Registry Operator's Proposal

[A Registry Operator's Proposal is to be submitted as part of every new TLD application. In case of applications for unsponsored TLDs, the registry operator will be the applicant and should prepare and submit the proposal as part of the application. In the case of applications for sponsored TLDs, the sponsoring organization (or, where the sponsoring organization has not yet been formed, organization(s) or person(s) proposing to form the sponsoring organization) will be the applicant. The sponsoring organization should select the proposed registry operator, have it prepare the Registry Operator's Proposal, and submit it as part of the application.

Please place the legend "CONFIDENTIAL" on any part of your description that you have listed in item F3.1 of your Statement of Requested Confidential Treatment of Materials Submitted.

The Registry Operator's Proposal should be separately bound (if more than one volume, please sequentially number them) and labeled: "Registry Operator's Proposal." and must cover all topics described below. This page, signed on behalf of the registry operator, should be included at the front of the Registry Operator's Proposal.]

I. GENERAL INFORMATION

D0. General legal financial and operational framework

Eurafnet is the Luxembourg holding company of an Internet group which owns 100 % of

Internet-fr SA and SAM Namebay. Eurafnet is controlled by Mrs Patricia Husson, a Monaco citizen, the other shareholders being Mr Marco Rinaudo and Mr Domenico Surace, both Italian citizens.

Internet-fr is a French company founded in 1995 . Based In Massy near Paris, it has a significant expertise in the field of critical web hosting. Its two managing directors are Marco Rinaudo and Domenico Surace.

Namebay is a Monaco based company which has specialized in domain name registration. It is one of the CORE founder (#18) and is a fully operational ICANN accredited registrar for .com, .net and .org. This firm is managed by Mrs Patricia Husson.

CSL is a Düsseldorf based ISP company founded in 1977. It is owned and managed by Mr Siegfried Langenbach and started offering Internet services in 1994. It is one of the CORE founder (#11). It is used to run large database-applications. CSL developed a registry-software for CORE also known as SRS (shared registry system) when CORE became one of the 5 test-bed-registrars with ICANN.

Netbay is a Monaco company founded in 1997 which shares are owned by Mr and Mrs Husson. Formerly, one of its activities was domain name registration. This registrar activity was transferred to Namebay in July 1999, and its other remaining activity (Electronic Document Management Systems) has been recently shifted into a Sophia Antipolis company belonging to Mrs Husson.

Mrs Patricia Husson and Mr Siegfried Langenbach who both share similar views on the Internet development have decided to apply jointly for the dot fin domain name registry.

To implement their project, they plan to use the existing Netbay company as a joint venture company.

In October 2000, several operations will be conducted:

Netbay equity capital will be increased from EUR 228,000 to EUR 2,000,000. The new shares will be subscribed by Eurafnet, Mrs Husson, Mr Langenbach and CSL;

The shareholder ownership will be then as follows: on one hand, 51 % for Eurafnet and Mrs. Husson, on the other hand, 49 % for Mr. Langenbach and CSL;

In addition, Netbay will receive from its shareholders additional EUR 2,500,000 in cash in current account and cash commitments. Netbay shareholders have the capability to bring in the company new equity funds ( in the form of capital and current accounts payments) up to EUR 10 million, if the 50 % level of confidence revenue schedule is not matched in time and if needed for the development of the project.

Mr. Siegfried Langenbach will be appointed as a director and vice president;

CSL GmbH will be appointed as a director;

Netbay is sure that the appraisal of its application has to take into account the combined human, technical and financial resources of the Eurafnet Group, CSL and their shareholders.

D1. The first section of the Registry Operator's Proposal (after the signed copy of this page) should be a listing of the following information about the registry operator. Please key your responses to the designators (D1, D2, D3, etc.) below.

D2. The full legal name, principal address, telephone and fax numbers, and e‑mail address of the registry operator.

Full legal name : SAM NETBAY

Principal address : 24, boulevard Princesse Charlotte - MC 98000 MONACO

Telephone number : +377 97 97 21 21

Fax number : +377 97 97 21 22

e-mail address : ph@netbayregistry.net

D3. The addresses and telephone and fax numbers of all other business locations of the registry operator.

Technical services : CSL GmbH

Address : Rathausufer 16 , 40213 Düsseldorf Germany

Telephone number : +49 211 867670

Fax number : +49 211 8676710

e-mail address : sl@netbayregistry.net

Administration :

Address : 24 Boulevard Princesse Charlotte MC 98000 MONACO

Telephone number : +377 97 97 21

Fax number : +377 97 97 21 22

e-mail address : md@netbayregistry.net

D4. The registry operator's type of business entity (e.g., corporation, partnership, etc.) and law (e.g., Denmark) under which it is organized.

Type of business entity : Société Anonyme Monégasque (SAM)

Law : monégasque (Monaco)

D5. URL of registry operator's principal world wide web site.

netbayregistry.net or www.netbayregistry.net

D6. Dun & Bradstreet D‑U‑N‑S Number (if any) of registry operator.

SIC code (APE) : 737

D7. Number of employees.

Not applicable since Netbay is a new joint venture dedicated to the dot fin registry project.

Netbay presently employs only one person, but the staff of the mother companies groups amounts to 50 persons. Netbay staff will be increased according to its Business Plan specifications described in D13.2.

D8. Registry operator's total revenue (in US dollars) in the last‑ended fiscal year.

Not applicable for the reasons stated in D0 and in D7. However, 1999 revenues for CSL and Internet-fr are respectively EUR 3,000,000 and EUR 1,300,000.

2000 expected revenues amount to EUR 10,000,000 for CSL and EUR 3,000,000 for Internet-fr.

D9. Full names and positions of (i) all directors, (ii) all officers, (iii) all relevant managers, and (iv) any persons or entities owning five percent or more of registry operator.

