DotAsia sTLD Initiative:

1
DotAsia sTLD Initiative

• A Top-Level Domain for the Pan-Asia and Asia
  Pacific Internet Community

2
The .Asia Concept

• Result of over a year of work
• All TLDs except ccTLDs are perceived as
  Western-based
• Yet, over 60 of the worlds population and 90
  languages reside in Asia
• Asia undergoing dramatic, accelerating change
• Economic
• Cultural
• Technical
• Asian community bound together by this dynamic
  environment
• Coherent/mature/thriving (e.g. APNIC, APNG,
  APRICOT meetings)
• NOW is the time for the Asian community to
  establish its own identity on the Internet

3
Why a .Asia TLD?

• .Asia fulfills a market need
• Internet penetration/usage growing exponentially
  in Asia
• Internet is critical to communitys growth,
  access and integration
• A new domain will satisfy demand for a virtual
  central market with a neutral identity
• .Asia fulfills the requirements for an sTLD
• a specialized TLD that has a sponsor
  representing the narrower community that is most
  affected by the TLD.
• a sponsor is an organization to which is
  delegated some defined ongoing policy-formulation
  authority
• .Asia fulfills a dream
• A powerful, integrated market to balance the West

4
Who needs .Asia TLD?

• Asia based regional companies
• Local companies expanding to regional
• Asia Headquarters of global companies
• NGOs and not-for-profit organisations in Asia
  such as APNIC, APIA, APTLD, ASOCIO, etc.
• Asian Games, Asian Cup and many other Asia based
  sports events
• Asian Wall Street Journal, Asia Computer Weekly,
  Channel News Asia and many other newspapers /
  magazines / TV channels which target the Asian
  market or community
• Many others

5
What is .Asia?

• A sponsored top level domain, or sTLD
• Registrations available in LDH at the second
  level (e.g. name.asia)
• idn.asia to be supported in the future
• Eligibility requirement legal entity in Pan-Asia
  or Asia Pacific
• Definition ICANNs Asia/Australia/Pacific
  region
• Sold via registrars including ccTLDs
• Standards-compliant domain

6
DotAsia Organisation Limited formed to serve
the community

• Vision
• Leverage the successful and cooperative platform
  of the Pan-Asia and Asia Pacific Internet
  community to further this collaborative approach
  to other areas of the growing economies.
• Mission
• Sponsor, establish and operate an Internet
  namespace with global recognition and regional
  significance dedicated to the needs of the
  Pan-Asia and Asia Pacific Internet community
• Reinvest surpluses in socio-technological
  advancement initiatives relevant to the Pan-Asia
  and Asia Pacific Internet community
• Operate a viable not-for-profit initiative that
  is a technically advanced, world-class TLD
  registry for the Pan-Asia and Asia Pacific
  community

7
Who is DotAsia Organisation Limited?

• Not-for-profit organisation incorporated in Hong
  Kong
• Owned by Pan-Asia and Asia Pacific Internet
  community
• Sponsored by ccTLDs
• Co-sponsored by regional based Internet/IT/Telecom
  groups, NGOs, and other relevant community
  organizations
• Open and accessible governance
• Board of 11 (8 sponsors, 2 co-sponsors, 1 CEO)
• Advisory Council (1 representative from each
  co-sponsor, plus other experts appointed by the
  Board)
• Proceeds Steering Committeeselects community
  projects to fund
• Initial funding loaned by Afilias Limited

8
Organization Structure
9
Special Features Differentiators

• Pan-Asia and Asia Pacific regional presence
  requirement
• Augmenting UDRP WIPO reserved domains list with
  local DRP reserved lists
• Improve regional intellectual property rights
  protection
• Especially important for IDNs
• Joint marketing, product bundling with ccTLDs
• Proof-of-concept IDN lab
• Leverage existing ccTLD experience
• Advanced application of standards

10
Sponsor members (ccTLD) participation and benefits

• Nominations to and votes for the Board
• Local Domain Dispute Resolution Policy to augment
  the UDRP
• List of Reserved Names to be blocked
• Language expertise on multilingual domain names
• TLD operating experience from your ccTLD
• No capital investment is needed
• Revenue sharing

11
.Asia expected to complement ccTLDs

• Example .INFO launch in Germany
• 260,000 .INFOs in Germany did not negatively
  impact sales of .DE
• .UK experience similar during .INFO launch

