Registry
Operator's Proposal
Proposal for DotLaw, Inc. gTLD “.law”
DotMD Registry Services for dotLaw
I. GENERAL INFORMATION
D 1. Registry Operator's Proposal
dotLaw,Inc. has entered into a strategic
partnership with dotMD, Inc. which includes provisions for dotMD
to act as the initial Registry Operator for the top level domain
".law" for dotLaw,Inc. .
This proposal was generated by both parties as part of that
partnership. dotMD's unique experience of organizing and running
a top level domain for professionals make them a particularly strong candidate
for the .law Registry Operator.
D 2. Registry Operator's primary contact
information
dotMD, Inc.
500
Sugar Mill Rd. Suite 240 - A
Atlanta, GA, USA 30350
tel
770-649-8800
fax 770-649-4482
e-mail
support@thedomain.md
D 3. Registry Operator's secondary contact
information
N/A
D 4. Registry Operator's type of business
entity
Corporation in the State of Georgia, USA
D 5. Registry Operator's principal World Wide
Web site
D 6. Registry Operator's DUNS Number (if any)
N/A
D 7. Number of employees
22 employees
D 8. Registry Operator's total revenue in the
last-ended FY
Proprietary
D 9. Full
name and positions of (i) all directors (ii) all officers, (iii) all relevant
managers, and (iv) any persons or entities owning 5% or more of Registry
Operator
Leonard Ross, co-Chairman (nominated)
Anthony
Butte, CEO
William
R. Mayfield, MD, COO
Bruce
Cox, CFO
Randy
Floyd, CTO
R.
Mark Lane, EVP
See other management under personnel
narrative in section D15.1
D 10. Name(s)
and address(es) of contact person(s) for additional information
William R. Mayfield, MD
dotMD,
Inc.
500
Sugar Mill Rd.
Atlanta,
GA, USA 30350
770-408-2243
1770-649-4482
fax
D 11. The
full legal name, address, telephone and fax numbers, e-mail addresses and DUNS
Number (if any) of all subcontractors identified in item D 15.3.
Exodus Communications, Inc.
2831 Mission College Blvd.
Santa Clara, CA 95054
1.888.239.6387
inquiry@exodus.net
II. BUSINESS
CAPABILITIES AND PLAN
D 12. The
Business Plan
D 13. The
Business Capabilities
D
13.1.1. Company information
D
13.1.2. Current business
operations
dotMD, Inc. has demonstrated competence in TLD
domain
administration through our 25 year
contractual relationship with the
country of Moldova to manage the ccTLD,
.md, operation of
www.register.md, (a URL registration site for the CC TLD.md),
the
development of web site solutions for
individual and group practice
physicians, and the construction of a
MetaDirectory which aggregates
medical resources (physicians, hospitals,
relevant content, pharmacies, and
physician-written content , etc.) around
health conditions.
Products and Services (a description can
be found at www.thedomain.md )
·
Domain
Registration. As of the date of this document, there are
over 10,000 active, registered domains in .md (excluding any Moldova
registrations). In addition to these
registrations, dotMD Inc. has made significant progress in bulk URL
sales within the medical community.
·
Security.
To assume security of sensitive data, dotMD, Inc. has secured a
relationship with a top-tier hosting facility, Exodus. In addition, as soon as they are finalized, dotMD
intends comply with HIPAA standards for privacy and security in the operations
of both dotMD and dotLaw.
·
Web Site
Hosting. Physicians and other Healthcare entities
leasing dotMD URLs wishing to do so, may choose to host their sites with
dotMD, Inc. Hosting includes
e-mail addresses and FTP access.
·
Duration
of services (please see section 13.1.3 below)
D 13.1.3. Past business operations/entity
N/A
D 13.1.4. Registry/database/Internet experience
dotMD has
significant and unique experience with registry/database/Internet
operations gained from the creation and management
of the dotMD TLD.