Directors :

Patricia Husson ( Chairman)

Siegfried Langenbach (to be appointed in October- Vice Chairman)

Robert Husson

Mathieu Dierstein

Marco Rinaudo (to be appointed in October)

Domenico Surace (to be appointed in October)

CSL (to be appointed in October)

Officers and relevant managers :

Officers and relevant managers have not been yet appointed (see D0).

CSL and Internet-fr have proven in the past their ability to hire good technicians and efficient staff members. The directors of Netbay with their extensive business experience will actively contribute to the selection of Netbay staff. Incidentally, some staff members of CSL and Internet-fr will join Netbay.

Shareholders:

see D0

D10. Name, telephone and fax number, and e‑mail address of person to contact for additional information regarding this proposal. If there are multiple people, please list all their names, telephone and fax numbers, and e‑mail addresses and describe the areas as to which each should be contacted.

Business / Financial :

Mathieu Dierstein

Eurafnet (director)

+33 609 774 360

md@netbayregistry.net

Software / Protocol / Database :

Siegfried Langenbach

+49 211 86767 0

sl@netbayregistry.net

Marketing / Internet Policy

Thomas Serval

Savoirweb.com sarl (consultant)

+33 662 624 908

thomas@serval.net

Legal (USA):

David Maher

Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal

+1 312 876 8055

Dwmaher@attglobal.net

Legal (Monaco and USA):

David Manasse

Attorney at Law NY Bar

+377 93 50 29 21

dmanasse@monaco.mc

D11. The full legal name, principal address, telephone and fax numbers, e‑mail address, and Dun & Bradstreet D‑U‑N‑S Number (if any) of all subcontractors identified in item D15.3 below.

CSL Computer Service Langenbach GmbH

Address: Rathausufer 16, D-40213 Düsseldorf

D&B Number:

Telephone number: +49 211 867670

Fax number: +49 211 8676710

e-mail address: info@nrw.net

Internet-fr SA

Address:2-12, Chemin des Femmes Massy F-91300

D&B Number:

Telephone number: +33 (0)1 64 53 12 12

Fax number: +33 (0)1 64 53 12 19

e-mail address : info@internet-fr.net

II. BUSINESS CAPABILITIES AND PLAN

D12. The second section of the Registry Operator's Proposal (after the "General Information" section) is a description of the registry operator's Business Capabilities and Plan. This section must include a comprehensive, professional‑quality business plan that provides detailed, verified business and financial information about the registry operator. The topics listed below are representative of the type of subjects that will be covered in the Business Capabilities and Plan section of the Registry Operator's Proposal.

[ ICANN will extensively review and analyze this section of the Registry Operator's Proposal. The content, clarity, and professionalism of this section will be important factors in ICANN's evaluation of applications. We strongly recommend securing professional assistance from financial and management consultants to aid in the formulation of your business plan, in securing the necessary sources of financing, and in preparation of this section.]

D13. The Business Capabilities and Plan section should consist of at least the following:

D13.1. Detailed description of the registry operator's capabilities. This should describe general capabilities and activities. This description also offers the registry operator an opportunity to demonstrate the extent of its business and managerial expertise in activities relevant to the operation of the proposed registry. The following items should, at a bare minimum, be covered :

The Eurafnet group and CSL together through Netbay are forming the suitable team for the dot fin registry management.

They have the capacity to devote the right internet technical staff with proven experience in registry / registrar environments for the implementation of their project. They benefit from the seniority and successful experience in finance and insurance related sectors of some of the team members.

They bring their full backing to Netbay and they are ready to support the project with the necessary financial resources.

Netbay ‘s project is supported by active members of the finance community. It has the capability to demonstrate that the dot fin registry will help the Internet community by allowing the old economy entities as well as the newcomers in the financial sector to improve their offer.

D13.1.1. Company information. Date of formation, legal status, primary location, size of staff, formal alliances, references, corporate or other structure, ownership structure.

See Appendix D 13.1.1 "LEGAL ORGANIZATION CHART"

Netbay

Date of formation : 05 05 1997

Legal status : Existing company under the laws of Monaco

Primary location : 24 Boulevard Princesse Charlotte MC 98000 Monaco

Size of staff : 1 (see D0 and D7)

Formal alliances : With CSL and Internet-fr (see D 15.3)

References : Société Générale (bank) 16, Avenue de la Costa MC 98000 Monaco

Corporate structure : SAM (Société Anonyme Monégasque) with a Board of Directors

Ownership structure : Eurafnet and Mrs. Husson (51%); Mr. Siegfried Langenbach and CSL( 49%)

CSL

Date of formation : 08 06 1977

Legal status : Existing company under the laws of Germany

Primary location : Rathausufer 16, D-40213 Düsseldorf

Size of staff : 18 (see D0 and D7)

Formal alliances : With Netbay (see D 15.3)

References : Commerzbank Düsseldorf ( Germany )

Corporate structure : GmbH (equivalent to Ltd.)

Ownership structure : Mr. Siegfried Langenbach ( 100%)

Internet-fr

Date of formation : 05 10 1995

Legal status : Existing company under the laws of France

Primary location : 2-12, Chemin des Femmes Massy F-91300

Size of staff : 25 (see D0)

Formal alliances : With Netbay (see D 15.3) and Namebay

References : BICS (bank) in Massy France

Corporate structure : SA (société anonyme) with a Board of Directors

Ownership structure : Eurafnet (100%)

Eurafnet

Date of formation : 17 12 1999

Legal status : Existing company under the laws of Luxembourg

Primary location : 16, rue Emmanuel Servais L- 2535 Luxembourg

Size of staff : 0 (see D0)

Formal alliances : Holding company of Internet-fr and Namebay

References : Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild (Luxembourg)

Corporate structure : SA (société anonyme) with a Board of Directors

Ownership structure : Mrs. Patricia Husson (52%); PAAR SA (48%), this company being owned equally by Mr. Marco Rinaudo and Mr. Domenico Surace

Namebay

Date of formation : 29 06 1999

Legal status : Existing company under the laws of Monaco

Primary location : 24 Boulevard Princesse Charlotte MC 98000 Monaco

Size of staff : 2 (see D0)

Formal alliances : With Internet-fr

References : Société Générale (bank) 16, Avenue de la Costa MC 98000 Monaco

Corporate structure : SAM (Société Anonyme Monégasque) with a Board of Directors

Ownership structure : Eurafnet (100%)

D13.1.2. Current business operations. Core capabilities, services offered, products offered, duration of provision of services and products.