.DE
.INFO
12
Co-sponsor members (AP Groups) participation and
benefits

• Nomination of a representative on the Advisory
  Council
• From the AC representative, nominate and vote for
  the seats at the Board
• Experience and policy knowledge for .Asia
• Bids to the Proceeds Steering Committee for grant
  allocations
• Counsel to Proceeds Steering Committee on areas
  of interest for re-investment
• No capital investment is needed

13
.Asia bid already has good support

• Current Sponsors (LOIs signed)
• .CN - China Internet Network Information Center
  (CNNIC)
• .ID - Country Code Top Level Domain Indonesia
  (ccTLD-ID)
• .IN - .IN ccTLD Registry
• .IR - .IR ccTLD Registry
• .JP - Japan Registry Service Co., Ltd. (JPRS)
• .KR - Korea Network Information Center (KRNIC)
• .MO - Macau Network Information Center (MONIC)
• .NU - Internet Users Society - Niue (IUSN)
• .NZ - InternetNZ
• .PH - PH Domain Foundation
• .SG - Singapore Network Information Centre
  (SGNIC)
• .TW - Taiwan Network Information Center (TWNIC)
• .VN - Vietnam Internet Network Information Center
  (VNNIC)
• Current Co-sponsors (LOIs signed)
• APNG - Asia Pacific Networking Group
• APNIC - Asia Pacific Network Information Centre
• PAN Pan Asia Networking, International
  Development Research Centre

14
Other Supporters

• Asia Pacific Top Level Domain Association (APTLD)
  
• Hon SIN Chung-Kai, Legislative Councillor, HKSAR
• Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited
  (CYBERPORT)
• Hong Kong Information Technology Federation
  (HKITF)
• Hong Kong Information Technology Industry Council
  (HKITIC)
• Hong Kong Internet Service Providers Association
  (HKISPA)
• Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC)
• Hong Kong Telecommunications Users Group (HKTUG)
• Information and Software Industry Association,
  Hong Kong (ISIA)
• Invest Hong Kong, HKSAR Government (InvestHK)
• IP Mirror Private Limited (SGNIC-Accredited
  Registrar from Singapore)
• Netpia.com (ICANN-Accredited Registrar from
  Korea)
• Philippine Internet Services Organization (PISO)
• Web Commerce Communications Limited
  (ICANN-Accredited Registrar from Malaysia)

15
Initial Board

• Indra K. HARTONO (Managing Partner, ccTLD-ID)
• Hirofumi HOTTA (Director, JPRS)
• LIM Choon Sai (General Manager, SGNIC)
• Tommy MATSUMOTO (Chairman, APNG)
• Dr. SIR Jae-Chul (Vice President, KRNIC)
• Richard ST. CLAIR (Co-founder and Technical
  Manager, IUSN)
• Dr. THAM Yiu Kwok (Administrative Contact, MONIC)
• Prof. TSENG Shian-Shyong (Chairman, TWNIC)
• YU Yang (Commissioner, International Affairs,
  CNNIC)
• One vacancy from Co-Sponsor Member
• CEO (Ex-Officio)

16
Initial Advisory Council

• Izumi AIZU (Member Asia / Australia / Pacific,
  Interim ALAC)
• R.K. ARORA (Group Coordinator Senior Director,
  Department of Information Technology, Ministry of
  Communications and Information Technology,
  Government of India)
• Prof. Vincent CHEN (Advisory Board, APNG)
• Prof. Kilnam CHON (KAIST)
• Khaled FATTAL (Acting Executive Director, AINC)
• Dr. Kenny HUANG (Advisor, CDNC)
• Maria NG Lee Hoon (Regional Senior Program
  Specialist, PAN, IDRC)
• Paul WILSON (Director General, APNIC)
• Prof. XUE Hong (Member Asia / Australia /
  Pacific, Interim ALAC)
• More experts are needed

17
.Asia timetable

• ICANN bid submitted March 16, 2004
• The first bid from Asia ever
• Public comments April 1 May 14
• Independent evaluation May-July
• First physical Initial Board Meeting in KL in
  July
• August 1 and forward Selection of applications
  for commercial / technical negotiation and
  contract talks

18
Joining as Member

• Please join .Asia
• Run by Asians for the Asians
• Owned by the Community
• Not-for-profit organisation
• Participate in the governance
• Help Internet development in Asia
• the only gTLD bid from Asia
• Only non-binding Letter of Intent (LOI) is needed
  at this stage
• More support means higher chance of success

19
Thank you

• Questions?