This roundtable served as a forum for the ccTLDs, from a diverse set of countries, to provide insights about the unique and influential role they play in the DNS ecosystem. I was thankful for the rich dialogue that resulted and which explored the quality of the operational and security functions ccTLDs perform to serve their users and citizens, all within the framework of policies and requirements of their own countries. In addition, the roundtable allowed for valuable feedback and for us to explore ways to enhance our relationship.

Another objective was to consider DNS developments, such as the introduction of new gTLDs, and the rapid pace of innovation within the sector and how this will influence ccTLDs. We also addressed potential challenges to the multistakeholder model of Internet governance in the context of the needs of the next billion Internet users who are scheduled to come online.

I briefed them on a number of ICANN’s operational priorities, as well as the work being undertaken by the registry and the registrar CEOs who participated in last month’s roundtables. Other topics included: 1) the reputational risks and opportunities for ccTLDs and the domain name industry from a media perspective; 2) statistical trends and the interplay between gTLD market changes and ccTLDs over the years; and 3) options for using infographic tools to depict and explain the role of the ccTLDs in the DNS sector.

Something of tremendous importance, which I stressed in my conversations with the ccTLD CEOs, and that I would like to ensure is communicated more broadly: ICANN’s focus should not be on the amount of ccTLD financial contributions, rather emphasis needs to be placed on areas where we can collaborate, as true partners. Working together must take priority over financial considerations that have been stumbling blocks in the past. We share a common goal of bringing value to the Internet and its users – individuals, businesses, citizens and organizations – that is possible through cooperation, alignment of our technical and operational performance, and support of the multistakeholder model.

While the drivers of ccTLD performance cannot be entirely decoupled from the performance of gTLDs, and the DNS sector as a whole, they do have many areas of differentiation. Among the issues we explored is ccTLDs’ focus on the public interest through their role as national entities and in relation to larger, more global economic and social trends.

I am grateful to the CEOs for their participation and look forward to continuing our efforts at a DNS Summit, which will take place next month and will serve as the culminating event for this roundtable series.

Roundtable participants (as pictured) include:

Back Row (from left to right):

David Olive, Vice President, Policy Development Support, ICANN
Frederico Neves, CTO, NIC.br
Roelof Meijer, CEO, SIDN
Xiaodong Lee, CEO, CNNIC
Mathieu Weill, CEO, AFNIC
Chris Disspain, CEO, auDA
Bart Boswinkel, Senior Director, ccNSO Policy Development Support, ICANN
Byron Holland, CEO, CIRA
Richard Wein, CEO, nic.at

Front Row (from left to right):

Sally Costerton, Senior Advisor to the President, Global Stakeholder Engagement, ICANN
Rosalía Morales A., Executive Director, NIC Costa Rica
Sabine Dolderer, CEO, DENIC eG
Lesley Cowley, CEO, Nominet
Lim Choon Sai, General Manager, SGNIC
Marc Van Wesemael, CEO, EURid
Fadi Chehadé, President and CEO, ICANN

This event was part of an ongoing series of small roundtable gatherings with CEOs that will continue in the future. For this particular roundtable, participants represented members and nonmembers of the ccNSO, and were from both smaller and larger-sized ccTLDs. Unfortunately, not all of the invitees could attend. Yet, we were fortunate to be joined by leaders from Latin America, Asia-Pacific, Europe, North America, and the Caribbean.

In 2008 another big step was taken, when IPv6 glue was added for six of the root DNS servers. Today, in 2012, nine have IPv6 glue and as the map below shows, IPv6 access to root DNS servers is widely spread around the world. While all L-root nodes are IPv6 capable, some are attached to networks that do not yet run IPv6, so only 68 of the 112 nodes deployed today are accessed over IPv6.

Beyond the DNS, major network backbones and IXPs have been IPv6 ready for years, too. Currently, 95% of Euro-IX’s 63 members have IPv6 peering LANs ate the exchanges they operate. This means that ISPs, the IXPs’ customers have been keen to make sure their peering platforms are ready for IPv6.