Internet-fr offers two main types of service to its corporate customers mainly in France:

Critical web hosting (shared and co-located servers);

Leased lines for IP access.

Internet-fr is:

Active member of AFNIC( dot fr TLD)

Local registry for RIPE

ISO 9001

Microsoft Certified Solution Provider

WAS (Web Attached Storage) certified by AUSPEX

Internet-fr benefits from numerous peering agreements with, for example, BULL, Abovenet, COLT, Globix, Carrier1, Level 3, PSINet, Belgacom,…

CSL is ISP (Internet Service Provider) for companies only (no individual customers), restricted to the region of Nordrhein Westfalen = nrw (in revenue the biggest of the16 states of Germany, 18 million inhabitants)

CSL provides additionally services in Database applications and statistical analysis.

From the list of customers to be mentioned:

· Henkel

· Ferrero

· VDI ( German association of engineers )

· Weight Watchers

· Madakom ( Standardization association for retailers in Germany )

· Detekom ( consultant company of Deutsche Telekom )

· Ericsson

· E-plus ( 3^rd GSM provider in Germany )

· Stadtwerke Düsseldorf ( civil services of town )

· Ricoh

· Grey

· Last not least CORE ( Internet Council of Registrars )

D13.1.3. Past business operations/entity history. History, date of formation, legal status/type of entity, initial services, duration of provision of services and products.

Founded in 1972, the company was transformed in a GmbH in 1977, originally providing statistical analysis for market research companies and departments. Database services were added in 1990, Internet services in 1994.

CSL is used to run large database-applications as examples:

On-line database for Weight Watchers in Germany, 1 million members with behavior.

For Madakom, a standardization body for manufacturers and retailers, collecting 1 million records per week from 200 outlets of barcode-marked products for statistical analysis. Online data for 2 years (= 104 weeks).

For Detekom, a Deutsche Telekom owned company, a survey on 500,000 employees and former employees before the split of Deutsche Telekom's predecessor.

CSL programmed and actually runs the registrar environment for CORE ( Internet Council of Registrars ). CORE was chosen by ICANN as one of 5 test-bed registrars back in April 1999. Originally, CORE intended to run a registry for some TLDs. A software called SRS ( shared registry system ) was developed to handle them. When CORE become a registrar, the software was modified, thereby allowing CORE members to use it as a gateway to the NSI registry. Almost 1 million domains were registered and maintained by SRS. Unlike the software run by NSI as registry, this is a so called heavy-registry-software, having almost all data stored at the registry level, making it easier for the registrars.

Siegfried Langenbach was a cofounder and the first head of the Supervisory Board of DENIC, the German registry, which is the 2^nd largest registry in the world after NSI.

Recognized as an expert, CSL is working together with the EU commission to define the technical aspects of a TLD for the EU.

Internet-fr has built up a large customer base including well known organizations and companies, such as :

Vivendi, Century 21, Argus de la Presse, Green Peace, UNICEF,

St Gobain Emballages, MAN, Virgin Cola, Geophysique, Oberthur, Cilas (CEA/Matra), Dassault Systems,Lufthansa,

Jean-Paul Gaultier, Kenzo, Salvatore Ferragamo, Christian Lacroix,

OCDE, INSEE, FIANET (Axa group), Abeille Assurances,…

D13.1.4. Registry/database/Internet related experience and activities. Experience with database operation, Internet service provision.

CSL is already acting in the registry / registrar operation field.

Since beginning of the test-bed for com-net-org domains, CORE has registered almost 1 million names at NSI-Registry using the technology, infrastructure and software developed by CSL.

Recognized as an expert, CSL is working together with the EU commission to define the technical aspects of a TLD for the EU. The same is valid for CORE.

With the CORE-project, CSL proved that it was able to run a reliable registry with a significant number of registrations ( almost 1 million in the first year ). One of CSL s’ aim is to help and train people of developing countries to build their own registry.

Internet-fr and its management team have accumulated significant experience in database management and connectivity. It has developed the software used by its sister company Namebay (a registrar) which enables it to communicate under good conditions with NSI Registry.

Since 1995, Internet-fr has hosted several large data bases for major companies in its Massy data center. It is able to optimize and secure the data flows concerning these data bases. Internet-fr monitors the data bases and, when necessary, implements special procedures to ensure the best response from the data bases. It is a specialist in data base clustering.

Internet-fr has developed its IP backbone, giving it an international operator status.

D13.1.5. Mission. The registry operator's mission and how it relates to expansion into the registry operation field.

The registry operator mission is to provide the financial community with a clearly identified distinctive top level domain name that will encompass the new fields of finance and represents the old economy financial institutions.

It will act independently of any registrars by not providing registrar services itself and thus improving competition and fairness in the registration services.

It will maintain internet stability through the sponsoring organization that will deal with typical financial industry problems.

It will enhance the DNS by avoiding confusion between commercial and financial activities and thereby improving the trust of the internet community into the DNS.

It will extend the diversity of the DNS.

It will use the appropriate protection of rights through its dispute resolution policy.

The owners of Netbay (ultimately its major shareholders Mrs. Husson and Mr. Langenbach) have contacts in Africa and Latin America. If possible, they will assist the staff of the countries on these continents to become experienced in running a registry and improve, when necessary, the related functions in their countries.

