end-user support services. JVTeam recognizes ICANN’s need to appoint a highly competent and well-equipped registry provider, and has developed a detailed resource plan that amply meets requirements.

For each of the resource categories – Staffing, Hardware, Software, Facilities and Communications – the JVTeam has analyzed the resources required to design, implement and operate the “.travel” Domain Name Registry. Factors such as economies of scope and scale, interoperability and feasibility were considered in each of the required operational aspects of the registry as well as for the innovations JVTeam is proposing. We feel our past experience in providing registry services gives us a solid base for generating a resource plan that is realistic and covers all aspects of Registry operation.

Methodology

Staff resources, further discussed in Registry Operator’s Proposal Section II 2.9, includes all those individuals directly involved in the design, implementation, management, integration and ongoing operation of the “.travel” Domain Name Registry.  The organization is designed to meet our commitment to being a neutral third party registry while at the same time promoting ongoing technological development.

Hardware includes of all hardware components (servers, routers, load balancers, etc.) required for ongoing development and operation. Software includes custom software development to support all registry services described in Registry Operator’s Proposal Section II 2.1, as well as third party purchases. The facilities, further detailed in Registry Operator’s Proposal Section II 2.7, includes the 2 SRS Data Centers located in Sterling, VA and Chicago, IL, as well as the nameserver sites, geographically positioned across the globe. Communications includes estimates for the bandwidth and Virtual Private Network (VPN) needs of the “.travel” Domain Name Registry.

The following table is a summation of our resource requirements for the travel Domain Name Registry. It outlines each resource by category and provides a function and description of the resource as well the factor for calculating the scope of the resource.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

·                    

·                    

 

·                    

·                    

 

·                    

·                    

 

·                    

·                    

 

·                    

·                    

 

·                    

·                    

 

 

·                    

·                    

 

·                    

·                    

 

·                    

·                    

 

 

·                    

·                    

 

·                    

·                    

 

 

·                    

·                    

 

·                    

·                    

 

·                    

·                    

 

 

·                    

·                    

 

·                    

·                    

 

The label of ‘Fixed’ denotes resources that are core to the operation of JVTeam, regardless of factors such as registration volumes. These individuals represent the core management and operational components of a registry of any size. Those staff denoted as variable will increase in terms of full-time equivalents (FTEs) as the volume of registrations increase. The registrar quantity refers to the anticipated growth of ICANN accredited registrars over the course of time.

The volume driver refers to the increased number of registrations for travel over the course of time and captures the implications for the management of the registry. The transaction size and volume and Megabits per second (Mbps) are calculated by evaluating the size of the transactions at each stage of the registration and query process (XRP, Whois, etc) to determine the server capacity and FTEs required to manage the system.

JVTeam found that those items with the greatest variability are those based on the volume of queries, and developed the resource plan accordingly. As these were noted as critical items, they have been given strong consideration in the technical sections of this application and they will be monitored closely through implementation and operation to ensure performance and integrity.  

While JVTeam is striving to offer an innovative and highly reliable service that will not jeopardize the integrity of the Internet, the cost passed onto the Internet community was not overlooked. We feel we have met the highest standards for quality of service at the most economical price. JVTeam has created a resource plan to implement and operate a Registry that will meet the highest quality expectations.

 

For the Sponsoring Organization’s resource plan and costing model, see attachment, Section E9, Services and Pricing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HIGHLIGHTS

u            JVTeam has worldwide, world-class facilities with high-quality data services and secure environment.

u            JVTeam will employ a combination of proven, off-the-shelf and custom-built systems to operate the Registry service.

SECTION D13.2.7

II.2.7           PLANS FOR ACQUIRING NECESSARY SYSTEMS AND FACILITIES

JVTeam has world-class systems and facilities, ideal for the registry service operation located in Virginia, Illinois, and Melbourne, Australia, featuring ample space and high-availability data services in a professional, secure and productive environment.

Facilities

JVTeam’s day-one facilities will be located in Sterling, Virginia, Chicago, Illinois, and Melbourne, Australia.  The primary facility—designed to house all core business, system development, and operational staff—will be located in Sterling. This main facility will house the primary data center with a secondary data center facility located in Chicago. These sites along with our site in Australia were built specifically for critical registry service operations.  Our data centers incorporate high-availability power, redundant high-capacity heating, ventilation, air conditioning and superior lighting.  When selecting the sites, we considered their inherent resistance to natural and man-made disasters.  Security and fire detection and suppression systems are integral aspects of our data center operations.