These are all major deliverables on the critical path to smooth IPv6 deployment. Now they’re done it’s time for content and access providers to offer content and access over IPv6. As the measurements make very clear, World IPv6 Launch delivered lots of content over IPv6 and a lot of large ISPs have been enabling their subscribers, with millions more to follow before the year end.

But those subscribers need IPv6 capable routers and modems in their homes so that they can access the Internet over IPv6. Five manufacturers are now offering home networking equipment that’s IPv6 enabled by default and available at low and medium price points. This is on top of the 17 IPv6 ready cable modem products available today.

All the jigsaw pieces are now available for successful IPv6 deployment to consumer Internet users.

2008 年，IPv6 进程又迈出了一大步，又有六台根 DNS 服务器添加了 IPv6 粘附。时至今日，已有九台根 DNS 服务器上有 IPv6 粘附，具体如下图所示。世界各地已经广泛分布了能访问根 DNS 服务器的 IPv6 接口。虽然所有的 L-根节点都支持 IPv6，某些节点仍然隶属于未部署 IPv6 的网络，因此，目前已部署的 112 个节点中仅有 68 个能够接入 IPv6 网络。

除了 DNS 以外，主要的骨干网络和 IXP 都已经在数年前做好了部署 IPv6 的准备。目前，Euro-IX 的 63 个成员中 95% 已经在自己运行的交换服务器上测试了 IPv6 局域网。这表明各 ISP（IXP 的客户）都热衷于确保其试验平台能够部署 IPv6。

这些都是顺利部署 IPv6 的关键进程中取得的重大成果。鉴于这些已取得的成果，现在正是让内容和接入供应商在 IPv6 网络上提供内容和接入服务的时机。测量结果清楚地表明，World IPv6 Launch（世界 IPv6 启动）已成功在 IPv6 上发送了许多的内容，而许多大型 ISP 也已经为用户开放了 IPv6 服务，并且在今年结束之前将再有数百万用户接入 IPv6 网络。

但这些用户须在家中自备支持 IPv6 的路由器和调制解调器，才能通过 IPv6 访问互联网。目前有五家制造商正在供应默认支持 IPv6 的家庭网络连接设备，并且价格适中。这些产品在目前在售的 17 种支持 IPv6 的有线调制解调器产品中位于前列。

目前所有已具备的条件表明，IPv6 可以成功部署，供商业型互联网用户使用。

В 2008 году был сделан еще один большой шаг, когда были добавлены связующие элементы IPv6 для шести корневых серверов DNS. На сегодняшний день, в 2012 году, девять из них имеют связующие элементы IPv6 и, как показано на карте ниже, доступ по протоколу IPv6 к корневым серверам DNS широко распространен по всему миру. Хотя все корневые узлы сервера «L» совместимы с IPv6, некоторые из них подключены к сетям, еще не использующим IPv6, поэтому доступ по протоколу IPv6 возможен только к 68 из 112 развернутых в настоящее время узлов.

Помимо DNS, главные сетевые магистрали и точки обмена трафиком (IXP) уже в течение многих лет готовы к переходу на IPv6. В настоящее время 95% из 63 членов Euro-IX имеют одноранговые локальные сети IPv6 для обмена трафиком, находящимся под их управлением. Это означает, что поставщики услуг Интернета, клиенты IXP стремятся обеспечить готовность своих одноранговых платформ к использованию IPv6.

Все это — крупные результаты на важном пути развертывания IPv6, позволяющие обеспечить плавность развертывания. Теперь, когда они достигнуты, для поставщиков контента и доступа настало время предлагать информационное содержание и доступ по протоколу IPv6. Как совершенно точно показывают результаты измерений, инициатива World IPv6 Launch (Всемирный запуск IPv6) привела к передаче большого объема контента по IPv6, и многие крупные поставщики услуг Интернета позволяют своим абонентам использовать этот протокол, ожидая появления миллионов новых пользователей данного протокола до конца этого года.