D13.1.6. Management. Qualifications and experience of financial and business officers and other relevant employees. Please address/include past experience, resumes, references, biographies.

Siegfried Langenbach (55) has an engineering degree in electronics. Before becoming independent, he worked for UNIVAC, a Sperry Corporation company.

Either he or his company is member of :

RIPE NCC;

DENIC, the organization that runs the .de domain (with over 2 million domains registered); Siegfried was the first Chair of the Oversight Board;

CORE;

Participant in IETF;

Member of the ISPCP (Internet Service Provider constituency of DNSO, ICANN)

Former member of MAC, ICANN's Member Advisory Committee.

Marco Rinaudo (28), Chairman of Internet-fr SA graduated from Universita degli Studi di Pisa and Orsay University (Paris XI) – Masters degree in Computer Science (1994). He is one of the founders of Internet-fr. After graduating, he worked for BULL on the implementation of the Paris Subway IP network.

Domenico Surace (27), CEO of Internet-fr SA, graduated from Universita degli Studi di Pisa and Orsay University(Paris XI) – Masters degree in Computer Science (1994). He is one of the founders of Internet-fr. After graduating, he worked also for BULL on the implementation of the Paris Subway IP network.

Patricia Husson, Chairman of the Eurafnet Group, has long standing experience in the insurance sector. She was the owner of the largest French insurance brokerage house which was sold in 1992 to Marsh and Mc Lennan, the world's largest insurance broker. Today, she operates a brokerage insurance group established in Monaco. Since 1996, she has made successful investments in high tech companies.

Mathieu Dierstein (58), CFO of the Eurafnet Group, has a PHD in Mathematics (Agrégation - 1967) and graduated from Columbia University (Finance- Honors) in 1973. He held numerous positions in industrial companies such as Roussel Uclaf (HMR) and Valeo. He has been a member of the Executive Committee of Banque Vernes in Paris in charge of its M&A Department.

D13.1.7. Staff/employees. Current staff size, demonstrated ability to expand employee base, hiring policy, employee training, space for additional staff.

Altogether, CSL and the Eurafnet employ almost 50 qualified technicians.

Since Netbay is a joint venture, the relevant staff still have to be appointed for the registry project (see D0, D9 and D13.2.8).

CSL employs 18 persons with extensive experience in database-technology and domain-related issues such as name service, WHOIS, web, etc.

Being a small company, people join CSL because of personal recommendations and their desire to take part in new and interesting tasks.

Typically, the same remarks can be expressed for Eurafnet staff with a headcount of 25.

Internet-fr has recently rented additional office and technical space in Massy and in Paris (totaling approx 700 m2)

CSL has considerable space available in its Düsseldorf offices.

Concerning Netbay and its future expanded administrative facilities, the actions required to secure the necessary office space are in progress (see 13.2.8).

D13.1.8. Commercial general liability insurance. Address/include amount of insurance policy, provider of policy, plans for obtaining additional insurance.

Netbay has subscribed several insurance policies covering its business activities.

The most important ones concern :

- Premises and operations liability insurance ("assurance responsabilité exploitation");

. the limit of liabilities amounts to EUR 4.5 million,

. the insurance broker is Samcar located 24, boulevard Princesse Charlotte – 98000 Monaco

. the insurance company is Albingia located 109-111, rue Victor Hugo – 92532 Levallois-Perret Cedex.

- Professional liability insurance ("assurance responsabilité civile professionnelle");

. the limit of liabilities amounts to EUR 1.5 million,

. the insurance broker is Samcar located 24, boulevard Princesse Charlotte – 98000 Monaco

. the insurance company is AIG Europe located Tour AIG – 92079 Paris La Défense Cedex 2.

Other policies have been also subscribed by Namebay. They mainly concern multi peril insurance and legal employer's liability.

The documentation related to Netbay's policies is shown in appendix D 13.4.5.

In the near future, if Netbay's registry operator application is accepted by ICANN, higher limits of liability will be negotiated with Netbay's insurance broker and companies.

It has to be recalled that Mr. et Mrs. Husson have an extensive knowledge of the insurance sector being respectively the Chairman and the Vice Chairman of an insurance brokerage group.

D 13.2. Business plan for the proposed registry operations. This section should present a comprehensive business plan for the proposed registry operations. In addition to providing basic information concerning the viability of the proposed operations, this section offers the registry operator an opportunity to demonstrate that it has carefully analyzed the financial and operational aspects of the proposal. At a minimum, factors that should be addressed are:

The business plan for the proposed registry operations is included Appendix D13.1.

This appendix has been split into three parts corresponding to the three demand confidence levels for registry services:

50 M : corresponds to the scenario in which the actual level of demand has a 50 % probability of being above the level used in the plan : “M” stands for “medium”;

10 H : corresponds to the scenario in which the actual level of demand has a 10 % probability of being above the level used in the plan : “H” stands for “high”;

90 L : corresponds to the scenario in which the actual level of demand has a 90 % probability of being above the level used in the plan : “L” stands for “low”.

Each of these scenarios is characterized by a set of data consistent with the demand level assumption. For example, the staff and related labor costs have been realistically correlated with the activity volume of name registration and the expected number of registrars.

D13.2.1. Services to be provided. A full description of the registry services to be provided.

Most of Internet users do not have the same perception of domains as the Internet professionals. For example, for many of them www.domain.com is a domain, they don't want to care about 3^rd level, name serves and other technical matters. Our aim is to make the use of the DNS simple for the majority of users without losing the options for the most educated users. To achieve this goal, the Netbay registry will offer the following set of services and options :

1. The registry database, using Informix, a well known DB-System, containing data on :

· Domains

· Contacts ( holder, admin-c , tech-c )

· Name servers

· Accredited registrars

· Accounting

2. an email-interface for registrars, allowing them to interact directly with the registry DB and perform all necessary commands with PGP / GPG signed emails.