D 13.1.5. Mission
Healthcare has its own vocabulary and
unique business needs. dotMD, Inc., believes that there is an increasing
demand for a domain dedicated exclusively to healthcare that is intuitive to
use, provides authoritative medical information, gives physicians and
healthcare professionals an identifiable home on the web and provides a
commercially neutral environment for the healthcare community. Their mission is
to assure that healthcare has a home on the Internet.
dotLaw will have a similar
mission for the international legal community. This plan is outlined in detail
in the Sponsoring Organizations Proposal which is part of this application.
D 13.1.6. Management
qualifications and experience
See
section D15.1
D 13.1.7 Staff/Employees
See
section D15.1
D
13.2 Business
plan for the proposed registry operations.
dotMD
business operations are proprietary.
dotLaw
business plan proposal is outlined in detail in the Sponsoring Organization’s
Proposal.
D13.2.1
Services to be provided
The Registry will offer registration, DNS
hosting, web hosting, email services,
and web development services. In addition, the Registry
will offer record update services. These services are offered within the setting of a restricted and organized
domain dedicated to entities related to
the practice of law.
D13.2.2 Revenue Model
dotMD financial information is proprietary.
The
relationship between dotMD and dotLaw is defined by the letter of
commitment in exhibit “D” included in this proposal.
The
proposed revenue model for dotLaw is in the sponsoring organization’s
proposal and pro-forma exhibit “A”.
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D13.2.3 Market
There are roughly one million lawyers in the United
States alone and an additional 2.5 million lawyers worldwide (communication
from the ABA). There are roughly 44,000 law firms in the United States, the
majority of which are small firms with no “in-house” information technology
support facilities or services. Enhanced custom legal web presence tools for
this market segment from dotLaw
will be welcomed by theses small firms.
In addition the legal community of ancillary
services that supports these lawyers is at least of equal size and thought to
be larger but harder to define.
The
demand for domain names in general has been increasing exponentially over the
past few years.That demand is expected to further increase over the upcoming
years as the international community begins to play a larger role in the global
Internet community. The legal community will mirror this growth trend. We
believe the ultimate demand for domain names on a new dedicated legal gTLD such
as dotLaw would at least be in the hundreds of thousands and may
ultimately even exceed that once the address is fully branded.
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D13.2.4 Marketing Plan
The
key to leasing names in the dotLaw domain will be to stimulate demand
for the domain names by: 1) branding the domain in relevant media, 2) offering
simple, valuable, bundled services, and
3)
developing a legal MetaDirectory of services supporting the profession to drive
traffic to and from the domain:
§
Attorneys/other
legal professionals
§
Legal
community vendors
§
Consumers
§
Internet
content distributors
The
value for the attorney is a powerful presence in the only law domain on the web and to increase
qualified client referrals.
The value for legal vendors, whether a bar association or a for-profit company,
is a presence in the only law domain on the web and an opportunity to
effectively market and interact with legal professionals and consumers.
The
value for consumers is intuitive keyword access or single point of access to
legal information and services. Search technology through domain level indexing
instead of conventional search engines will make the information relevant to
their geographic location, or to any location they enter.
Branding
dotLaw will be simply but powerfully branded
using a stylized version of the actual domain name (.law), with an emphasis on
the dot. The dot will be shown larger than normal, will have contoured
characteristics, and the dot graphic will contain the text “dot” to clearly
show our audience how to pronounce the name. The overall brand experience will
communicate relevance, extensive knowledge, intuitiveness, and
comprehensiveness.
This
branding will be reflected within professional and consumer aspects of the dotLaw
domain. All sites within the dotLaw domain will prominently display our
brand and be linked back to the MetaDirectory.
Marketing
Plan
dotLaw has three major target markets: the
legal community, the legal services consumer, and Internet distribution
partners.
The marketing plan will have several
major components.
- A national marketing and branding
campaign to establish awareness of the brand for consumers, the legal
community, and the Internet community.
- Specific marketing to the legal
community.
- Marketing by demographic
metropolitan areas, to get a high level of saturation in a contained
geographic market. This marketing strategy recognizes that law is a
local business, and local phenomenon. dotLaw plans to
capitalize on that by marketing in a DMA and creating a local demand
for the .law domain services.
