^{IV Implementation}

JVTeam is prepared, through experience and commitment, to meet and exceed the requirements and objectives of the ICANN RFP.

The following pages will provide an overall framework of our implementation strategy from project planning through testing and system release to activation.

· In the project management sections, we will demonstrate our organization and management capability as well as our commitment to success. Through our strong project leadership and experienced staff, JVTeam will ensure project success—on time and within budget.

· The Land rush and Sunrise components will demonstrate the competency of a multi-disciplinary organization that will serve ICANN’s interests of introducing new Internet TLDs in a measured and responsible manner.

· Finally, the Registry Integration-Test Laboratory section will introduce our thorough and efficient approach to test coordination. The overview provided will leverage a proven testing approach and expertise to address the goals, objectives, and required deliverables.

As the JVTeam was borne from a strong heritage of quality assurance, our approach to implementation encompasses the critical components of quality management to ensure the highest level of performance is achieved.

IV.1 Project Management

JVTeam will use a proven structured approach to managing the implementation of the registry operation as described in our proposal.

The need for strong project management is paramount to success. All members of a project team must have a thorough understanding of project goals and objectives. They must also have a thorough understanding of not only the project’s requirements but also of the underlying market and customer needs that drive innovative, successful solutions. The role of the project management team is to make sure all team members have a firm grasp of project goals, and can clearly identify how the completion of their individual tasks and responsibilities serve to achieve project success.

JVTeam’s project management team will be responsible for overall coordination of all JVTeam projects to ensure success. Our approach to project management encompasses the management of the following critical components:

· Project Schedule

· Staffing

· Project Organization

· Monitoring and Control

· Risk Management

· Project Planning and Tracking

· Communication

· Issue Escalation

· Quality Assurance Monitoring.

Project Schedule

To ensure maximum coordination and project performance, JVTeam invites and encourages ICANN to participate in the review and approval of the detailed project schedule. The importance of a strong partnership between ICANN and JVTeam is a vital component of project success.

Our project management team will maintain a project schedule to track all tasks required for successful implementation of projects. Key tasks will be included in the project schedule used to track all milestones and key deliverables. The project schedule provides a baseline for progress measurement and project control, defines key management review periods and key decision points, and exposes risks, dependencies and issues. Upon contract award, JVTeam will meet with ICANN to update the project schedule.

The project schedule is a living document permitting change, prior to approval, to tasks, dates, etc. It is important that approved changes to project scope, schedules, costs, etc. be closely tracked. To that end, JVTeam project management staff will use a change management process to maintain the integrity of accurate milestone tracking. Changes in project scope will be reflected clearly in the project schedule, which serves to coordinate changes across all groups.

Staffing

JVTeam will ensure that knowledgeable staff is available to assign to project teams for successful implementation of all projects. We will utilize work breakdown structures, historical information, understanding of scope, and resource pool descriptions in determining resource needs. Periodically, JVTeam project managers will evaluate staffing levels and augment resources as necessary to meet the project objectives.

Project Organization

The JVTeam project management team will assist with identifying, documenting, and assigning project roles and reporting relationships. Once again, it is critical that all project team members understand their role within a project and know to whom they report status and issues.

Monitoring and Control

Project monitoring and control processes will be established to ensure high performance standards are met at both participant and project levels and to rapidly identify and address any issues or concerns. Through strong schedule performance monitoring and control, unnecessary schedule slippage and cost overruns will be mitigated. At this level, our objective will be to ensure that the activities of all participants are focused on achieving project objectives, goals and requirements. Some examples of JVTeam’s monitoring and control efforts will include:

· Budget Variance Analysis

· Master Requirements Checklist

· Milestone Schedule Review

· Risk Management Reporting

· Daily Status Updating

· Regular Team Meetings

· Recognized Escalation Process

Risk Management

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

Risk Identification—In developing this proposal, we have already begun identifying risks. As we determine which risks are likely to affect the project, we will document the characteristics of each. Throughout the project lifecycle, we will continue to monitor the project dependencies, track progress against key milestones and identify issues, which may increase risk. Once risks are identified, we will quantify them to develop a risk mitigation strategy.

Risk Quantification—Once we have identified a risk, we will evaluate risk and risk interactions to assess the range of possible project outcomes. As part of the risk management process, we will quickly quantify the risk to determine severity and evaluate potential impacts. When the potential risk is quantified, a risk mitigation strategy will be developed to ensure the project remains on target.

