UPDATED: The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
released its recommended list of the top-rated organizations to take
over management of the .net domain extension.
VeriSign , the current registry operator for the
third-largest domain extension, is in line to keep its job for another six years.
Mountain View, Calif.-based VeriSign was expected to hand over the
reins of
control after its existing contract with ICANN ends June 30, but ended
up being the top vote getter out of a field of five other companies.
The bids were ranked in the following order: VeriSign, Sentan,
Afilias, Denic and CORE++.
VeriSign will now enter two weeks of negotiations with ICANN staffers
to hammer
out a registry operator agreement for their next term. In a few day’s
time, the negotiating team from VeriSign will meet with ICANN officials
to discuss any changes they want made to the draft registry agreement.
If for some reason the two sides cannot come to terms in the time
allotted, ICANN
will begin negotiations with the second-highest bidder, Sentan. A
report will also be sent to ICANN’s board of directors detailing the
contended points, as well as comments from the bidder in response.
The five competing bids were evaluated by Telcordia, a somewhat controversial
group, to be selected as independent evaluators. The company has
past
and existing business connections with two of the five bidders, VeriSign
and NeuStar, owner of one of the bidders.
Telcordia spent the past two months interviewing, scoring and
evaluating the five bids under consideration. The organization’s
preliminary report, with its notes on each bid’s relative strengths
and weaknesses, was completed earlier this month and given to each
bidder following a site visit. Each applicant was given time to respond
to the evaluators’ report.
“The evaluators find that all the vendors have the capabilities to
run the .net registry,” the Telcordia report said, but noted that the
“distinguishing characteristics are largely difference in experience,
risk and price.”
Throughout the process, scores of Red, Yellow, Green or Blue were
used. Although specific definitions of the scores were developed for
each criteria in the process, a Red score meant that the level of
service was unacceptable. Yellow meant there were serious flaws or
issues, Green meant the quality was acceptable, while Blue signified
that the service exceeded requirements.
The final scoring result gave a slight advantage to VeriSign after
the company scored 14 Blue votes. Sentan received 13 Blue votes, while
the other three only received a handful of mentions.
Jordyn Buchanan, Register.com director of policy, said the main concern at
the registrar is getting a registry operator that can maintain the stability
of the .net service. He’s not surprised that VeriSign will retain its
stewardship and expects the decision to be warmly received from an
operational standpoint, if not from a policy point of view, from some in the
Internet community.
“I think a lot of people in the past have expressed concerns about
VeriSign’s stewardship of the various [generic top-level domains (gTLDs)]
that it runs, and we don’t always see eye to eye on policy issues,” he said. “And I
think it’s important that ICANN continues to work very diligently to ensure
VeriSign is a good steward of this community resource and complies with the
policies that are developed by the community.
“With that in mind,
it’s good to take a look at the contract to make sure it gives ICANN the
flexibility to make that happen.”
The Association for Competitive Technology (ACT) applauded the
decision to retain VeriSign as the .net domain registry operator.
“The stability and security of the .net domain is critical to the
future of the Internet. We are pleased to see that ICANN put these
concerns above corporate squabbles and politics in making its decision,”
ACT President Jonathan Zuck said in a statement.
The .net bidding process, which began last year, is slightly behind
schedule. Originally, the ranking results were scheduled to be
completed by March 9, according to the request for proposal (RFP) on the
.net bids, with the announcement of the final winner during the March
ICANN board of directors meeting.
According to Kieran Baker, an ICANN spokesman, the board can either
convene a special meeting or make the announcement as soon as next week,
during the organization’s thrice-yearly ICANN meeting in Mar del Plata,
Argentina, next week.
Regardless of the outcome, VeriSign’s appointment as the next .net
registry operator is still subject to final approval of the U.S.
Department of Commerce (DOC).