- As this program becomes
successful, more demographic metropolitan areas will be added to build
out the brand.
- Direct marketing to the attorney
will be through legal societies, professional publications,
professional meetings, Internet, and direct mail.
- Specific marketing to the
Internet community.
- There are opportunities to
co-brand with other Internet companies, to allow those Internet
companies to feature their brands on the dotLaw domain. For
example, a search portal may wish to buy a URL in .law and use
that specific URL for their legal service offering.
- Specific marketing to the
consumer.
- Mixed media campaign on a
national level. Public relations placement of materials as news items
and magazine focus.
dotLAW
will establish
widespread awareness. We will encourage exploration and adoption through
marketing communications directed to its primary constituencies. (See Media
Campaign below)
The
campaign will offer a powerfully simple, straightforward, honest, neutral, and
effective solution to address the major concerns associated with todays crowded
and confusing landscape of legal web sites.
A) Media Campaign. dotLaw will benefit from a
powerful branding campaign
directed to the following markets:
1. Attorneys
2. Bar associations
3. Law industry
4.
Consumers of legal services
The media mix is expected to consist of
the following:
·
Print,
including selected consumer magazines and legal journals as well as business
vehicles such as the Wall Street Journal to reach the investor community;
·
Web
marketing, including sponsorships, messaging opportunities, targeted e-mail,
affiliate agreements, etc;
·
Spot
television in selected major markets.
·
Direct
print mail to selected legal industry organizations;
·
Electronic
billboards.
B) PR Campaign.
The PR campaign will support the positioning
and awareness objectives as follows:
·
Placement
of feature stories
·
Orchestrated
"drum beat" of news releases designed to emphasize the perception of
momentum.
Distribution
and Sponsorships
dotLaw,
Inc., will offer direct
and indirect marketing of domain names. We will market domain names directly
to: attorneys (including group practices), other legal professionals, support
service providers and other law related organizations. Additionally, we will
develop distribution relationships with legal societies and law related
companies allowing them to provide domain names to their members.
dotLaw, Inc. will offer legal service companies the
opportunity to market their
products and services within the dotLaw MetaDirectory. A sponsorship could include placement on the home page and/or navigational pages and
dynamically generated sponsorships
driven by consumer legal search requests.
D13.2.5
Estimated demand for registry
services in the new TLD.
The value of a managed domain lies in the ability to organize the
information in the domain before the domain becomes populated, and to manage
the content and registration policies of the domain.
Information can be organized by keyword access at the top level,
creating a horizontal organizing structure according to keywords. This
structure, like a Dewey Decimal System, or an encyclopedic index, makes
information easily accessible to all users who enter the domain. The
information in the domain can be accessed by keyword, or the information can be
indexed on a single page, or a search function from any page in the domain may
be utilized. Those keywords are never to be registered to others, but are to
remain the intellectual property of the domain for use in administering the
domain architecture.
Content in .law must meet certain criteria. Any author who
posts information on the .law domain will be required to support that
information with peer reviewed literature. Therefore, anyone seeking legal
information on the domain has assurance that the information is relevant and
authoritative. Information that is promotional in nature must be clearly
identified as such. This procedure is very familiar to all entities that
participate in legal conferences and advertising in news magazines.
Please refer to D13.2.3 for this
information.
D13.2.6 Resources required to meet demand.
Detailed estimate of all resources (financial, technical, staff, physical
plant, customer service, etc.)
These details are implicit in the content of
sections D15.1 and D15.2 and D13.2. The
dotMD infrastructure has been designed for easy and extensive
scalability anticipating growth from dotMD and,therefore, allowing
similar growth within their cooperative support relationship with dotLaw.
D13.2.7 Plans for acquiring necessary
systems and facilities.
The Registry service is composed of three basic components: the hardware, software, and customer support.
The hardware is leased from and
maintained by Exodus Communications in the
Sterling, Virginia, USA, facility. The hardware
is housed in a very secure environment with limited access. Exodus provides expandable bandwidth, 24 hour
reliability, on site hardware and
software service, uninterruptible power supply,
and redundant systems.