Risk Mitigation—Over the course of the project, the project management team will determine the most effective means of eliminating or reducing risks. We will develop and document contingency plans and alternative strategies, and track all risk management activities via a regular reporting process. Reports will list each risk and contain a mitigation plan with a person responsible to take actions as needed to avoid the potential risk.

Project Planning and Tracking

Internal deliverables for projects will consist of:

· Project Plan

· Project Schedule/Work Plans

· Communication Plan

· Regular Status Reports

· Risk Management Reports

· Outstanding Issues Matrix

· Change Requests

· System Development Processes and Procedures

Communication

The availability of open channels of communication reduces risks and ensures that issues will be dealt with immediately. The close relationship and short lines of communication between JVTeam’s project teams and our executive management demonstrates JVTeam’s commitment to project success and ensures that assistance is obtained without delay.

The communication channels below present an example of JVTeam’s commitment to open communication between all parties involved in the project. Communication will be both formal and informal, as necessary, and will be documented in a communication plan.

Communication channels:

· Communication Plan

· Project Plan

· Project Schedule/Work Plans

· Regular project meetings

· Change Requests

· Risk Management Reports

· Project Monthly Status Reports

Issue Escalation

A critical responsibility of JVTeam project managers will be the identification and resolution of issues, which may adversely affect success. We will track all issues through an “issues matrix”. New issues will be captured and tracked, appropriate individuals will be assigned and made accountable for the resolution, and the status of issues will be tracked until there is a satisfactory outcome. Upon resolution, issues will be closed but will remain in the archives log. Most important, JVTeam will identify an escalation process to ensure immediate identification of any issue that may result in schedule slippage or cost overrun.

Quality Assurance Monitoring

The monitoring of achievements against quality objectives is key to a successful project. JVTeam’s quality management will address both the management of the project and the end product. Quality management will involve quality planning and quality assurance. Each component is critical to meeting the expectations of JVTeam and ICANN.

JVTeam determines, during the planning phase, what quality criteria is required to be met. Once established, we will perform ongoing, critical reviews of project process, reporting, and testing results. We will evaluate overall project performance on a regular basis to assure JVTeam’s quality standards are met, while assuring that JVTeam’s service meets or exceeds ICANN’s requirements.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is JVTeam’s philosophy that JVTeam and ICANN will be in this together. Project failure is not an option. Through strong project management, results-oriented dedication, professionalism and respect, we will seek to forge a strong relationship so together we are able to ensure that the highest level of performance is achieved to guarantee our mission of success.

IV.2 Project Plan

Goal

Timely delivery of a next generation, domain name registry with advanced domain name services by leveraging the unique experiences of leading providers in domain name services and database management.

Scope

JVTeam intends to use a structured, project management methodology designed to ensure that a quality registry system is delivered on time and within budget.

Objectives

We will be committed to the successful completion of this project by ensuring the following key precepts are met:

· Maintain the stability of the Internet

· Pave the way for future introduction of new TLDs

· Enhance competition for registration services at all levels

· Enhance the utility of the DNS

· Provide solutions to previously unmet needs

· Enhance the diversity of the DNS and of registration services

· Provide effective and manageable policy and dispute resolution mechanisms

Priorities

JVTeam will work jointly with ICANN to establish project priorities that will verify processes, information flows, and content quality. Some examples are outlined below:

· Ensure the highest level of performance will be achieved to meet all deadlines established between JVTeam and ICANN

· Meet or exceed quality requirements to be specified in contract between JVTeam and ICANN

· Provide all functionality as detailed in Requirements Specification

· Maintain project within established budget

· Identify, analyze, and respond to project risks to avoid cost overruns or schedule slippage

· Develop information distribution/retrieval process to ensure timely and appropriate communication among project stakeholders

Strategy

The JVTeam’s project management group will employ the following strategies to ensure project goals are met on time and within budget:

· Employ the same methodology that has proven successful in past operations so that we may address the project tasks in a complete manner

· Develop a detailed project schedule that describes the detailed work activities and summarizes the key milestones and critical path for success; the project schedule will provide the tasks, task dependencies and durations, start day and end day to provide a basis for updating or modifying the schedule in order to meet ICANN needs