JVTeam has constructed a demand/cost matrix to ensure our financial ability to meet growth demands.  As noted in our business plan, we will expand our facilities as volumes warrant to meet future capacity needs.  This strategy gives JVTeam the flexibility of making capital investments when necessary, which adheres to our financially prudent investment strategy.  Future facilities will be located in Europe, Asia and other international locations to increase the usefulness of the registry services globally.  These facilities will have the same high-quality data services and secure environment as current facilities.

Systems

JVTeam will use a combination of commercial, off-the-shelf and custom-built systems to operate the registry service. In certain instances, JVTeam will purchase proven, off-the-shelf hardware and software from vendors who are widely respected in the industry and have demonstrated capability and commitment to providing high-quality products and services.  In addition, we will utilize our in-house research engineers to undertake product evaluation and benchmarking activities to ensure that all off-the-shelf products meet our strict standards of quality and service. To ensure continued operations, JVTeam will negotiate contracts with precisely defined maintenance agreements and other conditions of ongoing support.

 

In situations where commercial products are not available, JVTeam will custom build the systems. JVTeam is comprised of a strong team of experienced professionals who have demonstrated prior successes in deploying and delivering technically and functionally complex systems for a wide array of applications.  The methods and techniques used in managing projects were the primary reasons for the successes achieved.  Please refer to Section IV.1 for JVTeam’s project management approach which highlights our organization’s management capability and competency to design and build systems that are of any size, scope, or complexity.

Outsourcing

JVTeam does not intend to outsource custom development or operation of any significant portion of the registry.   Please refer to the cost section for pricing estimates.


SECTION D13.2.8

II.2.8           STAFF SIZE/EXPANSION CAPABILITY

Information about staff resources, capacity for expansion, hiring, training, etc., can be found under Registry Operator’s Proposal Section II.1.7.


SECTION D13.2.9

II.2.9           AVAILABILITYOF ADDITIONAL MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL

Information about the availability of additional management personnel can be found under Registry Operator’s Proposal Section II.1.7.

 

HIGHLIGHTS

u            JVTeam is committed to a long-term relationship with ICANN and the Internet community.

u            JVTeam is committed to the introduction of the next generation registry system.

u            JVTeam is committed to a large upfront investment to ensure the stability of the Internet.

u            A long term commitment allows JVTeam to provide below market rates for more functionality at quantity one pricing

 

 

 

SECTION D13.2.10

II.2.10         TERM OF REGISTRY AGREEMENT

 

HIGHLIGHTS

u            Central functionality reduces overall industry costs

u            Next generation architecture delivers increased Domain Name Registry functionality at the current market rate.

SECTION D13.2.11

II.2.11.        IATA – EXPECTED COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE OPERATION OF THE REGISTRY -- GENERIC

 

 

 

SECTION D13.2.12

II.2.12.        EXPECTED REVENUE ASSOCIATED WITH THE OPERATION OF THE PROPOSED REGISTRY

The detailed analysis of revenues at each estimated demand level is presented in the Sponsoring Organsation’s proposal in Attachment C.12.B.

 

 

II.2.13         Capital Requirements

 

 

HIGHLIGHTS

u            JVTeam will proactively identify risks and opportunities

u            JVTeam’s mitigation actions will ensure the integrity and stability of the Internet

u            JVTeam will assess risks and employ mitigation strategies on an ongoing
basis

SECTION D13.2.14

II.2.14         BUSINESS RISKS AND OPPORTUNITIES

JVTeam’s expansive program management experience will facilitate effective identification, understanding and mitigation of the risks involved with the introduction of a new TLD. JVTeam will bring to this process a proven, systematic approach to risk mitigation along with an intimate understanding of the DNS environment.

JVTeam was formed to succeed. However, experience dictates that success depends on understanding the project in its entirety which includes determining all areas of potential risk. JVTeam will continually evaluate potential risks and proactively monitor and address issues which could impact the overall successful and uninterrupted introduction of a new TLD. This section discusses our approaches to performing risk management, identifies specific risk areas, their implications, and our proposed risk mitigation strategy.  We aim to minimize risk and maximize the opportunities that will benefit registrars, end users, and the Internet community as a whole. JVTeam understands that risk management should never be static as environments constantly change. JVTeam will not restrict risk management to currently identified problems. Instead, JVTeam will implement proven procedures and mechanisms for constantly identifying new potential areas of risk. 

Our Approach

JVTeam’s approach to risk management is disciplined, consistent, and iterative.  We will anticipate potential risks and take preventative action, eliminating or mitigating the risk, to ensure no significant impact.  Our risk management includes risk identification, risk quantification, and risk mitigation. 

