Executive Summary

The .org registry is an integral part of the foundation of the Internet. It was one of the first top-level domains made available to the public, and has grown to be one of the largest and most important top-level domains in the world. Millions of entities around the world rely on the availability of this registry to meet the missions of their organizations. The transition of this critical public resource from VeriSign to a successor registry operator is not to be taken lightly; there are major business and technological considerations that a successor operator must understand and address.

The .org community is a global and diverse one that must be served by a registry operator which will service each of the community’s members equally. The responsiveness to the noncommercial community can be addressed in two distinct manners: (1) by managing .org from a geographically disbursed infrastructure and operations, and (2) by developing a representative policy council (the .org Global Policy Council) to listen to the concerns of the diverse cross-section of parties.  It is only the combination of these mechanisms that will provide the responsiveness to .org registrants that is demanded today.

Each day thousands of domain names are registered and renewed. The choice of extension a registrant makes is based on several factors: how the domain name will be used, the physical geography being served, and the perception the name will give to the outside world. The extension ‘org’ carries a clear meaning in many cultures, but, as of today, the .org registry has not been clearly defined.  Though one of the largest TLDs, .org has not had a truly unique identity of its own—it has been used and marketed primarily in tandem with its sibling registries (.com and .net). It is time to differentiate .org from existing generic top-level domains and focus its mission to serve the needs of the noncommercial Internet community.

The ability to transition the .org registry without sacrificing its integrity, to provide a highly stable service at a competitive price, to meet the needs of the global noncommercial Internet constituency, to enhance competition in the registry market, and to be an active part of the evolution of the Internet are all important considerations in the selection of a successor operator of the .org registry. NeuStar addresses each of these objectives throughout this proposal for .org reassignment, and in summary below:

NeuStar has unparalleled experience transitioning an existing TLD from VeriSign.
With over two million registrations today, the stable transition of the .org name space is a top priority. Specific attention must be paid to every facet of the registry operations during this critical period. NeuStar has a credible plan that details every milestone necessary for a seamless transition. This plan is not theoretical, but must call on experience and lessons learned during the transition of an Internet registry. More specifically, NeuStar has this experience:

• We are the only registry operator who has successfully transitioned an active TLD from VeriSign, the incumbent operator of .org;

• We have developed and executed flawlessly a phased, comprehensive transition plan based on our past experience and specific knowledge of DNS;

• We are uniquely positioned to leverage our existing registry platform and proven experience to meet a challenging implementation timeline; and

• We have additional and relevant transition experience as evidenced in our assuming responsibility for all of the North American Numbering Plan and transitioning national number pooling.

NeuStar operates a superior Internet registry platform that will ensure the stability of .org.
Over the last 15 years, the .org registry has developed into a sizable TLD with registrars, registrants, and Internet users around the world relying on its availability. While stability begins with the transition; it is critical that it be ensured throughout the entire administration of the .org registry. NeuStar has proven technology that can provide not only sufficient scale, but also offer high quality service at high levels of availability. Our technical experience has been demonstrated time and again:

• We have made a significant investment in a scalable, next-generation, global Internet registry platform that can manage .org in a stable manner;

• We operate pursuant to the most stringent Service Level Agreements (SLAs) of any gTLD operator, and have similarly stringent SLAs in our Numbering business;

• We have an experienced team of professionals with a proven legacy of managing mission critical resources (e.g., .biz, .us, NANPA, LNP, and Number Pooling); and

• We have a history of facilitating policy and industry consensus in highly competitive environments (e.g., ICANN and telecommunications).

NeuStar’s ownership structure and neutrality policies will ensure competition is enhanced.
With the reassignment of the fourth largest TLD from the registry operator of the first and second largest TLDs, ICANN will dramatically expand competition in the registry operations by selecting a smaller, yet experienced registry operator in the marketplace with a unique structure and commitment to neutral, even-handed treatment of customers. Further, competition among registrars will be enhanced by choosing a registry operator that is (1) not affiliated with an existing registrar, and (2) has a proven ability to treat all registrars in an equal manner. More specifically:

• We have no affiliation of any kind with the incumbent operator;

• We have a clear focus on the provision of registry services and are not encumbered by conflicts of interest from Registrar investments; and

• We have developed and implemented strict, company-wide policies and codes of conduct that ensure fair treatment and equivalent access for all registrars.

NeuStar has already begun outreach to be responsive to the needs and concerns of the noncommercial Internet community.
The separation of .org from the .com and .net registry’s afford the global Internet community the unique opportunity to re-focus the purpose of the .org TLD to serve the noncommercial community. Operationally, this can be achieved in a number of different ways, however, one of the most important concerns is to be open and responsive to the needs of the larger community, and not simply those of one or a few noncommercial entities. NeuStar will ensure the operation of .org will be responsive to the needs of the noncommercial community in the following ways:

• We will directly engage the noncommercial community by forming a globally diverse representative policy council to ensure responsiveness to the global noncommercial community;

• We have begun outreach to seek input on the types of online services the noncommercial community requires; and

• We will expand and tailor the .org registry to meet the needs of all noncommercial entities, large or small.