· Identify the most highly skilled resources required to successfully execute the roles identified for successful project completion

· Utilize resources for multiple roles to maximize use of product knowledge across the project, i.e., developers may be used for testing activities

· Streamline change control, status reporting, and communication plans between one or two key individuals to ensure quality control and effective communication

· Utilize a proven testing approach that will meet the mutually agreed upon test schedule with accuracy and completeness; the testing plan will be phased and gated to optimize as many testing activities as possible

· Ensure customer satisfaction by employing a post-implementation review process to guarantee all end-user requirements have been met

Plans

Project Schedule

JVTeam knows that delivery and deployment of high performance, successful systems requires more than simply understanding RFP requirements. In addition, and far more important, the selected vendor must have a firm grasp and understanding of the planning and management practices required to accomplish the project -- on-time and within budget. To ensure success of the project, a sound management approach, detailed implementation planning, and experienced staff are of critical importance.

JVTeam is prepared through experience and commitment to meet and exceed the requirements and objectives of the ICANN RFP. Our approach will leverage the experience of JVTeam gained from the implementation of many successful projects within the international Internet and telecommunication industries. Our implementation will be guided by a thorough, comprehensive plan fully dependent on a thoughtful strategy that is both realistic and attainable. A summary of some implementation activities is outlined below (and in Exhibit IV-1).

Start-up/Planning Phase

During the start-up/planning phase, JVTeam will focus on high priority, critical issues.

· XRP Standards Development—JVTeam will submit an initial draft of XRP Standards to the public domain for comment. A BOF session will be held to launch an IETF working group and kick-off the official standards process. Changes to the new draft standards document will be managed via formal change management methodology allowing for the final draft standard and turn-up to coincide with system release.

· Gather, analyze, and verify all requirements

· Develop detailed system design specifications

· Confirm operational plan

· Develop detailed work plans and other implementation deliverables, including risk management plan, communication plan, change management plan, etc.

· Contract negotiations

Execution Phase

During the execution phase, JVTeam will coordinate all activities, including resource allocation to carryout the project to a timely and accurate completion.

Note: This phase will not begin until after contract negotiations have been completed. Any delay in contract negotiations will result in a delay in the commencement of the execution phase of the project schedule.

· XRP Standards Development

· Secure and outfit all facilities

· Secure and train resources for operations

· Procure, install, and deploy all necessary hardware to run applications

· Develop registry and supporting systems

· Systems engineering

· Develop and deploy application software

· Develop test plans/test environment

· Test application software and systems

· Interoperability testing

· Deploy network

· Develop and deploy internal systems (i.e., billing, customer care)

· Deploy external systems (i.e., registry interface)

· Integrate Registry-Registrar

· Finalize XRP standard

· Release and rollout system

· Full system access

Evaluation Phase

During the evaluation phase, JVTeam will implement success criteria to ensure operational success and customer acceptance.

· System turn-up testing

· Operational performance evaluation

· Community evaluation

· Change Management

Ongoing Systems Support

For the life of the contract, JVTeam will provide critical support to ensure that we have built and will continue to operate a quality product as defined by the high standards and expectations of our customers.

· Monitoring

· Maintenance

· Documentation

· Training

· Quality Assurance

Milestone Plan

As part of the implementation plan, JVTeam will develop a comprehensive project schedule, including major milestones and deliverables with time frames as agreed upon between JVTeam and ICANN. The following activities provide an overview description of some major milestones and deliverables:

· Detailed Requirements

· Detailed Design

· Contract Signing

· XRP Final Draft Approval

· Hardware Deployment

· Communication Deployment

· Application Development

· System Development Complete

· Integration Testing

· Interoperability Testing

· XRP Standard Complete

· System Release/Rollout

· Turn-up Testing

Resource Plan

JVTeam will employ an implementation team staffed with experienced, qualified personnel who have implemented complex systems in the past and possess a broad range of managerial, technical, and operational skills in both the Internet and telecommunication industries.