Risk Identification—As we determine which risks are likely to affect the quality of our services, we will document their characteristics.  Throughout the project lifecycle, we will continue to monitor and evaluate dependency issues and actively identify potential and emerging risks.

Risk Quantification—Once we identify a risk, we will evaluate both its impact and likelihood of occurring.  This approach feeds our development of an effective means to mitigate these risks.

Risk Mitigation—JVTeam will analyze all risks on an ongoing basis and respond by identifying strategies to reduce or eliminate them.  We will develop and document contingency plans and alternative strategies, and track all risk management activities via a process that ensures management attention and employee focus.  JVTeam will also share and discuss risk mitigation strategies with ICANN as they arise.

The following tables outline risks that have been identified at this early stage and where in the proposal those risks are mitigated.

 

 

BUSINESS  RISKS

Risk

Potential Impact

Mitigation

Lower than predicted demand for the new TLD. 

Commercial failure of the TLD and/or the registry

·         Strategic and focused market analysis. (II.2.3)

·         Continual assessment of actual and predicted volumes.

·         Phased implementation of infrastructure to grow with demand.

·         Effective channel management. (II.2.1)

·         Stimulation of demand through an effective marketing plan. (II.2.4)

·         Stimulation of demand through extended functionality made possible by the XRP. (III.2.2)

Lower than predicted demand for TLD renewals. 

Commercial failure of the TLD and/or the registry.

·         Strategic and focused market analysis. (II.2.3)

·         Effective and automated technical solution to the renewals process. (II.2.1)

·         Continual innovation utilizing the XRP.

·         Continually monitor user requirements and feed back into registry operations.

Registry is unable to deliver services in a timely manner.

End users will lose confidence in the registry and/or the TLD.

·         Effective project management. (IV.1)

·         Staff who are experienced in delivering this sort of system on time.

·         Experienced management team. (II.1.6)

·         Use of a proven software development life cycle management methodology.  (IV.1)

Failure to provide effective customer service.

Registrar business will be adversely affected due to longer resolution times for customer service issues.

·         JVTeam has extensive experience in operating according to stringent SLAs. (II.1.4)

·         Comprehensive customer relations management program. (II.2.1)

·         Experienced, dedicated account management. (II.2.1)

·         Stringent escalation procedures. (II.2.1)

·         Extensive training and documentation. (II.2.1)

·         Tiered support services to ensure the right people for the right problem.  (II.2.1)

Illegal or inappropriate registrar activity.

The registry could face legal or other challenges resulting from the activities of registrars. 

·         Non-liability clause in the agreement.

·         Registrar non-compliance procedure.

·         Facilitate registrar code of conduct

·         Contractual indemnification of the registry and ICANN.

Failure to compete with the current TLD domain name spaces.

Low registration volumes and low customer acceptance.

·         Strategic and focused market analysis. (II.2.3)

·         Continual assessment of registration volumes.

·         Phased implementation to grow with demand.

·         Effective channel management. (II.2.1)

·         Stimulate demand through marketing plan implementation. (II.2.4)

·         Stimulate demand through extended functionality made possible by the XRP. (III.2)

Unanticipated competition resulting from the introduction of alternative Internet naming systems. 

Introduction of new naming systems that do not fall under ICANN’s charter. 

·         Support the ongoing evolution of the DNS.

·         Maintain stability and integrity of the DNS

·         Ensure openness and neutrality of the DNS.

·         Enhance the diversity and growth of the DNS

·         Strategic and focused market analysis. (II.2.3)

·         Ensure the viability of the DNS as a globally unique technical system

·         Strong relationship with ICANN to ensure the ongoing evolution and sustainability of the DNS.

Greater than predicted demand requires additional capital expenditure. 

Inadequate internet infrastructure may be unable to accommodate increased levels of usage. 

·         Phased extension of the nameserver network is incorporated in the implementation plan.

·         Capital expenditure provisions are incorporated into the project plan. (IV.2)

·         Identification of initial and ongoing capital resources (II.4.4)

·         Strong project management and detailed work plan. (IV.1 & IV.2)

·         Continual reassessment of volume and growth projections, capacity monitoring.

·         Effective prediction of and adequate planning to accommodate growth.

The expansion of the DNS is restricted by national government policy. 

Reduced registration volumes and revenue.

·         Governments policy will be closely monitored through the Governmental Advisory Committee to ICANN. (GAC)

·         Registry will be sensitive to the issues raised by national government bodies.

 

TECHNICAL RISKS

Risk

Potential Impact

Mitigation

The technical solution cannot scale to meet demand.