3. An interface with a specific protocol for registrars as alternative to the email-interface establishing an SSL connection between registrar and registry

4. WHOIS for public allowing everyone to query for information

5. Bulk - WHOIS for special purposes with restricted policy for the use

6. Nameservice - the registry will operate all necessary tld-nameserves directly to

· Create the zone-file from the DB

· Distribute the zone-files to the tld-name servers

· Keep the TLD-name servers in synchrony

In the first phase it is planned to run tld-name servers in North America, Asia, Europe

7. Nameservice for 3^rd and higher level domains ( example www.sld.tld ) . As explained before, many users require a service which includes that technical detail. This has the additional advantage of lowering the number of so called lame-delegations.

8. Operation of a specialized web-based-search-tool for the public

Together with the registration, the registrant will be able to categorize himself by answering predefined questions such as

· Geographic area of activities

· Corporations, corporation branches, professionals

· Type of financial offer or service

· Language spoken

· Individual statements / comments

· Place for pictures, symbols

· Links to other web-sides

A web-based search-tool in 7 languages, the 6 official UN languages

· English

· French

· Russian

· Spanish

· Arabic

· Chinese

· German ( not UN official language )

will be available to the public for query.

- The result will show the matching entries.

- A list of already taken domains will be available

9. Help desk for registrars (24/7)

· Domain name monitoring

10. Creation and maintenance of 3^rd and higher level domains - thus allowing independent agents of big corporations to use identifiers related to them (e.g. agent.corporation.fin)

· List of new registered domains but still not activated (30 days rule)

11. Certificates of the registering will be sent to the owner by registered letter

12. Special protection of data (when important data is changed)

· Notification of admin-c by email

· Notification of admin-c by fax

· Request for confirmation

13. Clearing for disputes between

· Registrars and registrars

· Registrants and registrars

D13.2.2. Revenue model. A full description of the revenue model, including rates to be charged for various services.

The .fin registry operator has chosen a fee based revenue model. The assumptions can be summarized in the following table ( scenario 50 M ) :

Price in EUR/Year

	Source	2001	2002	2003	2004
Initial registration	By registrar	5,000	5,000	5,000	5,000
Renewal	By registrar	2,000	2,000	2,000	2,000
New 2^nd and 3^rd level	By registered name	100	100	70	50

Other Services	Price in EUR per year
Weekly Bulk-WHOIS	10,000
Special protection data	200

The contribution of the other services is difficult to estimate and has been neglected in the revenue model.

The main source of income will be the fees paid by registrars for any new domain name registered. In addition to this variable revenue source, there will be an annual fixed revenue from the registrars'initial registration fees (EUR 5,000) and a lower renewal fee (EUR 2,000). There will be a 10 % quality refund for registrars if no significant problem occurred during the last year of operation.

Other services will be offered for registrars : most of them will be free or their revenue not taken into account. A more detailed description will be found in appendix D13.2.12. “ Revenues”

The registry operator 's policy will be to reduce as much as possible the price of the name registration without jeopardizing the quality of service provided to the registrars. Consequently, we shall significantly reduce the name fees but whilst maintaining the same rate of initial registration fees for any new registrar.

Appendix D13.2.5

D13.2.3. Market. Market definition, size, demand, accessibility.

MARKET

Registrant market definitions

There is a need for a new definition. This definition must be broad enough to take into account the new convergence of the financial industry especially the numerous overlapping areas in insurance and banking. This definition must be strict enough to clearly distinguish the financial community from the commercial world.

Our new definition of the registrant market will allow new financial intermediaries to be recognized as members of the .FIN community

The new definition of the finance communities will encompass the old definition and will offer new intermediaries such as price comparators, new financial products and sites that deals exclusively with the financial issues, e-brokers, insurance…

Registrar market definition

Potential registrars are the already ICANN certified registrars (operational or about to be operational). According to the TLD policies only certain registrars offering sufficient credentials will be accredited as .FIN registrars. They will have to comply with a set of procedures that will be annually audited by the sponsoring organization.

Registrant market

Financial institutions worldwide are evaluated at least 1 million. Financial community may be split into 5 main activities: banking, securities and brokers, insurance, combined real estate in the private sector and regulation in public sector.

Registrar market

They are currently 128 ICANN registrars worldwide. With the appearance of new TLD and the filing of currently operating country code registrars and of the biggest affiliates, we can estimate the market size to be 250 by the end of 2004.

Registrant demand

Financial activities and the net[1] : the number of Internet users of online financial sites should grow by around 100% in the next five years.

Financial sites include online banking, mortgage, insurance and investment sites.

Financial activity is one of the “natural” uses of the Internet.

After a slow start, the number of customers of online financial sites is showing spectacular growth: projected figures by 2004

Internet-based financial retailing has been slow to catch on for many reasons, but now it is expected to develop faster. Online banking users in the world are estimated at 50 million persons and financial services users close to 30 million. Both markets should grow by more than 100% in the next five year.

Market study

· Market size of second and third level names

The market size of financial institutions is 1 million by now and will be approximately 1.25 million by 2004.

A very prudent benchmark for the market size of third level names is 1.4 times the market size of financial institutions, i.e. presently 1.4 million and 1.7 million by 2004.

· Why would financial institutions become .FIN registrants instead of becoming or staying .com registrants?

The growth of the online financial market will lead traditional financial institutions to develop online services.

.fin will simplify the research and the knowledge of financial services on the web.

A new restricted TLD such as .finance will probably not compete with .com market.

Registrant demand drives registrar demand

· Survey on registrar panel

According to our survey, registrars are likely to join any new program for new TLD delivery. The most interesting population will be the .com, .net, .org registrars.

· Adhesion to SO regulation

The ability of currently certified ICANN registrants to handle change of ownership upon domain name with manual checking enables them to do the manual checking requested by .fin registration. The simplicity of the registration rule will not impact their current way of doing business. We can expect a large adhesion to .fin registration process.