The software for the Registry is written
by a combination of dotMD
software engineers and Exodus engineers. dotMD has developed a proprietary registration process
with logic to develop numerous
second and third level domain names for any registrant. The Registration process is automated, with automatic
credit card billing and automatic
development of an IP address in the DNS.
Hardware
and software support are managed by
Exodus, dotMD and dotLaw. Exodus is on site, and dotMD
manages the Registry via T1 line
from the Atlanta headquarters. dotLaw will have similar access from
their Northern Virginia headquarters.
The system is easily scalable. The
software scripts remain the same, and
the system is expanded by the addition of more servers and storage.
Please refer to inclusions for the
technical diagrams of the initial hardware
configuration.
Costs for leasing at Exodus
Communications are approximately $75,000
per month initially, with costs expected to rise to $125,000 per month with expansion.
D13.2.8
Staff size/expansion
capability.
DotMD has a core staff of software and
hardware engineers with extensive personal connections in the industry.
Expansion has occurred by a combination of personal recruiting and the use of
high tech employment agencies on a temporary-to-hire basis. The software and
hardware staffs are expanding now. With product launch, the customer service
staff and sales and marketing staff are expanding in proportion to the number
of registrations, at a level of approximately one customer support person per
10,000 registrations. Later, with economies of scale, dotMD plans
one customer service representative
per 20,000 registrations.We offer a combination of on-line customer support,
real time customer support, and telephone customer support, both for technical support and account administration.
D13.2.9
Management personnel
Additional
management personnel will be obtained both by internal training and
advancement, and external recruiting through agencies, in addition to personal
recruiting.
D13.2.10
Term of Registry agreement.
In
order to justify the huge start-up expenses associated with a new Registry, and
in order to attract serious investment capital to make that happen, a minimum
term of 25 years with automatic renewal is necessary. The investment community
will not be able to receive a return on its investment with less than such a
term. The corollary can be stated that, a company would not spend $50 million
building a new factory to produce a product, with the intentions of tearing it
down in 4 years. There must be a sustainable means for return on capital in
order to justify the high initial investment.
D13.2.11 Expected costs associated with the
operation of the proposed registry.
dotMD financials are proprietary.
dotLaw pro-forma financial spreadsheet
is detailed in Exhibit A.
D13.2.12 Expected revenue associated with the
operation of the proposed registry.
See above.
D13.2.13 Capital
requirements.
See above.
D13.2.14
Business risks and
opportunities.
The opportunity lies in creating a managed domain that attracts the profession and its supporting industry. There are several levels of opportunity. First is the ability to create a revenue stream on the basis of domain name registration. This baseline revenue stream should be adequate to cover hardware, software, marketing, and human resource costs. The second larger opportunity lies in the domain-to-business arena, where the Registry upsells services such as web development, e-mail services, data storage, and professional business to business product services. In a managed domain, there is the ability to congregate resources around a specific topic, all of which are specific to the domain, using the same set of tools throughout the domain. For example, around the topic of “divorce” the registry can aggregate attorney, client, community support organizations, and other resources within the domain by the use of searches and links, all of which link back to each other around the common topic. All the sites have the potential to utilize the same “toolset”, such as is seen on a browser or an office suite, for uniformity of user experience and navigability. In addition, the value of the domain increases when the content policy and registration policy require a certain level of quality of material that is posted.
The
downside lies in the inability to adequately market and register domain names
to a level necessary to sustain the business. If there is no demand for a legal domain by
consumers or by professionals, then the registry would fail as a business. If .law
fails to be branded as a comprehensive and premium site for legal affairs then
migration from other generic TLDs would not occur at a high enough level and
the business could not go forward. The intellectual property, registry, and DNS
would have to be relinquished to an entity that had the independent resources
to sustain it.