Primary project roles are defined as follows:

Start-up/Planning Phase:

· Project Managers—Planning, tracking, staffing, and coordination of all activities

· System Architects/Software Engineering—Assist in process management, environment engineering, and requirements management

· Application Engineers/Designers—Design of application services; system analysis; requirements modeling

· Database Designers—Design database and procedural aspects of applications related to database; tuning application design

· Network Engineers—Set-up infrastructure for design and development; network capacity and communication infrastructure assessment

· Technical Writers—Draft help files and internal/external user documentation

· SMEs—Subject matter experts for assistance with development of plans, systems

Execution Phase:

· Project Managers—Planning, tracking, staffing, and coordination of all activities

· Technical Project Managers—Manage and coordinate activities with technical leads from requirements definition through testing and deployment

· Application Engineers/Designers—Design of application services; system analysis; requirements modeling

· Database Designers—Design database and procedural aspects of applications related to database; tuning application design

· Network Engineers—Set-up infrastructure for design and development; assess network capacity, and communication infrastructure; set-up data center

· LAN/WAN Administrators—Administer and troubleshoot network; maintain operations of network

· Application Developers—Develop application modules using agreed upon software and 3^rd party tools; work with testing team and lead unit testing

· System Architects/Software Engineering—Assist in process management, environment engineering and requirements management

· System Administrators—Perform software installation; backup and restore system files; maintain development system

· Configuration Managers—Store source code; version control lead; set-up and maintain configuration management systems and environment throughout lifecycle.

· Web Designers/Developers—Presentation layout and formatting; coding; localization

· System Testers—Develop test cases; execute test plans; test functionality; quality control

· Stress Testers—Develop test cases; execute test plans; volume testing

· Integration Testers—Develop test cases; execute test plans; test functionality and the interface and design specifications

· Interoperability Testers—Develop test cases; execute test plans; test operability, lab to lab

· DBAs—Perform database installation; backup and restore systems; performance tuning

· Technical Writers—Draft help files and internal/external user documentation

· Registrar Integration—Ensure synchronicity of Registry and Registrar

· Technical Liaisons—Obtain feedback to promote quality assurance

· SMEs—Subject matter experts for design, development, and deployment

Conclusion

JVTeam is committed to deliver a successful registry system and fully understands the risks surrounding this endeavor. Collectively, as a team, we have the financial and technical resources to carry out and complete the required tasks and to guarantee a successful implementation of the registry operation. Through strong project management, results-oriented dedication, professionalism, and respect, we will seek to forge a strong relationship with ICANN so together we are able to ensure that the highest level of performance is achieved to guarantee our mission of success.

Note: All items outlined in the project plan are subject to change based on the outcome of contract negotiations. Immediately following contract approval, the project plan and its components will be updated and refined, with input from ICANN, and used to guide JVTeam’s development, implementation, and deployment of the registry service.

IV.3 Sunrise Period

JVTeam is sensitive to the issues raised by holders of registered trademarks. While JVTeam has several concerns with the proposed Daybreak and Sunrise programs, we believe this decision should ultimately be made by ICANN. Should ICANN choose to proceed with the Daybreak and Sunrise programs, JVTeam is fully capable of providing the technical and administrative resources required of the registry to support them.

Following is an overview of the process proposed for the implementation of the Sunrise period.

Phase 1 – Announcement

Assuming that ICANN will play a major role in the process, information regarding the proposed new TLD and details of the Daybreak program will be broadly communicated to the general public 60 days prior to the activation date of the new TLD. The communication will be in the form of an announcement on the ICANN web site as well as a general press release from ICANN. At this time, a list of all accredited registrars participating in the Daybreak program will be posted on the ICANN web site along with a link to the registrars’ registration forms.

Phase 2 – Daybreak

The Daybreak period will commence 30 days prior to the general activation of the registry. During the Daybreak period, owners of registered trademarks and service marks (marks) will be able to register their marks as domain names on a first-come, first-served basis in a new, commercial top-level domain before that new domain is opened to the general public.

Any owner of a valid national trademark or service mark registration in any country is eligible to seek to register as a domain name during the Daybreak period provided the national registration for that mark was issued at least one (1) year prior to the date on which the mark owner applies to register the mark as a domain name. The name of the domain name registrant must be the same as the name of the owner of the mark at the time of domain name registration. The domain name registration must contain the material textual element (excluding punctuation) of the registered mark.