Registrars and end users lose confidence in the registry.

 

·         Effective project management. (IV.2)

·         Plan carefully to adequately accommodate growth.

·         Continuously monitor the growth of demand.

·         Constantly reevaluate projections and infrastructure requirements.

·         JVTeam has extensive experience in providing highly scalable solutions. (II.1.3, II.1.4)

·         Rigorous load testing of all software and hardware products.

·         JVTeam has an architecture in place that allows linear scalability simply by adding additional machines to various clusters. (III.2.1)

Security breaches.

Registry system failure from hacking and/or denial of service attacks.

·         The firewall and routers are configured optimally to allow restricted access. (III.2.9)

·         Use of security analysis software. (III.2.9)

·         System fail over, back-up and redundancy mechanisms. (III.2.11)

·         Extensive physical and virtual security provisions integrated into architecture. (III.2.9)

·         Logging of all system access to monitor user activity and identify potential breaches. (III.2.9)

·         Rigid internal security procedures.  (III.2.9)

System hardware or software failure.

 

Loss of data.

·         Regular, incremental backup and off-site data escrow contingency procedures throughout the architecture. (III.2.7)

·         All system components are in clustered or load balanced configuration allowing machines to fail and be replaced transparently. (III.2.13)

·         Rigorous and structured system testing prior to moving into production environment. (IV.2)

·         JVTeam has extensive experience in designing and maintaining availability of critical systems.

Violation of individuals’ privacy.

Legal disputes and loss of confidence in the integrity of the registry.

·         An opt-in system for the publication of sensitive information. (III.2.8)

·         Work closely with privacy bodies in different constituencies to proactively address changes in privacy laws.

·         Ensure that registrar access to and use of personal information is governed by the registrar agreement and code of conduct.

Registrar implementation of XRP is seen as too expensive.

Adoption of the new TLD is slow and affects commercial viability of the TLD.

·         Will provide a free integration toolkit for registrars.

·         Will provide integration assistance through our technical support. (II.2.1)

·         Provide an open source, modified RRP client for quick transition to XRP. (III.2.2)

·         Registrar community already understands the value of an enhanced registry registrar protocol. (III.2.2)

·         XRP will automate domain name management and significantly reduce costs for registrars. (III.2.2)

·         Registrars will reap financial rewards from enhanced functionality. (III.2.2)

·         Enhanced functionality of the XRP will differentiate new TLD, stimulate demand and foster competition. (III.2.2).

·         End users will enjoy enhanced security, functionality and performance and so will generate more demand for the TLD. (III.2.2)

·         The XRP will reduce the cost and technical barrier to entry for new Registrars, thereby enhancing competition. (III.2.2)

Technical solution not accepted by the registrar community.

Slow adoption of the XRP which affects viability of the TLD.

·         XRP will be developed in consultation with registrars, ICANN, and standards bodies. (III.2.2)

·         The XRP will be an open standard ensuring the integrity of a competitive multiple registry environment. JVTeam already has support for the XRP from a large portion of the registrar community.

·         Registrar community already understands the value and need for an enhanced registry/registrar protocol. (III.2.2)

·         XRP will automate domain name management and significantly reduce costs for registrars. (III.2.2)

·         Registrars will reap financial rewards from enhanced functionality, providing a substantial incentive.

·         Enhanced functionality of the XRP will differentiate new TLD from .com and stimulate demand. (III.2.2)

·         End users will enjoy enhanced security, functionality and performance and so will generate more demand for the TLD. (III.2.2)

·         The XRP will reduce the cost and technical barrier for new registrars, thereby enhancing competition and increased demand. (III.2.2)

Selected vendor is not qualified to introduce a new protocol such as XRP.

The next generation RRP is not quickly adopted.

·         JVTeam has significant experience in developing open standards for the administration of critical public resources.

·         JVTeam has an extensive history in working closely with regulatory bodies to ensure open and neutral standards which benefit all stake holders.

New registry protocol is perceived as a proprietary standard.

Openness and competitiveness of the multi-registry environment is thwarted.

·         XRP will be developed in consultation with registrars, ICANN and standards bodies.

·         The XRP will be an open standard ensuring the integrity of a competitive multiple registry environment.

·         JVTeam’s mission and code of conduct ensure absolute neutrality in registry operations, including the development of standards.

 

 

 

 

IMPLEMENTATION RISKS

Risk

Potential Impact

Mitigation

The solution cannot be delivered within specified schedule.

Successful introduction of the TLD is delayed.