D13.2.15
Registry failure provisions
In the case of failure, a suitable buyer
of the intellectual property, Registry,
and DNS would be sought. This process would be performed
by advertising through the public and private sector, and a qualified buyer would be
identified. The new buyer would be evaluated
and reviewed by us and presumably also by ICANN.
D13.4.1 Organizational
documents
Organizational documents for dotMD can be confidentially
supplied.
Organizational documents for dotLaw await final
incorporation.
D13.4.2 References.
Trade and credit references.
References will be provided
separately (see above).
D13.4.3 Annual
report or financials
These statements will be
provided separately (see above).
D13.4.4
Proof of capital, existing or
commitments
The preliminary commitment
letter for dotLaw is Exhibit B.
D13.4.5 Proof of
insurance
Proof of insurance will be
provided separately.
III. TECHNICAL CAPABILITIES AND PLAN
D14 Technical Capabilities and Plan
D.15 Technical
Capabilities and Plan
D15.1 Detailed Description of the
Registry
There
are three major components to the technical capabilities: hardware, software,
and human resources. dotMD has recruited the highest levels of quality
and skills in these areas, making them
uniquely qualified to act as the registry operator for dotLaw.
Technology Human Resources
Randy
D. Floyd
Chief
Technology Officer
Moorthy
Srinivasan
Prior
to joining dotMD, Moorthy worked as the Director of Brokering
Technologies at VHx in Atlanta, GA.
While at VHx, he developed a strategic relationship with Hewlett-Packard on
using E-speak technology in the healthcare industry. He was also responsible
for personalization technology and the initial data model for the healthcare
portal solution of VHx.
Prior
to VHx, Moorthy worked as Data Warehousing Product Manager for Micros Systems,
Inc., where he managed the development of a product using data warehouse
technologies for the restaurant industry and as a Project Manager for Signet
Bank responsible for implementing client-server projects. He also worked at
McKinsey & Company as a Senior Specialist where he managed the development
of various systems using Lotus Notes.
Moorthy holds an MBA in Information
Systems from Owen Graduate School of
Management, Vanderbilt University, Nashville,
TN. He also holds an MS in Computer Science from Vanderbilt. He is a certified Project Management Professional from Project Management Institute.
Richard Parsons
Richard
Parsons is responsible for network design, security, and web-hosting operations.
Rick joined dotMD, Inc., in April 2000, with 12 years of experience in the networking and telecommunications industries, most
recently with BellSouth.net where he
managed the DSL Network Operations Center.
Rick
holds a Bachelor’s degree in Management from Shorter College in Rome, Georgia.
Gregory T. Jones
Senior Java Developer
Greg
Jones is responsible for developing and writing JavaScript Code.
Prior to joining dotMD, Greg worked for Pinnacle Software Solutions, Greenbrier &
Russel, Equifax, MCI\WorldCom and
GE information services.
Greg
has extensive experience in HTML, Java, Oracle Web Server, PL\SQL, and C.
Steve Santandera
Java Developer
Steve Santandera is responsible for server side database and Java
development. Prior to joing dotMD,
Steve worked at the Georgia Tech Research Institute developing Intranet
accounting systems. He has 7+ years experience in software development.
Steve
has extensive experience in HTML, Java, Oracle , Apache Web Server, PL\SQL and
Powerbuilder.
Gillian R. Norrie
Director, User Experience
Gillian Norrie is responsible for directing the dotMD user
experience. Prior to joining dotMD,
she created the overall branding and vision strategy for VHx’s Healthcare
Internet products.
Gillian
has held creative design positions with Fletcher Martin Associates, The Coca-Cola Company, Molson Breweries, British Petroleum, Wachovia Bank, and
weather.com. Gillian also operates her own interactive design
firm, Garcan Design Inc., specializing
in Digital Branding for The Home Depot, National Data Corp.- Health Services, Dr.Gaynor.com Child Welfare Institute, Health Science Media,
Association of Bankers In Insurance,
and Great America, Inc.
Gillian
was educated at the Ontario College of Art in Toronto and the Ringling School of Art and Design
in Sarasota, Florida. She is an active member of AIGA and has taught Digital
Illustration.
