ICANN

Adoption of IPv6 Is Essential

29 January 2010 -- It has long been anticipated, but the available pool of unallocated Internet addresses using the older IPv4 protocol – which holds a total of slightly more than four billion IP addresses - has now dipped to below the 10 percent mark, meaning that there are only a bit over 400 million IP addresses left in the global pool of unallocated addresses.

21 January 2010 -- ICANN is pleased to announce the successful completion of the IDN ccTLD Fast Track String Evaluation for four (4) proposed IDN ccTLDs. The requests are associated with: Egypt, the Russian Federation, United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia. Details of the successful evaluations are provided here.

ICANN Signs Two Historic Agreements with UN Agencies

11 December 2009 -- ICANN and the Swiss-based Universal Postal Union (UPU) have signed a historic agreement giving the UPU managing authority over .post as a top-level domain.

This agreement came about after long negotiations, public review through ICANN's public comment process, and consideration by ICANN’s Board of Directors. An equal level of effort was required from representatives of the UPU. The result is what may be the first truly secure top-level domain for the provision of services by the UPU member states.

Priority for Existing ".Asia" Domain Registrants for Corresponding IDNs Considered

HONG KONG, Nov. 18 -- Following announcements by ICANN to approve the use of Internationalized Domain Names (IDN), the global top- level domain ".Asia", will accept IDN registrations starting in the second half of 2010 to address pent up demand in Asia for multilingual web addresses.

16 November 2009 -- ICANN is pleased to announce the launch of the IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process.

Non-English speakers across the globe will soon have access to the Internet addresses completely in their own language. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the organization charged with overseeing the Internet’s naming and numbering systems, is today launching a process for delegating a number of internationalized top-level domains.

11 November 2009 -- ICANN is soliciting information, advice and proposed models as it considers soliciting expressions of interest in new gTLDs.

The public comment forum will be open until December 11, 2009 however, community members that wish to have their input considered by the Board during its December meeting, should submit comments no later than November 27, 2009.

You can access this Expressions of Interest Public Comment Forum here:
http://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/public-comment-200912.htm#eoi-new...

4 November 2009 -- The ccNSO's Internationalised Domain Name Country Code Policy Development Process Working Group (IDN ccPDP WG) for the selection and delegation of IDN ccTLDs is pleased to announce the publication of its draft Topic Paper for public discussion and comment. The purpose of this Topic Paper is to identify and define the topics and issues that, in the view of the WG, need to be taken into consideration to propose a feasible policy for the selection and delegation of IDN ccTLDs.

3 November 2009 -- ICANN has announced today that it has signed an exchange of letters with the country code top level domain (ccTLD) manager for .SG, the Singapore Network Information Centre (SGNIC) Pte Ltd on 28 October 2009.

The Accountability Framework program provides two mechanisms by which ccTLD managers can formalise their relationship with ICANN. The first is an Accountability Framework document that sets out the obligations of a ccTLD manager and ICANN. It also covers dispute resolution and termination and is designed for ccTLD managers requiring a formal document with ICANN.

2 November 2009 -- ICANN is today posting the .POST Sponsorship Agreement for public comment. ICANN and the Universal Postal Union (UPU) reached an agreement in principle following a challenging yet fruitful negotiation process. The Agreement represents a significant accomplishment for ICANN, the UPU, and the global Internet community, as it is the first gTLD Registry Agreement between ICANN and an Intergovernmental Organization (IGO).

Fast Track Process for Internationalized Domain Names Launches Nov 16

30 October 2009 -- Seoul -- The first Internet addresses containing non-Latin characters from start to finish will soon be online thanks to today's approval of the new Internationalized Domain Name Fast Track Process by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers board.