·         JVTeam will develop a detailed project plan with a schedule to ensure  a timely implementation of the project. (IV.2)

·         Ongoing project monitoring will track the progress of individual components and identify any areas which are at risk of not meeting the schedule. (IV.2)

·         Internal performance monitoring will ensure timely delivery of components.

·         JVTeam will leverage its skill and experience in effectively managing projects of this size and larger. (IV.2)

The cost of the solution exceeds the predicted budget.

Undermines the commercial viability of the registry.

·         JVTeam will implement an ongoing systematic analysis of the implementation costs.

·         Intensive budget variance analysis will be applied to all human and capital costs.

·         JVTeam will leverage experience in designing, building and delivering registry solutions within and even under specified budgets to ensure the competitiveness of the registry.

Inability to recruit adequate and qualified human resources.

Delivery of the solution is delayed.

·         JVTeam already has key experienced personnel. (II.1.7)

·         JVTeam has extensive experience in human resource management for similar projects. (II.1.6)

·         JVTeam will utilize its existing human resource network to acquire any additional staff required. (II.2.8)

JVTeam is unable to secure adequate facilities and required infrastructure.

 

Delivery of the solution is delayed.

·         JVTeam will operate according to a detailed facilities and infrastructure requirements plan. (IV.2)

·         JVTeam will leverage experience and existing vendor relationships to acquire necessary infrastructure.

 

POLICY RISKS

Risk

Potential Impact

Mitigation

Untested DNS policies are introduced for the administration and assignment of domain names.

Creates divisiveness and industry confusion.

·         JVTeam will build on and enhance existing policies rather than impose new ones. (I)

·         JVTeam will introduce evolutionary policies such as the UCDRP that adapt to the new TLDs and the new commercial environment. (I.6)

·         JVTeam will work closely with ICANN, user groups, registrars and other regulatory bodies to ensure consistency across policy development and implementation.

·         JVTeam has a rich background in developing and administering domain name policy.

Policies used are inappropriate for new TLDs.

Dilution of the integrity of the domain space.

·         JVTeam will introduce evolutionary policies such as the UCDRP that adapt to the new TLDs and the new commercial environment. (I.6)

·         JVTeam will work closely with ICANN, user groups, registrars and  regulatory bodies to ensure consistency across policy development and implementation.

·         JVTeam has a rich background in developing and administering domain name policy.

·         Policies have been developed in consultation with legal and subject matter experts.

Policies do not protect the rights of intellectual property holders.

The DNS community becomes embroiled in expensive and divisive legal disputes.

·         Implementation of an Intellectual Property Notification Service. (II.2.1)

·         Policies have been developed in consultation with legal and subject matter experts.

·         Enhanced UDRP goes a step further in protecting intellectual property rights and resolving disputes through the processes of the UDRP. (I.6)

·         JVTeam has been a leader in developing innovative solutions to managing intellectual property issues.

The start-up period is not effectively managed.

Proliferation of legal disputes over the allocation of domain names during this period.

·         The round robin solution will ensure the allocation of domain names in an entirely impartial and evenhanded manner. (IV.4)

·         JVTeam’s strict code of neutrality will dictate fairness and impartiality of domain name allocation.

·         Intellectual Property Notification Service will operate in concert with registration agreements and the UCDRP to minimize and manage disputes.  (I.6)

Biased administration of policies.

 

Undermines the fairness of the allocation of domain names.

·         JVTeam will implement a registry code of conduct to ensure and maintain the neutral, even-handed treatment of all registrars.

·         JVTeam will work with ICANN and the registrar community to develop a registrar code of conduct which further enhances the impartial administration of domain name policies.

·         Registrar agreements will address the registrar’s adherence to fair and impartial policy administration.

·         Disputes will be resolved via the UCDRP which follows the same dispute resolution procedures as the UDRP including engagement of mutually agreed, 3rd party arbitration.  

Policies require excessive resources to implement.

Competitiveness of the TLD is undermined by the expense of administering policies.

·         JVTeam will use  charters which place the onus for compliance on the applicant. This minimizes time consuming and unworkable administrative requirements.

·         Disputes over charter violations will be resolved through an enhanced UDRP- the UCDRP. (I.6)

·         Disputes will be resolved via the UCDRP which follows the same dispute resolution procedures as the UDRP including engagement of mutually agreed, 3rd party arbitration.  

·         JVTeam’s extensive experience in administering a policy-restricted domain space will enhance its ability to perform this function. (II.1.4)

Intellectual property community does not support proposed policies.

Delayed introduction of the TLD. Divisiveness over fairness and dispute resolution.