NeuStar brings clear differentiation to .org through targeted outreach and enhanced service offerings tailored to the needs of noncommercial entities.
Though ‘.org’ has a specific, recognizable connotation, the .org TLD does not yet have a strong and differentiated intended purpose. The space has a diverse composition of registrants—noncommercial entities, commercial groups, personal registrants and speculators. However, there is no specific focus or single registrant community. With the re-assignment of .org, there is an opportunity to focus the space on the noncommercial user community, through marketing, outreach efforts, and specific technical enhancements that can address the community’s needs. NeuStar can achieve this:

• We will follow strict policies only to market .org registrations to noncommercial entities and we will not promote any market-bundling of .org domain name registrations with generic, personal, or commercial TLDs;

• We have experience with targeted marketing to a specific user community as evidenced in our precision marketing of .biz; and

• We have specific technologies we can develop to address the unique needs of the noncommercial Internet community.

NeuStar is an active participant in ICANN and adheres to its policies.
Maintaining stability of the .org registry, and broadly, all other authoritative Internet domains, requires active involvement with ICANN, and a familiarity and adherence to all of its policies. NeuStar has a distinguished reputation in the development of policy that best appreciates the purpose of such policies and the means of implementing them across the registry. NeuStar has direct, applicable experience working with policy organizations throughout the world:

• We have implemented all policies set forth by ICANN, and operate pursuant to the most stringent registry provisions related to registrar involvement;

• We have helped shape policy for new gTLDs, including fair treatment and Code of Conduct standards introduced in our proposal for .biz; and

• We have detailed mechanisms in place regarding policy implementation and compliance.

NeuStar has the financial commitment and existing infrastructure to transition, operate, and enhance the utility of .org for its intended community without any need for the VeriSign endowment.
Given the clear and needed priority of stability in the transition and management of the .org registry, the ability to execute each of these tasks is predicated on access to physical and capital resources. NeuStar has (1) an existing and scalable infrastructure, (2) an experienced staff to manage and enhance the service offering, (3) a dedicated team to support the .org registrars across the world, and (4) a policy group to conform with ICANN policies, support the noncommercial community worldwide, and the .org Global Policy Council. NeuStar can instill this confidence because:

• We are not reliant on receipt of the VeriSign endowment to immediately provide a high-quality service offering to the noncommercial Internet community;

• We have existing physical assets and capital resources to support and fund our .org business plan; and

• We have ready access to more capital resources from our global equity partners.

NeuStar’s proposal has the endorsement of a globally diverse group of noncommercial organizations.
The noncommercial community is not an easily defined group; it is a diverse collection of entities across the world, serving unique interests. The support of the intended noncommercial community will ensure .org is managed in a way that addresses its unique and important needs. They must be comfortable with the successor operator and confident the proposed council will adequately advance their interests and address each of their needs, regardless of their geography or business focus. NeuStar recognizes this wide range of needs of the noncommercial community:

• We have conducted preliminary outreach and received support from several noncommercial groups around the world representing over 500,000 organizations;

• We initiated marketing research that sought to define the online needs of the global noncommercial community and solicited the.org market perceptions of Internet users; and

• We are proposing an accepted process—the .org Global Policy Council—for soliciting input from the noncommercial Internet community and for the first time, providing them with a voice in the policy of the .org TLD.

NeuStar offers high-quality registry services at a highly competitive price.
Stability and service quality must be weighed alongside establishing a competitive price to the registrar community for the provision of registry services. All registry services must be robust in nature, meet stringent SLAs, and include essential customer support and interaction. The costs associated with execution of a comprehensive registry service are very high given the human and physical capital required to support an Internet registry. These expenses must be equitable, fair, and competitive. NeuStar considers each of these factors:

• We are proposing a robust service offering, including many SRS, Whois, DNS, customer support and sales functions at an all inclusive per-domain-name price;

• We currently offer the lowest price per domain of any gTLD (USD 5.30 for .biz), and will continue to offer .org at a highly competitive price of USD 5.00; and

• We will work closely with ICANN and our proposed Global Policy Council to provide additional registry services at competitive prices.

NeuStar has a longstanding involvement and commitment to standards development and evolution on the Internet.
The administration of registry services is not a static function, but rather a dynamic role wherein the operator must be well aware and versed in new DNS technology. A registry operator must be responsive to changing technology and the needs of its customers and the users of registry services around the world. This is immediately evidenced in what will soon become a new registry-registrar protocol; a successor must be familiar with new protocols to ensure stability in the adoption of any new standards. NeuStar plays an active role in such development:

• We are a major force in the creation of the new registry-registrar protocol (EPP) and many other DNS-related standards through the IETF;

• We employ many DNS subject matter experts and are active members of dozens of global standards bodies such as the IEFT and ITU; and

• We have a history of evolving our services and adapting and deploying new, advanced technologies while maintaining a stable environment in our numbering business.

The following table directly correlates specific aspects of NeuStar’s comprehensive .org solution and experience to ICANN’s evaluation criteria:

Conclusion
NeuStar brings a legacy of developing, transitioning, and operating mission-critical public resources, a history of enhancing competition by building coalitions among groups with competing interests, and an ability to offer robust, innovative services at highly competitive prices. We are confident our proposal highlights each of our unique strengths and demonstrates our ability to ensure the stable transition and global operation of the .org registry for the benefit of the noncommercial sector. We have made a commitment to providing the highest quality services to the Internet community, and welcome the opportunity to share this experience with current and future registrants and registrars of the .org registry.