Однако для получения возможности доступа к Интернету по протоколу IPv6 этим абонентам необходимо установить у себя дома совместимые с IPv6 маршрутизаторы и модемы. Пять производителей предлагают в настоящее время домашнее сетевое оборудование, совместимое с IPv6 по умолчанию и относящееся к низкой и средней ценовой категории. Эти продукты лидируют среди доступных сегодня 17 кабельных модемов, готовых к использованию IPv6.

Теперь имеются все компоненты, позволяющие осуществить успешное развертывание IPv6 для потребителей, использующих Интернет.

Un grand progrès a été réalisé lorsqu’en 2008 la liaison IPv6 a été ajoutée dans six des serveurs racine du DNS. À ce jour, en 2012, il y en a neuf ayant la liaison IPv6. La carte ci-dessous montre que l’accès IPv6 aux serveurs racine du DNS est largement répandu dans le monde entier. Alors que les nœuds de la racine L sont capables de supporter IPv6, quelques-uns sont rattachés à des réseaux qui n’opèrent pas encore avec IPv6, de sorte qu’à ce jour, on ne peut accéder qu’à 68 des 112 nœuds déployés sur IPv6.

Au-delà du DNS, les plus grands réseaux fédérateurs et les IXP ont aussi été prêts pour IPv6 pendant des années. À ce jour, 95 % des 63 membres d’Euro-IX ont des réseaux locaux (LAN) d’appairage IPv6 pour leurs échanges. Cela signifie que les ISP, les clients d’IXP ont été motivés pour s’assurer que leurs plateformes d’appairage soient prêtes pour IPv6.

Voici les objectifs majeurs de l’étape critique pour assurer le déploiement d’IPv6. Maintenant que cela est fait, il est temps pour que les fournisseurs offrent l’accès et les contenus sur IPv6. Il est clair d’après les mesures, que le World IPv6 Launch a livré un bon nombre de contenus sur IPv6, qu’une grande partie des ISP ont rendu possible l’accès à leurs abonnés, et que des millions vont les suivre avant la fin de l’année.

Mais, pour pouvoir accéder à l’Internet sur IPv6, ces abonnées ont besoin d’avoir des routeurs et des modems adaptés dans leurs foyers. Five manufacturers offrent à ce jour des équipements de réseau domestiques supportant IPv6 par défaut et qui sont disponibles sur le marché à des prix raisonnables. Ce sont les principaux 17 IPv6 ready cable modem products disponibles aujourd’hui.

Toutes les pièces du puzzle sont maintenant disponibles pour le déploiement réussi d’IPv6 en faveur des utilisateurs d’Internet.

En el año 2008 se dio otro importante paso cuando el registro de interconexión (glue) del IPv6 fue agregado a seis de los servidores raíz del DNS. Actualmente, en el año 2012, nueve servidores tienen registros de interconexión (glue) del IPv6 y, tal como lo muestra el mapa a continuación, el acceso IPv6 a servidores raíz del DNS se encuentra ampliamente difundido en todo el mundo. Si bien todos los nodos de los servidores de raíz “L” tienen la capacidad necesaria para el IPv6, algunos se encuentran adjuntados a redes que aún no funcionan con IPv6. Por lo tanto, sólo 68 de los 112 nodos que se encuentran desplegados en la actualidad son accedidos mediante el IPv6.

Además del DNS, los ejes de las redes más importantes y los Puntos de Intercambio de Internet (IXPs) también han estado preparados para el IPv6 hace varios años. Actualmente, el 95% de los 63 miembros de la Asociación de Intercambio de Internet Europeo (Euro-IX’s) tienen IPv6 interconectados con Redes de Área Local (LANs) en los intercambios que operan. Esto significa que los Proveedores de Servicios de Internet (ISPs), los clientes de los IXPs, han tenido el interés en asegurar que sus plataformas de interconexión estuviesen preparados para el IPv6.

Estos son los principales productos que se encuentran en el camino principal hacia un despliegue sin complicaciones del IPv6. Ahora que están listos, es hora de que los proveedores de contenido y acceso ofrezcan contenido y acceso mediante el IPv6. Tal como lo aclaran las mediciones, el Lanzamiento Mundial del IPv6 brindó mucho contenido a través del IPv6 y varios importantes Proveedores de Servicios de Internet (ISPs) han estado habilitando a sus suscriptores con el uso de este protocolo. Se seguirán habilitando millones más antes del final del año.