·         JVTeam will enhance the existing policies including the UDRP which has been developed in consultation with these communities.

·         JVTeam will continue to work closely with the IPC and ICANN to achieve mutually beneficial solutions.

·         JVTeam acknowledges ICANN’s prior work and we will ultimately defer to ICANN’s judgment in policy issues to ensure consistency and fairness across TLDs.

Opportunities

The domain name system is at an exciting turning point in its evolution. Never before and possibly never again will there exist such an opportunity to enhance the DNS at such a fundamental level. The introduction of a competitive multiple-registry environment will facilitate new and enhanced services, new applications for the DNS, and solutions to existing issues. JVTeam is committed to playing a responsible role in this process by providing neutral, next generation registry services. The table that follows is a high level view of some of the opportunities that are presented by the current program and how JVTeam will realize those opportunities for the benefit of the entire Internet community.

OPPORTUNITIES

Opportunity

Potential Benefit

JVTeam Action to Realize.

Solve the existing administrative issues attached to the RRP.

Ensure the ongoing stability of the Internet. Reduce the administrative costs involved in administering domains names. Increase automation and confidence for end users.

·         Introduce the non-proprietary eXtensible Registry Protocol. (XRP)

·         Leverage extensive knowledge and understanding of the existing issues.

·         Work closely with all stake holders to introduce XRP.

Enhance security for domain names.

Ensure stability of the Internet. Consumer has more confidence in the Industry and a multiple-registry environment.

·         Introduce the non-proprietary eXtensible Registry Protocol.

·         Leverage extensive knowledge and understanding of the existing security issues.

Introduce a competitive environment for registry operations.

Greatly improved and more diverse registry services.

·         Operating as a neutral registry.

·         Introducing the XRP will bring additional functionality for registrars and end users.

·         Targeted market research to understand market needs.

Introduce innovative domain name services.

Expansion of the utility of the DNS.

·         Introduce the XRP.

·         Leverage understanding of the DNS environment to foster its evolution.

Develop effective proof of concept for the introduction of future TLDs

Pave the way for the future, stable introduction of new TLDs.

·         Proposing an effective solution to start-up issues.

·         Proposing an Intellectual Property Notification Service

·         Capturing and analyzing results of proposed concepts to provide to ICANN and the Internet community.

Increase consumer choice and quality of registry services.

Consumer will have a choice for selecting a TLD based on the functionality and quality of service provided by the registry.

·         Introduction of additional functionality through the XRP.

·         New architecture design of the registry enhances the quality of service provided.

Introduce a new open standard for registry registrar interface.

Lower the technical barrier to entry for new registrars and foster competition. Enhance the stability of the Internet. Address the current issues with the existing RRP.

·         Developing the standard in consultation with all relevant stake holders.

·         Leveraging experience in developing open standards within a regulated environment.

·         Consult with registrars to identify the new required protocol.

JVTeam is committed to the successful introduction of new TLDs. As part of that commitment, JVTeam will draw on its expansive knowledge of Registry operations and project management to effectively identify, assess and manage all risks and opportunities, both now and well beyond the implementation of the JVTeam solution. The JVTeam approach will ensure the measured and systematic evolution of the Domain Name System.  

 

 

 

SECTION D13.2.15

II.2.15         REGISTRY FAILURE PROVISIONS

The JVTeam, combining the unique strengths of NeuStar and Melbourne IT, has a unique appreciation for the mission-critical nature of a DNS registry, and the types of real-world operational, technical, business, and legal, issues that must be engineered into a total business solution to meet those needs.

For example, NeuStar’s almost five year operating history in deploying, operating, and significantly expanding, its mission-critical Number Portability Administration Center (NPAC) has direct experience with an industry facility and high-performance database on which every service provider operational support system (OSS) and telephone call in North America relies.  In addition, its role as the North American Numbering Plan Administrator requires the highest of professional, technical, and ethical excellence to operate effectively with the extreme political and policy pressures associated with managing this fixed public resource at the intersection of immense industry policy, technical, regulatory, and financial forces.  NeuStar has also been a major contributor to industry standards efforts, both in the telco and Internet communities, and for example, has been a leader in facilitating the development of the emerging ENUM standards work, at the intersection of telephone numbering and DNS domain disciplines.

Likewise, Melbourne IT is one of the few recognized leaders in DNS registry operations and also has extensive experience in registrar operations and systems as well.  Melbourne IT is consistently the preferred provider for high-volume and high-quality registrar back-office operations services.  Consequently, the JVTeam brings a uniquely specialized combination of focused DNS/registry domain expertise and best-of-breed business, IT, operational, and financial strengths.