Andrew Faraca
Sr. Site Producer
Andrew was educated at the US Air Force College, receiving an Associate Degree EQ in Computer Applications with Supervisor and Management Training. Andrew also served in the US Air Force as a Computer Electronics and Communication Maintenance Engineer.
Before joining dotMD, Inc. Andrew was a lead developer with HealthExchange.com, a health vertical portal
developed for John Deer Health.
Before HealthExchange Andrew worked with IXL to develop
Home Depot's e-commerce.
Andrew has extensive experience in BBEdit, Flash, Freehand, Homesite,
HTML, CSS, DHTML, JavaScript, and CGI.
Emily Haught
Site Producer
Emily was educated at Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA, receiving a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering with high honor. Emily has also completed post-graduate work in Computer Science and Engineering
Before joining dotMD, Inc. Emily was a lead developer with Kinetic Design, Inc., working with a wide
variety of industrial clients
to design and implement web site solutions.
Carine Opsomer
Site Producer
Carine was educated at EGON College for Graphical and Economical Education, Belgium where she received a graduate degree. Emily's skills include pre-press, applications, printing processes, and finishing.
Before joining dotMD, Inc. Carine was a lead developer with Kinetic Design, Inc., working with a wide
variety of industrial clients
to design and implement web site solutions.
Darrell W. Baker
Jr. Marketing Designer
Darrell earned a B. S. in Graphic Design from Florida A&M University, Tallahassee. Darrell has over
four years of experience in graphic
design. Darrell has worked in the development and design of web sites, product catalogs on CD-ROM, corporate identity commercial print projects and
cover design of four.
Mark Pavlovich
Director, Health Informatics
Mark
Pavlovich brings more than 15 years of applied behavior analysis experience to dotMD. Mark has extensive experience
in instructional design, program
development, and analysis of enterprise
metrics. He has authored numerous
publications and papers in education,
rehabilitation, and medicolegal ethics, and has served
as a consultant in the areas of performance analysis and enhancement, business process design and compliance.
Prior
to joining dotMD, Mark was Director of Applied Health Informatics at VHx where he developed a
continuum of care, wrote physician
decision support algorithms, and designed interactive
metrics. Prior to VHx, Mark held teaching, research and management positions in developmental psychology and behavioral analysis. He founded the PSI
Consulting Group and developed the
Disability Analysis DataBase – interactive workers’ compensation loss prevention tool. Mark also worked as a subacute rehabilitation consultant for HCR/ManorCare.
Mark’s
work in automated coma management received awards from Johns Hopkins and the Southeastern Traumatic Brain Injury Research Consortium. He received a
master’s degree in behavior analysis
and therapy from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.
Technology
Hardware and Software Applications
DotMD, Inc.web-based applications are developed with state of the art technologies to provide an unparalleled level of functionality, usability and security. To achieve this goal, each architectural component is evaluated for compliance with the following dotMD standards.
Scalability
Each technology must provide the ability to
support a load of at least 1 million users
or provide a clear path to achieving that goal without
significant re-write of any application components. For example, dotMD
applications are being developed in a Java servlet & Enterprise Java Bean environment so that when the load becomes too great for the current servers,
additional application servers
can be added with no code re-write necessary.
The existing servers would
continue to serve as web servers so that no existing hardware is wasted.
Functionality
Any architectural component must provide
significant value to our end
customers. This can take the form of
either providing a service directly to the client (i.e. web trend
analysis reports for analyzing the
traffic and behavior of end users on the site), or enabling dotMD to more quickly and cost
effectively develop additional applications
for our customers.
Open Standards
Adherence to open standards is key to our ability to take advantage of new technologies as they emerge and mature in the three areas discussed above. dotMD will participate in committees and standards governing organizations to stay current on emerging standards like Java and XML.
Development
Methodology and Guidelines
Development of dotMD applications is facilitated by adherence to an object oriented methodology. dotMD applications and security are developed for the ubiquitous browser interface. Because of performance and security concerns, the use of applets is tightly controlled. To deliver an interface that fits these criteria and is still highly secure, dotMD applications require a minimum browser client level of Netscape 4.x or Internet Explorer 4.x.