Pero esos suscriptores necesitan enrutadores y módems en sus hogares que tengan la capacidad necesaria para el IPv6 para poder tener acceso a Internet a través de este protocolo. Cinco fabricantes están ofreciendo equipos de red para el hogar que permiten el uso del IPv6 de forma predeterminada. Los mismos están disponibles a precios bajos y medianos. Estos ocupan un lugar importante entre los 17 productos de cable módem, listos para el uso del IPv6 que se encuentran disponibles en la actualidad.

Todas las piezas del rompecabezas están disponibles para un despliegue exitoso del IPv6 para los usuarios de Internet.

تكلمنا في الماضي عن كيفية استعداد البنية التحتية الأساسية للإنترنت للعمل ببروتوكول IPv6. في عام 2004، تمت إضافة أول لصق لبروتوكول IPv6 إلى منطقة جزر DNS لكل من .JP و .KR ولكن عندما تنظر إلى جزء من منطقة الجزر اليوم – أي الجزء المرتبط بنطاقات ccTLD المشتقة من القائمة ISO-3166-1 – يمكنك أن ترى بأن حصة كبيرة من مشغلي نطاقات TLD جاهزة للعمل باستخدام IPv6.

وفي عام 2008، تم اتخاذ خطوة أخرى كبيرة، وذلك عندما تمت إضافة لصق بروتوكول IPv6 لخوادم DNS الجذر الستة. واليوم في عام 2012، تحتوي تسعة خوادم على لصق IPv6 كما توضح الخريطة أدناه، فقد انتشر الوصول إلى خوادم DNS الجذر بشكل واسع حول العالم. ففي حين أن كافة عقد جذر L قادرة على التشغيل بنظام IPv6، فإن البعض منها مرتبط بشبكات لا تعمل حتى الآن بنظام IPv6، لذا فإن 68 عقدة فقط من بين 112 عقدة مستخدمة اليوم يمكن الوصول إليها من خلال بروتوكول IPv6.

وبخلاف DNS، فإن الركائز الأساسية للشبكات بالإضافة إلى نقاط تبادل الإنترنت (IXP) كانت هي الأخرى جاهزة للعمل بنظام IPv6 لعدة أعوام. وفي الوقت الحالي، فإن نسبة 95 % من أعضاء نقاط تبادل الإنترنت الأوروبية البالغ عددهم 63 لديهم شبكات واسعة تعمل بنظام IPv6 قد استوعبت التبادلات التي تشغلها. وهذا يعني أن مشغلي خدمة الإنترنت، وعملاء نقاط تبادل الإنترنت كانت لديهم الرغبة في التأكد من أن المنصات الموازية التي تعمل لديهم جاهزة لاستخدام نظام IPv6.

وكانت هذه جميعها مواد التسليم الأساسية في الطريق الحرج للحصول على نشر واستخدام سلس لنظام IPv6. وبما أن ذلك قد تم الآن، فقد حان الوقت لموفي المحتوى والوصول لعرض المحتوى والوصول من خلال IPv6. وحيث أن عمليات القياس تؤدي إلى مزيد من التوضيح, فقد قدم تشغيل IPv6 العالمي العديد من المحتويات عن طريق IPv6 والعديد من كبار موفر خدمة إنترنت كانوا يقومون بتمكين المشتركين لديهم، بالإضافة إلى الملايين للمتابعة قبل نهاية العام.

إلا أن هؤلاء المشتركين بحاجة إلى أجهزة توجيه وأجهزة مودم قادرة على استخدام IPv6 في منازلهم بحيث يمكنك الوصول إلى الإنترنت عبر استخدام IPv6. هناك خمس شركات مصنعة تعرض الآن أجهزة شبكات منزلية لها القدرة على استخدام IPv6 بشكل افتراضي وتتوافر بأسعار منخفضة ومتوسطة. ويأتي ذلك زائدًا عن منتجات مودم الكابل القادرة على استخدام IPv6 وعددها 17 المتوفرة حاليًا.