Our registry service is engineered and managed to the highest quality standards to ensure continued operation in case of numerous types of failures.  Rigorous software development lifecycle processes are employed to provide strict change manage processes for implementing functional or capacity upgrades into various subsystems.  The JVTeam will employ the same software lifecycle processes that NeuStar has successfully employed over the past four years to consistently deliver on time new software releases on time to rigorous mission-critical standards.  On the NPAC SMS system alone, NeuStar has deployed over seven major new software releases on time over the past four years implementing over 300 functional change orders contracted by the industry.  Each release cycle involves extensive industry testing to validate system interoperability in a captive testbed environment prior to being placed into production.

In addition, the JVTeam will provide XRP lab-to-lab interoperability testing as a service to SRS client system suppliers to ensure compatibility with then-existing and up-coming releases of the XRP protocol.

To provide a mission-critical service of this kind, we employ extensive operational and technical measure of quality.  In our existing services, again for example the NPAC SMS, we report on 29 different service level measures to our customers to provide them with an objective measure of the quality and consistency of our service.

Nameserver Operations

Consistent with the JVTeam’s collective experience in developing and operating critical shared support services to the industry, we understand that the stability of the internet rests on the integrity of DNS nameserver operations for new gTLDs. 

Secondly, effective usability of the gTLD name space requires sufficient DNS nameserver capacity be consistently available and on a geographically distributed basis to provide networks and end-users with the necessary resolution bandwidth.  Otherwise, the new name space will not fulfill it’s user’s needs for effective usability and accessibility.

Consequently, we have engineered our nameserver function to provide at least 99.999% service availability.  From our first-hand experience in providing shared support services at these availability levels, we’ve developed an extensive set of availability and scalability attributes for our nameserver systems.

First, upon completion of our deployment phases, there will be at least three geographically distributed nameserver sites, each hosting multiple copies of the zone file, and each capable of operating autonomously in the unlikely case of a dual communications network failure.

Secondly, each site hosts one or more load distributors and subtending nameserver platforms providing the aggregate nameserver capacity for each site.  Failure of any one server will gracefully reduce total capacity at that site, but will be detectable in a near real-time fashion using detection and keep-alive facilities between the load distributors and the servers themselves.  Each nameserver site will be dual-homed off of a separate service provider network to each of our SRS sites, providing full diversity of communications access, both to the Internet as well as to our internal WAN.  We can add additional nameserver hardware capacity easily online, by adding additional servers to the redundant site LAN, and adding them logically to the load distributor.  Being able to expand and manage capacity while in an on-line operational state is critical to maintaining 99.999% availability, and cannot be done with conventional, large, monolithic nameserver systems.

Each server will maintain a complete in-RAM copy of the zone master file, and will process transactional update requests from the site-local update distributor which will broadcast and manage the processing of zone updates.  Servers which fail to correctly post updates will be logically placed out of service by the load distributor to prevent responding with erroneous information.  Each server is a high performance 64-bit processor which can be readily expanded beyond 4GB of RAM to ensure sufficient growth capacity should the gTLD grow to beyond approximately 23M names (depending on use of keyed signatures per DNSSEC extensions).

Third, our registry service is designed employing real-time event-based transactional updates from the SRS sites, which prevents the timing consuming and error-prone batch process of generating an entirely new zone update file on a regular basis.  It allows us to provide near real-time zone updates and simultaneously reduces the possibility of zone file generation errors or delays, as only incremental updates are posted.  The zone updates are themselves posted to a staging database, where various application and database level logical consistency checks are performed to ensure the zone update transaction is valid before propagating that transaction to the nameserver infrastructure.  Each nameserver site maintains a full copy of the master zone file in the unlikely case of corruption to the operating copy in one of the servers, or the deployment of a new server.

Fourth, the nameserver sites collectively are sized to handle the actual peak world-wide zone resolution load in case of multiple site failures.  This insulates the Internet from rare dual-failure conditions that could otherwise impact nameserver capacity or reachability.  This is also why the nameserver sites are geographically distributed.

The use of event-based transactional updates, two-stage update transaction validation, geographically distributed autonomous nameserver sites, distributed servers in each nameserver site, and diverse communications network, allows us to provide nameserver service availability at the very highest level.

In addition, the JVTeam will generate frequent master zone file (as well as SRS database, and Whois) updates for offsite storage and for escrow with ICANN.