Java
Server Pages (JSP)
In order to provide a personalized user experience, many of the dotMD web pages are created dynamically. The Java Server Page architecture allows dotMD to separate the presentation logic from the business logic functions so that multiple interfaces and applications can utilize the business logic packages and frameworks. This framework is utilized by all dotMD web based applications.
Java
Servlets & Enterprise Java Beans (JRUN)
By developing applications as Java servlets & Enterprise Java
Beans, we are able to develop highly scalable, distributed applications. The frameworks on which these servlets and beans are built separate session objects and entity objects which improve the scalability and performance of the system design.
DBMS
dotMD’s persistent data is stored in a database. To ensure data integrity and availability, a backup database is managed on a redundant server and kept current via the database server’s native replication capability. The database server is Oracle 8i running on Sun Solaris.
XML
Extensible Markup Language (XML) Technology is used to integrate data among various databases.
Web
Server
We use Apache web servers on Sun Solaris.
Reliability
dotMD is committed to providing systems that are available 24x7. Achieving this requires that the architectural decisions are based on proven and stable technology. Since some failures are inevitable, dotMD is implementing a highly redundant hosting environment. Architectural redundancy capabilities and contingency plans are developed for any potential failure.
Redundant Global Service Provider connections, along with a dually attached switched network backbone will provide constant Internet connectivity to our state-of-the-art redundant Web Servers and Database/Application servers. All servers will employ hot swappable RAID 5 arrays, and dual FastEthernet connectivity.
Security
Network
Security
dotMD servers reside behind a CheckPoint Firewall
system. This dedicated firewall system utilizes a dedicated Sun Solaris
UNIX kernel and CheckPoint firewall
software. Traffic that is deemed legitimate by the firewall is then
inspected and subjected to an IP translation. This process shields the internal IP
addresses and network structure of
the dotMD servers from any outside attacks. All inbound and outbound traffic is mirrored, and unusual
patterns or evidence of scanning
or denial of service attacks are immediately
detected and dealt with.
Application
Security
dotMD has implemented a state of the art security infrastructure that
provides roles-based access control, strong authentication and SSL encryption. A user ID and password pair will
authenticate the user. All sensitive
data transferred over the public Internet will be encrypted using Secure
Sockets Layer encryption (Version 3.0).
Hosting
dotMD’s
servers are hosted at a world-class hosting facility by Exodus Communications,
Inc. (www.exodus.net) in Sterling,
Virginia. According to International Data Corporation's April 2000 bulletin
titled "Web Hosting Services: 1999 Market Share Assessment", Exodus led
the industry. Exodus Communications is headquartered in Santa Clara, CA. They
are the trailblazers in the Internet hosting business. Exodus had about 1700
employees at the end of 1999. They reported revenue of approximately $130
million for the first quarter in 2000.
These
world-class facilities are custom designed with raised floors, HVAC temperature control systems with
separate cooling zones, and
seismically braced racks. They offer the widest range of physical security features, including state-of-the-art
smoke detection and fire
suppression systems, motion sensors, and 24x7 secured
access, as well as video camera surveillance and security breach alarms.
Within
these facilities, Exodus is able to deliver the highest levels of reliability through a number of
redundant subsystems, such as multiple
fiber trunks coming into each Internet Data Center from multiple sources, fully redundant power on the premises, and multiple backup generators.
Exodus
currently operates a global network of Internet Data Centers in major metropolitan areas, with close proximity to
major public and private interconnects
to maximize connectivity rate and overall
site performance. Currently, Exodus has data centers in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.
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Finally,
all Exodus Internet Data Centers combine around-the clock systems management with onsite personnel trained in the areas of networking, Internet, and systems
management. The result is a
physical and technical environment affording customers the reliability and flexibility necessary to
outsource their mission critical Internet
operations.
D15.2 Technical plan
D15.2.1
Facilities and systems.