The registration form for the daybreak period will include all normal registrant information along with additional details of the registered mark under which the registration is being made. The information required will include:

· The name of the domain name registrant

· The domain name

· The name of the mark

· The date of registration of the mark

· The country of registration of the mark

· The issuing body

· The registration number of the mark

· The name of the owner of the registered mark

In addition, the domain name registrant will be required to affirmatively check a box on the application form stating that it has a valid national mark registration that was issued at least one (1) year prior to its application for registration as a domain name.

Along with these fields, the normal registration agreement will have additions to the following intent:

· That the registrar shall have no liability for administering the Sunrise program so long as the registrar acts in accordance with the policies set forth in the Daybreak proposal.

· That the domain name registrant must affirmatively check off a box on the application template stating that the domain name registrant’s registration of the domain name is in conformity with the charter for that particular top-level domain (if not a generic TLD).

· That neither the registry nor any registrars are under any obligation to check or validate the information contained in an application to register a domain name submitted during the Daybreak period.

Phase 3 – Activation of normal registration procedures

At the conclusion of the 60 day Sunrise period, no further Daybreak registrations will be accepted and the registry will commence the procedures described in Registry Operator’s Proposal, Section IV.4. These procedures are used to moderate and effectively manage the predicted high volumes of transactions upon opening the registry to accept all domain name registrations.

Verification of Trademark registration

The registry and registrars will not be responsible for the verification of trademarks. When applicants submit registrations during the Daybreak period, they will be required to enter all relevant details for their mark’s registration. The interface will support these extra fields and details will be published via the Whois database. If parties other than the registrant wish to challenge the validity of an application, they will then be able to use the trademark details to verify authenticity with the relevant national trademark registration body.

Disputes over registrations submitted during the Daybreak period

Registrants who apply for domain names during the Daybreak period will be required to warrant (via affirmatively checking an “I agree” box) that the details of their trademark meet the specified requirements for lodging an application under these rules. Further, they will be made aware that if their claim is proven false then their registration may be cancelled, with no refund of fees paid, in accordance with guidelines described in the UCDRP, section (3)(a)(3).

Should ICANN decide the Daybreak proposal is the most appropriate mechanism for providing protection to trademark holders, JVTeam is willing and capable to facilitate this at both a system and operational level.

IV.4 Land Rush Period

JVTeam has developed an innovative solution to the issues raised by the rush for domain names during the start-up period. This will be achieved by providing open access to all registrars and by moderating the way initial registrations are processed by the registry. This approach significantly reduces the uncertainty involved in predicting initial volumes and moderates the additional pull on resources without compromising the fairness and neutrality of domain name allocation.

New TLDs must be introduced in a manner which manages the technical system issues associated with extremely high traffic volumes while affording a reasonable degree of protection to existing intellectual property rights. As no new TLDs have been introduced since .com, .net, and .org, it is extremely difficult to accurately predict the initial volume of registration requests. While some basic assumptions will assist in defining boundaries, any solution to the start-up issues must take into account a degree of uncertainty and be able to provide contingencies if demand greatly exceeds predictions. In addition, domain names must be allocated in an entirely impartial manner so that no party or parties may claim special privilege in registering a domain name in the new TLD space. The principle of neutrality should be the cornerstone of the registry‘s operation and it is critical during the start-up period. While it is given that this principle should underpin the registry’s operation in general, this is especially true during the start-up period.

There are several possible ways to approach the issues raised by the start-up period:

1. Attempt to compensate for increased volumes with hardware¾This approach has several shortcomings, not the least of which is an exorbitant cost which would seriously impact the price competitiveness of registry services. In addition, it does not take into account the high degree of uncertainty in estimating initial volumes.

2. Use higher price points to control demand¾Higher price points would have a significant impact on the perceived fairness of the process since it would restrict access to registrations. In addition, it would involve an arbitrary allocation of price points to domain names.

3. Moderate registrations via a start-up specific policy¾In this scenario, lists of domain names are submitted to the registry by registrars. The lists are processed in a round robin system after the sequence of registrars is randomly assigned. The strength of this solution is that it will provide an effective means of moderation regardless of the size of registration volumes. In effect, it will function efficiently whether the demand for registrations is ten or ten million. Moreover, the round robin solution ensures complete impartiality in domain name allocation at the registry level. Hence, this is the solution proposed by JVTeam.

JVTeam has identified 3 key issues to be addressed during the start up period of any new Top-Level Domain:

Issue 1. The allocation of TLDs over which parties claim intellectual property rights.