See the Business plan data in appendixes D13.2.5 LMH “Market/Volume/Price”

D13.2.4. Marketing plan. Advertising, publicity, promotion strategy, advertisement development strategy, relationship with advertising firm. Use of registrars and other marketing channels.

Advertising

Limited to small targeted professional publications in order to let the registrar community know the existence of the .fin TLD. Since registrars are well informed of the evolution of the ICANN policy, it seems not necessary to devote large resources to advertising.

Publicity

Will be done by registrars and their affiliates. Being a registry and not a registrar there will be no publicity to acquire end user clients. Two exceptions to this rule will be made during the first year. The registry operator will make two road shows.

Promotion strategy

None

Advertisement development strategy

None

Relationship with advertising firm

None

Use of registrars and other marketing channels

The registrars will be used as the main marketing channel; the registry will provide them with some basic marketing materials to help them deal with the new type of customers.

Business Plan : see appendix D13.2.4 LMH “Registrars”.

D13.2.5. 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.

· Estimated demand: medium main scenario

The table below summarizes the main hypothesis for the estimation of the expected demand:

In thousand units

	2001	2002	2003	2004
Registrants	1,000	1,069	1,147	1,234
Second level and third level name	1,400	1,497	1,606	1,727
Market penetration	0%	3,4%	8,2%	14,7%
Estimated demand		50,900	131,600	254,600

· Estimated demand: sensitivity analysis

We have evaluated the sensitivity of the scenario to the hypothesis following a Gauss-Laplace law. We assume that the registration of at least 1,000 new second level domain names in year 4 has a probability of 50%, consequently :

· the 10% confidence level scenario is 240,000 new registered names in 2004 (market penetration : 3%).

· the 90% confidence level scenario is 20,000 new registered names in 2004 (market penetration : 1%).

N.B.: These assumptions are linked to the number of expected registrars.

Business Plan : see appendix D13.2.5 LMH” Market/Volume/Price”

D13.2.6. Resources required to meet demand. Provide a detailed estimate of all resources (financial, technical, staff, physical plant, customer service, etc.) required to meet the estimated demands, using at least the 10%, 50%, and 90% confidence levels.

All the data related to this section are displayed in appendixes D13.2.6 “Labor resources” and D13.2.8 “Staff”

The following section details the requirements for the 50 M scenario. It is planned to reduce or increase resources to adequate levels corresponding to the actual activity volume.

Technical/staff/customer service

1- Software development staff

· 1 day-shift , 4 persons

· supervision of test-system

· programming and testing

· 2^nd level support

2- Operation staff (Day to day operation of production):

· 3 shifts, 2 persons each, additional 1 for vacation, sick leave , total of 7 persons

· monitoring of production environment

· frontend, backend

· nameservers

· whois-server

· special web-server for search

· supervising performance, statistics, updates

· reporting and documenting bugs and problems

3- Registrar relation staff (Customer care) :

· 3 shifts, day-shift 2 persons, night-shifts 1 person each, total of 4 persons

· supervision of registrar test-phase (each registrar must perform a test before being connected with the production environment)

· administrative tasks related to registrar

· hot-line for registrars, 1^st level support

4- National membership organizations related staff (Customer care)

· 1 day-shift , total of 2 persons

· relation to membership organizations (a registrant must be member of one)

keeping records, clearing of disputes

5- Administrative staff

A staff of 4 people has been forecast for checking the electronic copies of registrant documents sent by registrars and other administrative tasks.

6- Others

One CEO, one CFO and one assistant to the CEO and the CFO.

Facilities- physical plant (please see also D15.2.1):

The organization and structure of the dot fin registry will be distributed over the whole world :

· administration, surveillance, hot-line in the offices of Netbay in Monaco

· test-system in the offices of CSL in Düsseldorf

· production in co-location at a major IP-provider in Europe ( Paris , London or Düsseldorf )

· WHOIS at the same location as production-system

· WEB-Server at the same location as production - system

· NAMESERVER at major IP-Providers in Europe ( Paris , London or Düsseldorf ), America ( east coast or west coast ), Asia ( Japan or Australia ).

D13.2.7. Plans for acquiring necessary systems and facilities. Describe plans for acquiring all necessary systems and facilities for providing the proposed services at each estimated demand level. Provide details as to the scope, cost, and vendor for any significant planned outsourcing.

· Standard software is either already available in CSL or will be bought. Ordering, delivering, installation is a matter of 4 weeks, total costs EUR K 400.

· Test environment double processor with RAID-array mass-storage under Linux and Informix is already installed and running, total costs EUR K 35.

· Production environment, same components but faster, consisting of 2 independent systems (2 computers each, frontend + backend) each having all major components twice, expected total cost EUR K 70;

· 3 name servers , similar to production environment but less storage, expected total cost EUR K 75;

· WHOIS-server, similar to name server, 2 independent machines (one as backup), expected costs EUR K 50

· 1 web-server for specialized queries (see D13.2.1.) similar to production-server, expected costs EUR K 35;

· CSL has already designed, programmed and is now running an similar system, and has experience with these types of software. Design for these TLD, programming and test will take 6 months time for 4 people;

· Negotiations with connectivity providers for space in their co-locations can be postponed until 3 months before the start of production. There is a wide variety of offers available, expected costs for 3 different locations per year EUR K 80. Internet-fr will take care of the selection of connectivity providers.

Appendix D13.2.7a summarizes the software and hardware investment necessary for implementation of the project as well as the depreciation rates used for the different types of assets.

Appendix D13.2.7.b details the computation of the company assets depreciation.

D13.2.8. Staff size/expansion capability. Plans for obtaining the necessary staff resources, capacity for expansion, hiring policy, employee training, space for additional staff, staffing levels needed for provision of expanded technical, support, escrow, and registry services.

Eurafnet and CSL plan to introduce a stock option plan for the members of the Netbay staff. It must be pointed out that Eurafnet intends being listed by the end of 2000 in Europe. Netbay shares held by the staff members could then be exchanged for listed Eurafnet shares.