Whois Operations

Similar to the design attributes of our nameserver function, the Whois function is deployed with a similar high-availability architecture, to 99.95% availability.  Due to their somewhat lessened criticality and load, the Whois servers are deployed in the SRS sites.  The Whois function is implemented in each site with a series of server engines on a redundant LAN front-ended by a load distributor.  Transactional whois updates are flowed from the SRS update distributor, similar to transactional zone file updates.  Whois capacity is distributed across the two SRS sites to ensure availability and capacity while running in degraded mode.

SRS Server Operations

The SRS service is engineered to 99.95% availability standards to ensure minimal business impact to registrars and their registrants and end-users.  SRS server capacity is geographically distributed across the two SRS sites, which are interconnected via a fully redundant and diverse set of WAN facilities.

The SRS infrastructure consists of a three-tier architecture: XRP/web front-end processors, SRS application processors, and SRS database processors.  The XRP front-end processors, similar to the nameserver and Whois systems, are deployed as a distributed series of servers behind multiple load distributors in each site.  XRP sessions are distributed across the servers, which forward binary transactions to the SRS application tier.  There, an SRS-specific application protocol provides for diversity and distribution of binary XRP transactions between these tiers.  The SRS application processors operate in a state-less manner, so that any front-end may forward a binary transaction to any SRS application processor.  All persistence state (other than XRP session state) is maintained in the final tier, the SRS database processors.

Consequently, the entire SRS service is immune to a number of hardware and infrastructure failures.  The load distributors on the front-ends ensure transparency of front-end failures when an SRS client system re-associates with the SRS after a front-end failure.  SRS front-end processors enjoy diverse routes to multiple SRS application processors, any of which can process each transaction.  Failure of an SRS application server at most disrupts the current transactions being processed on that server, which will be restarted on another application processor upon timeout by the initiating front-end server.  Use of IETF SCTP protocol for reliable multihomed transaction sessions, and real-time association failure detection, is planned between the SRS front-end servers and the SRS application servers.

The SRS database processors, one cluster in each SRS site, employs synchronous transaction database replication between the two SRS sites, over the diverse intersite WAN, to maintain duplicate co-active versions of the SRS master database.  Query operations (the bulk of the traffic) are individually processed by the database processor local to the application processor.  Update transactions are simultaneously committed to both database copies (one per site) prior to acknowledging the XRP transaction requested by the SRS client system.

The SRS service is immune to an entire facilities failure or to failure of any one of the clustered SRS database servers as well.  The ODBMS technology employed provides the SRS applications with a transparent two-phase commit protocol that ensures simultaneous posting of an update in both locations.  In case of failure and re-start of one of the SRS database servers, the newly started server will automatically initiate a re-sync process with the other database server, operating in background, at the completion of which the re-started server would reactivate synchronous replication.  Again, SRS downtime is not incurred in these failures or for related maintenance and upgrade activities.  Neither time and load consuming bulk backups or asynchronous replication (with unacceptable time lags during peak transaction processing) are relied upon to safeguard the SRS database or ensure SRS service availability.

Our SRS database servers provide online incremental backup capability that maximizes SRS uptime.  Regular, frequent, SRS database backups will also be generated for offsite storage (in addition to our two SRS sites) and for ICANN escrow.

 

 

Helpdesk and Other Operations

The registry technical support help desk and other critical operations functions (e.g., real time network element monitoring, capacity management, security administration and intrusion detection) are replicated between both of our SRS sites.  In addition, in case of a snowstorm or other impediment to staff access to a location, all internal and help desk staff may perform their functions remotely, all using strong physical security token authentication.

Registry Operations Transition and Contingencies

In the scenario that the JVTeam must transition registry services to another entity, either at the expiration of our term or on other condition, we will cooperate fully with ICANN and the new registry operator to ensure a smooth transition of services.  These include:

·         Data Escrow:  We will ensure that all registry operational data is preserved frequently (e.g nightly incremental backups), using our current network backup-facilities and storing the backup on appropriate media (DVD or CD-ROM) or uploading to an escrow provider’s facility, for quick reload or upload.  Regular backups and associated documentation of the database schema will be provided to an escrow provider for the benefit of ICANN or its designated new registry operator.

·         Management during transition:  JVTeam will assist in the management of the transition period.  We will have pre-identified key personnel in the different technical and operational areas to ensure adequate transition support.

·         Facilities:  We will negotiate with the new registry operator reasonable access to our facilities in order to ensure a smooth transition.

·         Registrar Contracts:  We will furnish ICANN with all business and contract documentation between our registry and its registrars.

·         Documentation:  We will make appropriate operational and technical documentation available to both ICANN and the new registry operator.