Alf Hansen

Country of citizenship: Norway
Place of residence: Trondheim
E-mail address: aha@uninett.no
Employer: UNINETT FAS A/S

UNINETT FAS is a non-commercial subsidiary of UNINETT A/S. UNINETT A/S is 100% owned by the Ministry of Education, Research and Church Affairs.

UNINETT FAS is hosting NORID, the ccTLD for .no, .bv and .sj.

Statement of Qualifications and Experience

(a) ICANN's technical and administrative responsibilities
My main experience and background comes from my projects under the academic networking umbrella. Establishment of new services based on new technology in cooperation with experts from all over the world, is a background relevant also for ICANN's responisbilities in the coordination of names an numbers. Being Director of UNINETT FAS, hosting a ccTLD, gives me the technical and administrative background and the opportunity to encourage people and organize the work in an efficient way.

(b) my leadership and policy-level roles.
My experience as elected Board member of UNINETT A/S and also as Director working together with my Board to formulate and implement the strategy and policy for UNINETT FAS, will be of direct relevance for ICANN.

Experience from being chairman of international WGs in RARE and IETF, will assist me in the complex situations that obviously will occur in the ICANN context.

ICANN Related Interests

Employment and consulting relationships
As the Director of UNINETT FAS A/S, I am also responsible for the ccTLD NORID (.no, .bv, .sj). ccTLDs in general are interested in the development of ICANN. I am aware of the possibility that confilct of interest may occur on a case by case basis.

UNINETT FAS (NORID) is member of Council of European National Top-Level Domain Registries, CENTR. NORID is using CENTR as a tool to develp common views on our relationship with ICANN and other relevant bodies.

Ownership or investment interests in any ICANN-related businesses
I do not own and I have not made investments in any ICANN-related business.

Official positions in any ICANN-related businesses or organization
I do not have any official positions in any ICANN related business or organization.

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Personal Statement

I am 51 years old, married, with 2 grown-up children. My educational background is "Sivilingeniør" (Graduate Engineer) from The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Electrical Engineering, 1973, and all my proffesional life I have been working with computer nettworks.

My first job was as a consulttant, and one of my first tasks was to develop a simulation model for the "European Informatics Networks", EIN. In 1978 I moved with my family from Oslo to Trondheim as a research scientist at SINTEF, Telecom and Informatics. During this period we imported the first useful X.400 implementation, EAN, from University of British Columbia, UBC, Vancouver, Canada and I was in charge of the first experimental "Global" (mostly European) X.400 service. This service became in the next phase the "RARE MHS Project" supported by the European Commision, and enthusiastic e-mail managers from all over the world.

Some calendar data:

1986-90 Chairman RARE WG 1 (on MHS), mainly European (RARE was later reorganized into TERENA)

1987-90 Chairman NORDUNET MHS WG, mainly Nordic

1990-92 Chairman IETF X.400 Operations WG, Global

I was a visiting scientist at the Computer Science Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, one year from August 1990

As you know X.400 never became a great successful service in spite of our efforts those days. The management of the service was made too complex, and no useful and easy-to-get-and-manage software was ever made available in a large scale. Anyway, the people who worked together gained a lot of valuable experience and we learned to cooperate internationally also in other more important areas.

From 1991 I have been employed as Operational Manager in UNINETT A/S, the non-commercial academic network in Norway, and in 1999 I became the first Director in the subsidiary company, UNINETT FAS A/S. The NORID ccTLD function is performed by UNINETT FAS on a not for profit basis. We have very good relations with the Norwegian Post and Telecommunications Authority which also is representing Norway in the ICANN Governmental Advisory Committee, GAC. UNINETT FAS is accepted by the local Internet community in Norway as the neutral protector of the .no domain.

I am a member of ICANN At-Large, ISOC and The Norwegian Computer Society.

What do I hope to contribute to the ICANN Board?

I have seen ICANN develop. My motivation is based on my strong believe that there is a need for some minimum stable, central coordination of the global Internet. I am afraid that the basic Internet idea of one, global interconnected infrastructure, may fall apart. My background and experience makes me qualified to contribute to keep the real Internet alive.

I will contribute with my knowledge and experience about the importance of the Internet as an open global infrastructure for everyone. My technical background will help me to be realistic in my decisions.

I will contribute to the transition of control from the US Governemet to a stable, ICANN organization meeting the 4 White Paper requirements:

• Stability, coordination of a stable structure of addresses and numbers in a global open Internet for everyone.
• Competition, as little central ICANN work as possible, the rest should be under normal competition rules. The addresses and numbers should give equal oportunities to comparable entities in a global scope.
• Private, bottom-up coordination, ICANN should remain as a private entity with Board guidance from SOs and At-Large.
• Representation, diversity at all levels. geocraphic and background.

See also http://domen.uninett.no/fas/ICANN/aha-priorities.htmll for some more details and my views on spesific topics.

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My values with regard to ICANN.

I have attended several ICANN meetings (from Berlin to Cairo), but I have not been a "big talker" at these events. My style is to understand the culture and focus on the common goals. In the ICANN structure ICANN there has been a lot of noise. I have now a clear personal view of ICANN's role, and I am capable of contributing in the Board to a positive development. I have always worked in a non-commercial environment, and I have learned to listen to all the arguments before makeing up my mind. As a manager of a ccTLD, I have always tried to ballance the interests of the service providers with the intersts of the consumers and the public. My votes in the Board will be based on my values about what I think is right for the common public, not for special groups.

The Internet, Always Interconnected for Everyone.

Why should you vote for me?

The Internet has a global perspective. Europeans should vote for me if they believe in my views and values. By working for a non commercial company, I will defend the position of the general public, but also understand the needs for service providers. Consumers need providers.

Europeans and other inhabitants of the world should vote for stability, not for short term revenue.

Active interaction.

If you need to contact me directly, please use aha@uninett.no for constructive comments or questions. I will try my best to answer dirctly or refer to my FAQ at http://domen.uninett.no/fas/ICANN/aha-faq.html

My homepage is http://domen.uninett.no/~alf/

Government Affiliation or Employment

I am not an official of any national government or any multinational entity established by treaty or other agreement between national governments.