Appendix D13.2.8. shows the forecast evolution of Netbay staff.

For job description please see D13.2.6

Mrs. Patricia Husson, the Netbay chairman is presently having discussions with real estate companies in Monaco in order to provide sufficient office space for Netbay registry operations.

It has to be recalled that both Internet-fr and CSL presently have available office space to temporarily host some Netbay operations( see D13.1.7).

Concerning escrow service, there will be a daily backup on 2 different tapes at 2 different locations. Additionally, there will be a weekly backup on CD-ROM which will be delivered to an escrow-agency in Europe to be selected by the registry and to be agreed by ICANN (please see D15.2.7).

D13.2.9. Availability of additional management personnel. How will management needs be filled?

The PACA (Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur) area, near to the Principality of Monaco, includes several towns such as Sophia – Antipolis, (the French Silicon Valley) where technical resources are available. Many highly skilled technicians work in this area which will supply most of the company staff requirements.

Not all of the people who will be employed by Netbay have to be specialized in Internet matters: for instance, some members of the team dedicated to the registrar administration (customer care) only need to be efficient administrative clerks with good commercial skills.

Note that several employees of Internet-fr and CSL have already mentioned their intention to apply for a position in the Netbay joint venture.

D13.2.10. Term of registry agreement. State assumptions regarding the term of any registry agreement with ICANN or the sponsoring organization. Note that the .com/.net/.org registry agreement has a basic term of four years.

Netbay is applying for a basic term of 4 years. It appears to be the minimum period necessary to amortize the heavy capital investment needed by the project implementation and the extraordinary start up costs of a new restricted TLD (foundation of a Sponsoring Organization, ….).

This duration will enable Netbay to progressively optimize its operating costs and will allow for decreasing registration selling prices.

D13.2.11. Expected costs associated with the operation of the proposed registry. Please break down the total estimated operational costs by the sources of the costs for each estimated demand level. Be sure to consider the TLD's share of ICANN's cost recovery needs. (See <http://www.icann.org/financials/budget-fy00-01-06jun00.htm#IIIB>.)

Appendix D.13.2.11 a : Salaries costs (M)

Labor costs presented in appendix D13.2.11.a include gross salaries earned by the staff and social security costs, calculated with an average rate of 30%.

Gross salaries have been adjusted to the current situation on the European labor market.

Appendix D.13.2.11 b : Sponsoring organization budget (M)

As explained the Sponsoring Organization Proposal, the costs incurred by the Sponsoring Organization are totally supported by the registry operator.

Each of the eleven members of the Board will receive an indemnity of EUR 15,000 per year and will be reimbursed up to EUR 15,000 for their travel and accommodation expenses.

Each year, accredited registrars will be audited in order to check that all procedures set up by the Sponsoring Organization and the Registry have been respected, and especially that registrars have correctly checked that registrants were properly authorized to register their .FIN domain name. It has been assumed that these expenses will represent EUR 5,000 per registrar and per year.

Legal costs paid by the Sponsoring Organization are expected to be particularly high in year 1 (EUR 250,000). These legal expenses correspond to the formation of the sponsoring organization's own bylaws. For the following years, an average cost of EUR 150,000, then EUR 100,000 has been projected as a provision for the legal treatment of possible litigations.

Appendix D.13.2.11 c : Other costs (M)

Marketing costs include the cost of two road shows during the first two years, in some main financial centers around the world (NY, Tokyo, London, …), and travels and accommodation for four persons, i.e. EUR 180,000 in year 1 and EUR 240,000 in year 2.

A fixed allowance of EUR 80,000 has been scheduled in year 1 as a contribution to ICANN expense compensation. Starting year 2, Netbay will pay annually a EUR 5 fee per registered name to ICANN.

In addition, a grant of EUR 5 per name will be paid annually to Mission Enfance, a Monaco humanitarian association for children ( www.mission.enfance.org ). This contribution will be paid only on a voluntarily basis.

Each registrar will receive a mail ("Registered mail notification") stating that the name registration process has been effectively completed. The cost expected for this mailing is EUR 4 per registrar.

Variable operating costs consist mainly of telephone expenses, office supplies, computers and have been estimated to EUR 2,000 per person.

Other fixed operating costs are mainly made up of office rent. It has been estimated that an average of EUR 120,000 per year would adequately cover the rent and other related expenses. It has been assumed that Netbay will settle from the beginning of year 1 in offices able to host permanently the whole staff (i.e. 22 persons) during the business plan scope.

Netbay will have to face significant legal costs in year 1 (EUR 130,000), because it will have to establish all the legal documents necessary to its activity.

D13.2.12. Expected revenue associated with the operation of the proposed registry. Please show how expected revenue is computed at each estimated demand level.

The expected revenue associated with the operation of the proposed registry is detailed in Appendix D13.2.12«Revenues» in each scenario (M, H, L).

The volume demand of each scenario has been derived from the conclusions of D13.2.5.

D13.2.13. Capital requirements. Quantify capital requirements in amount and timing and describe how the capital will be obtained. Specify in detail all sources of capital and the cost of that capital (interest, etc.). Evidence of firm commitment of projected capital needs will substantially increase the credibility of the registry operator's proposal.

The capital requirements for each scenario are determined through three sets of appendixes :

Appendix D13.2.13.a “Sources and Uses of funds“

Appendix D13.2.13.b “Projected Balance sheet structures“

Appendix D13.2.13.c “Projected Balance sheets“

In scenario M, at the beginning of year 1, the share capital of the Registry Operator is raised to EUR 2,000,000 and additional funds in the form of current accounts granted by the shareholders to the company progressively reach an amount of EUR 2,000,000. These current accounts are reimbursed in year 2 and year 3.