Issue 2. The management of technical system resources at the moment the registry is open to accept registrations.

Issue 3. The open and transparent allocation of domain names during this period.

Issue 1: Intellectual Property Notification Service—The JVTeam registry will provide an Intellectual Property Notification Service, which will begin accepting enrollments at least 30 days prior to activation of the registration system. JVTeam believes that this service will enable holders of national, registered trademarks to monitor infringements of their intellectual property. At the same time, this system will actively discourage the registration of domain names in bad faith without undermining the operation of the registry by hampering it with slow, manual administrative procedures. In addition, the Intellectual Property Notification Service operates in concert with the domain name registration agreement and the Uniform Charter Dispute Resolution Policy. Further details of the intellectual property notification service may be found in Registry Operator’s Proposal section II.2.1, “Services to be provided.”

Issues 2 and 3 - Ensuring stability and fairness during the start-up period—The second mechanism to ensure the orderly registration of names will be the round robin solution. In this process, registrars will submit lists of domain names and registration details. After a cut-off time for submitting these lists, the registry will process them as a batch using a function-specific system. New registrations are processed in a weighted, random system ensuring absolute impartiality. The core benefit of this approach is the moderation of registration volumes by the registry, thereby providing an infinitely scalable solution to start-up demand.

An Overview of the Round Robin Solution

As demonstrated in Exhibit IV-2, the round robin system will provide an effective and fair method for ensuring the stability of the new TLD and the Internet during the initial registration period.

Phase 1: Communication of the process¾To ensure the smooth implementation of the start-up procedures, JVTeam will undertake a pro-active educational campaign with registrars. This will involve distribution of information kits by email as well as personal contact from the registry customer support staff and account managers. In this way, registrars will have the opportunity to completely understand the procedures and processes involved in the round robin solution.

Phase 2: Submission of registration lists¾Each accredited registrar will provide a list of domain names and registration details. There will be no minimum or maximum limit for the lists. The registration files will be submitted via a secure transport mechanism before a specified closing time for first submissions. Registration lists cannot be modified until the first batch is processed and completed.

Phase 3: Randomly assigning a sequence position to each registrar¾Immediately prior to processing the submitted lists, all registrars will be allocated a random position in numerical order. For example, if there are 100 registrars, each registrar is allocated a position between 1 and 100. Registrars will not be made aware of their assigned sequence in the round robin solution to prevent modifications or “trading” of the registrar sequence.

Phase 4: Round one of batch processing¾Once the registration system is activated, a domain name will be randomly selected from the list supplied by the registrar assigned position number one. This domain name will be entered into the registry database. Once the registrar with sequence one is allocated a domain name, the system “activates” the list supplied by the registrar who has been assigned position number two. A domain name is selected at random from the list and entered into the system. If the domain name chosen is unavailable, then another name is chosen at random from the registrar’s list until one of the following occurs:

· A successful registration is complete

· The registrar has no more available names on its list

· The batch time frame concludes

This process will be repeated for each registrar in the random sequence and will rotate through all registrars for a 12-hour period.

Phase 5 – Results and resubmissions¾At the end of each batch, the results of registrations are returned to the registrar. Registrars are then allowed a fixed period of time to submit a new list of domains for the second batch of processing. The batches will continue in twelve-hour blocks until the number of registrations being submitted falls below a specified volume.

Phase 6 – Commencing normal registration procedures¾When it is determined that the demand for new registration volumes has fallen below a certain number, all registrars will be advised that the batch processing has concluded and the registry will be activated on a specific date and time to accept new registrations directly into the registry.

The Benefits

The round robin solution provides the following benefits:

· Neutral, impartial allocation of domain names during the start-up period

· Effective management of technical resource issues

· Non-discriminatory application process for all parties of new domain names

· Scalable and effective support for any volume of registrations

· Flexible system capable of responding to rapidly changing volumes

· Inexpensive solution implementation

· Affordable to all members of the Internet community

The Intellectual Property Notification Service and the round robin solution will moderate the anticipated volumes of registration requests without having any significant impact on fairness, stability or system resources. The JVTeam solution is fully scalable so that stability is assured even if registration volumes greatly exceed predictions. Only JVTeam has the experience and knowledge to develop and implement this effective solution.