The
domain is administered out of two facilities: the dotMD, Inc. headquarters and the Exodus
Communications hosting facility in Sterling, VA, USA.
dotMD, Inc. is located in northern Atlanta, GA, USA in a high tech office space that is wired for networks
and optical fiber communications.
They have T1 access in and out of the headquarters.
In this 15,000 square feet of office space they house the executive team, management team, product development team, and the technology team. Here they have a
test bed server environment for
product development and testing. DotMD uses a combination of Apple and PC systems for design work, and PC systems for software engineering.
The Registry, DNS, and hosting
environment are located at Exodus Communications
at Sterling, VA, USA. Exodus Communications is
a world-wide leader in web hosting environments. The building is constructed to be protective
against ballistic attack, and to be protected
from seismic disturbances. Access to the building is through bullet proof and ballistic proof doors. Only
pre-authorized personnel are
allowed access to the Data Center. Access to the Data Center is through two successive biometric palm scans simultaneous with placement of a
validated magnetic card. Once in the
Data Center, each server environment is isolated behind locked cages. Our servers are further protected
by closed cabinets inside the
cage.
The Exodus Data Center resides on raised
floors in an environmentally controlled
space. There is fire detection and protection
24x7. The entire network is monitored 24x7 by the on site Network Operations Center, which contacts dotMD immediately for any detected intrusion or
function alarm. The Data Center
is located on the Internet backbone to ensure good connectivity and very low end-to-end latency. There is
redundancy in the backbone
connections.
The Data Center receives power from two
separate power grids. If one fails,
the other takes over. If both grids fail, battery power takes over. If the batteries fail, there are three days of
diesel generator power
available.
Our servers reside behind a CheckPoint
Firewall System. We utilize F5
geographic load balancers. The web servers are Apache web server on Sun Solaris boxes. We utilize a clustered environment for safety, speed, and failover.
Our servers are configured to allow
for immediate failover should any one server fail.
We mirror all inbound and outbound traffic for intrusion detection and for backup.
Continuous
backup is performed on the Exodus Data Vault back-up Solution.
dotMD contracts for three levels of intrusion detection, with the ability to go out and block the IP
address of intrusion sources.
A general network diagram of the server
system is shown on the next
page.
D15.2.4
Zone File Generation.
Zone files are created from the registry
database (Oracle 8i on a certified Sun Cluster). Changes are made to the
registry and a custom application written in C modifies the Primary DNS server
accordingly. The application currently processes changes instantly. All zones
are backed up nightly using an external data-vault service contracted by Exodus
Communications.
D15.2.5
Zone File Distribution.
Zone files are distributed from the
Primary DNS server to secondary DNS servers located in Sterling, VA, Ft. Myers,
Florida, Miami,Florida, and California. Secondary DNS servers are
authorized to pull zones from the
primary. Additional DNS servers would be deployed in Frankfurt, Germany at
Exodus' Internet Data Center.
D15.2.6
Billing and Collection
Systems.
Not applicable
D15.2.7
Data escrow and Backup.
All data is backed up in full weekly, with incremental backups occurring nightly. Critical files such as the zone files, registry database, and transaction files are backed up hourly. All data is stored via fiber optic attached storage arrays, and exists in retrievable format for twelve months. After twelve months, data is archived for three years, creating an eventual four years of data recoverability.
D15.2.8 WHOIS
Service.
WHOIS service will be created by dotMD
for dotLaw by ODBC calls from www.register.law
into the Oracle based registry database. This service is always available.
D15.2.9
System Security.
See section D15.1
D15.2.10
Peak Capacities.
See section D15.1
D15.2.11
System Reliability.
See section D15.1
D15.2.12
System Outage Prevention.
See section D15.1
D15.2.13
System Recovery Procedures.
See section D15.1
D15.2.14
Technical and Other
Support.
See sections D15.1 and
D13.2.8
D15.3 Subcontractors
The sole subcontractor is Exodus, whose
background, experience, qualifications, roles and responsibilities have been
described in sections D11, D15.1 and D15.2.