In scenario L, at the beginning of year 1, the share capital of the Registry Operator is raised to EUR 2,000,000 and additional funds in the form of current accounts granted by the shareholders to the company progressively reach an amount of EUR 3,500,000. These current accounts are reimbursed in year 2, year 3, year 4 and year 5.

In scenario H, at the beginning of year 1, the share capital of the Registry Operator is raised to EUR 2,000,000 and additional funds in the form of current accounts granted by the shareholders to the company progressively reach an amount of EUR 1,600,000. These current accounts are reimbursed in year 2.

In all these scenarios, the project is financed only with shareholders’ funds. No external financing is required.

A letter from one of a Netbay shareholder banker states that he easily has the capacity to cover with equity funds the capital needs of the registry project, even in the L scenario (see Appendix D.13.2.13. d).

D13.2.14. Business risks and opportunities. Describe upside and downside contingencies you have considered and discuss your plans for addressing them.

The major parameters of the revenue model are :

- the registration selling price

- the attractiveness of the .FIN business to the registrars

The three scenarios described in the business plan are based on assumptions describing the way the company will react to the various levels of demand. For instance, in the L scenario, costs will be cut down, the staff and the labor costs will be limited, and the selling price will not follow a decreasing slope, as in the M scenario.

D13.2.15. Registry failure provisions. Please describe in detail your plans for dealing with the possibility of registry failure.

The production system will be hosted by a major international IP-Provider. Thus we will be using the high standard of security provisions ( personal , technical ) those companies offer. In the very unlikely case that the hosting fails, there is the possibility of shifting the production service to the test-environment within 48 hours. Internet-fr will act as a consultant to its sister company Netbay to help select with CSL the most suitable operators.

Regular data escrow and complete description of content will make it possible to change the registry operator. Contractual agreements with CORE or other registries will be negotiated to assure mutual assistance.

D13.3. Pro‑forma financial projections. Please provide detailed pro‑forma financial projections, consistent with your business plan, for the demand scenarios that you estimate under item D13.2.5. The pro‑formas should show revenue and expense estimates broken down by detailed categories and should be broken down into periods no longer than quarterly.

Pro-forma financial projections are stated in the following appendixes :

Appendix D13.2.14 “ Profit and Loss Accounts“

Appendix D13.2.13.a “Sources and Uses of funds“

Appendix D13.2.13.b “Projected Balance sheet structures“

Appendix D13.2.13.c “Projected Balance sheets“

D13.4. Supporting documentation. The following documentation should be provided in support of the Business Capabilities and Plan section :

D13.4.1. Registry operator's organizational documents. Documents of incorporation (or similar documents).

Appendix 13.4.1 includes the organizational documents of Netbay and the companies concerned by the registry project.

D13.4.2. References. A list of significant trade and credit references.

ICANN is invited to call or write to the following institutions in order to receive directly credit references of the companies involved in the project :

Netbay :

Société Générale

Mrs. Montaner

16, Avenue de la Costa MC 98000 Monaco

Tel. +377 93 15 57 27

Eurafnet :

Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild (Luxembourg)

Mr. Frédéric Otto

20, rue Emmanuel Servais L- 2535 Luxembourg

Tel. +352 47 93 46 620

Fax. +352 47 93 46 640

CSL

Commerzbank Düsseldorf

Mr. Hans-Christian Störkel

Tel. +49 211 97108 10

Fax. +49 211 97108 15

Internet-fr

BICS

Mr. Olivier Jaeger

1 rue des Canadiens F-91300 Massy

Tel. +33 1 69 20 11 52

Fax. +33 1 69 20 14 85

D13.4.3. Annual report. The registry operator's most recent annual financial report (or similar document). Audited financials are preferred.

Documents withdrawn at the applicant's request.

D13.4.4. Proof of capital. Provide evidence of existing capital or firm commitments of capital. Demonstrated access to necessary capital will be carefully scrutinized.

D13.4.5. Proof of insurance. Please provide proof of the insurance described in item D13.1.8.

The documents concerning insurance policies of Netbay, described in D 13.1.8, are shown in Appendix D13.4.5.

III. TECHNICAL CAPABILITIES AND PLAN

D14. The third section of the Registry Operator's Proposal is a description of the registry operator's Technical Capabilities and Plan. This section must include a comprehensive, professional‑quality technical plan that provides a detailed description of the registry operator's current technical capabilities as well as a full description of the operator's proposed technical solution for establishing and operating all aspects of the registry. The technical plan will require detailed, specific information regarding the technical capabilities of the proposed registry. The topics listed below are representative of the type of subjects that will be covered in the Technical Capabilities and Plan section of the Registry Operator's Proposal.

[ICANN will extensively review and analyze this section of the Registry Operator's Proposal. The content, clarity, and professionalism of this section will be important factors in ICANN's evaluation of applications. We strongly recommend that those who are planning to apply secure professional assistance from engineers and/or other technical consultants to aid in the formulation of the technical plan and the preparation of the Technical Capabilities and Plan section of the Registry Operator's Proposal.]

D15. The Technical Capabilities and Plan section should consist of at least the following:

D15.1. Detailed description of the registry operator's technical capabilities. This should provide a detailed description of the registry operator's technical capabilities, including information about key technical personnel (qualifications and experience), size of technical workforce, and access to systems development tools. It should also describe the registry operator's significant past achievements. This description offers the registry operator an opportunity to demonstrate the extent of its technical expertise in activities relevant to the operation of the proposed registry.

CSL, the company which will program the system, already develops and runs the registrar environment for CORE. The system was originally designed as a registry system. Since CORE was part of the test-bed phase, the CSL staff now have 1 year's experience in running and tuning the system. Until now the staff related to the CORE system consisted of 4 people, highly experienced with TCP/IP, Informix, Linux, Perl and cc, the main tools used. The hardware system components are high-end RAID-systems.

Netbay which is responsible for the day to day running of the system, will have a staff of technicians and administrative people who will have received suitable training.