IV.5 Registry Integration Test Laboratory

JVTeam will build a separate laboratory system to be used for two types of integration testing: the registry’s internal testing of software releases, and the registrar’s interoperability testing of their XRP-client interfaces. This provides two benefits: the production system is isolated from potential testing malfunctions, and registrars can determine whether their systems will interoperate with the registry’s system before they attempt actual operations.

To ensure the stability of registry operations, and therefore of the Internet, JVTeam will build an integration-test laboratory so that we can conduct essential testing totally independently of actual registry operations. This laboratory will serve two functions:

· Registrars will perform client-side interoperability testing with the registry XRP server, secure Web portal, and Billing and Collection systems before they interface with the actual operating system. With 50 to 100 registrars expected to be requesting our registry services, we anticipate a heavy testing workload. Our independent laboratory will prevent the burden and risks of this load from being placed on the operating registry system.

· We will test all software updates and other system enhancements without affecting registry operations.

In both cases, ongoing registry operations are totally isolated from any malfunctions that may occur—as they almost inevitably do—during system and systems-integration testing.

IV.5.1 Laboratory Description

We will locate the integration-test laboratory in Sterling, VA in the same data center that we will use for the SRS. This gives the laboratory instant access to necessary primary and backup power supplies, air-conditioning capacities, and security facilities. The laboratory, however, will be served by separate T-1 1.554 Internet connectivity after the SRS becomes operational. This is necessary to eliminate conflicts between the resource needs of registry operations and those of registrars engaged in interoperability testing.

The registry’s integration-test laboratory is a functional replica of the production SRS and nameserver systems, without the cluster redundancy of the production systems. The laboratory’s XRP, Applications Server, and database servers are sized to accommodate interoperability testing with the 50 to 100 registrars that we believe will be seeking to use registry services.

Initially, laboratory facilities will be available for interoperability testing 24 hours per day, but only on weekdays. JVTeam is reserving weekends to perform performance testing and benchmarking of SRS prototype systems to ensure that the production system will perform as specified.

IV.5.2 Testing Process

JVTeam views testing as the most critical phase of the deployment cycle. Early in the life cycle of an SRS software release, JVTeam begins the process of test planning. As new functionality is defined and documented, the test cases and methodology for each new function are also designed and documented. JVTeam publishes test plans and schedules for each release version: alpha, beta, and production. Then, in concert with registrar working groups, we refine the test plans to ensure that all test activities and documents will be completed prior to the scheduled release-implementation date. Our emphasis on early testing avoids the “big bang” that can result from waiting until near the end of software development before beginning testing.

Each test schedule includes the following seven test levels:

1. Code and Unit Test – Testing performed by the software developer to evaluate the software against the Detail-Design and System-Design Specifications (which are based on the Functional Requirements Specification [FRS]).

2. System Test – Testing the system/subsystem software’s compliance with the System Test Plan (STP) (which is based on the FRS, the Interface Specification, and the Database Design Specification).

3. Integration Test – Unit modules of the SRS software are tested together at the subsystem/total system level. Testing the system/subsystem software’s compliance with the Integration Test Plan (which is based on the FRS to ensure that SRS subsystems function together as part of the SRS).

4. Interoperability Test – Testing done using several registrars systems to validate the interoperability of their applications, interfaces and other services like authentication against the SRS software release.

5. Regression Test – Internal acceptance testing performed to test the ability of the system to handle high volumes of transactions. These tests are performed using regression test scripts.

6. Acceptance Test – Testing done in accordance with the Acceptance Test Plan (ATP) to ensure that the system meets the requirements. During this phase, all SRS network facilities and disaster recovery procedures will be tested to ensure a smooth implementation. The Acceptance Test provides the opportunity to examine all parts of the SRS in operation and to verify response as well as functionality.

7. Turn-up Test – Testing done to ensure that a new software release is functional in the normal operating environment and data-communication-support systems. Registrars will interface the SRS system and test the system with test data. Once satisfied, the registrars will go “live”.

Any deficiencies found during the above testing process are tracked via a Problem Tracking and Resolution system. When deficiencies have been rectified, the appropriate tests are repeated. All test results are gathered and preserved as part of the project documentation. The test input is also preserved, making it possible to recreate the acceptance test if necessary.