وتتوافر الآن جميع الأجزاء اللازمة لنجاح استخدام IPv6 لدى مستخدمي إنترنت العملاء.

He was the keynote speaker at the Russian IGF, but the local organizers, the Russian Coordination Center for the .ru ccTLD decided to use him even more, and invited Jeff also to join a panel discussion on DDoS attacks, with Natalia Kaspersky and Andrea Rigoni.

At the panel, Jeff spoke after some other prominent panelist, who discussed the topic “Combat with cybercrime: cooperation and collective initiatives” – like Michel Moren, Acting Assistant Deputy Director, INTERPOL and Alexey Moshkov, Head of the Bureau for Special Technical Measures of Department “K” of the Ministry of Interior of Russian Federation, Police Major General. Full program of the event (in English) is at their web site.

After the panel was over, and without giving Jeff a break, the Minister of telecom and mass communications, I.O. Schegolev, invited Jeff to officially open the 23rd international exhibition SvyazExpoCom. Jeff was in a good company – besides the Russian minister, the other dignitaries, who spoke at the opening of the exhibition included Slovenian member of the cabinet Ziga Turk, ITU deputy Secretary-General Houlin Zhao, and the deputy-chairman of the Russian Chamber of Commerce Vladimir Strashko. Interesting moment, and hardly with equivalent, was that Jeff’s speech was translated by the deputy-minister of communications (sic!).

After the opening of the exhibition, Jeff was rushed back to the main plenary hall, where hundreds of people were patiently waiting to hear his keynote (video to be posted soon).

I won’t write here about the presentation, but will note that after it was over, we had a number of meetings, one after the other, until late at night, with people from across the Internet specter – from law-enforcement, through academia, through business and non-profit, and government representatives.

Here’s what the CEO of the Russian Coordination Center for the .ru ccTLD, Andrei Kolesnikov, wrote about Jeff’s presentation and interaction with the participants at the event:

“Having spoken with a number of our guests, including government representatives and professionals, I am pleased to let you know everyone cited your presentation as a candid and provocative account which helped raise awareness of critical challenges in the cybersecurity area and ways to address them.”

I can also confirm that this opinion was indeed shared by many.

The Russians now want Jeff to visit again, and not only for a one day stay, but to stay longer. Some are already asking if he could join, in 2013, the 16th Russian Internet Forum, or the 20th Relarn Internet geeks boat cruise on the Volga river.

I am thinking, “Maybe I should recommend him to take part in both!”

Egypt’s top-level domain .eg is operated by the Egyptian Universities Network (EUN) (http://www.iana.org/domains/root/db/eg.html). The Arabic script top-level domain .masr (مصر, http://www.iana.org/domains/root/db/xn--wgbh1c.html) is operated by the National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority of Egypt (NTRA) (http://www.iana.org/domains/root/db/xn--wgbh1c.html).

The primary servers they operate have been inaccessible to those outside of Egypt since January 27. Secondary DNS servers for .eg, located in Austria and the United States, have continued to function with data provided before the shutdown.

The .مصر DNS servers are exclusively in Egypt and there do not appear to be any secondary DNS servers outside the country. This means that service to sites served by this top-level domain are unreachable by the rest of the world.

Secondary servers copy their data from the primary server at regular intervals. Data in the secondary DNS servers, serving anyone in the world wishing to receive .eg DNS services, have an expiration date. Secondary servers require regular updating from the primary server at specified intervals – called “time to live” (TTL) – and that time is set to expire in 140 days.

Normally when primary servers fail – for example, following the earthquake in Haiti – the operator wants secondary servers to continue operating with the last zone file they had provided. This allows users around the world to connect to functioning servers in their zone.

ICANN’s Manager for Regional Relations for the Middle East has been communicating with both TLD operators, EUN and NTRA. The operators of .eg have communicated with ICANN and through ICANN are communicating with the secondary operators outside the country. They have requested that the secondary operators continue using the existing zone files past their time to live timeframes, if necessary.

This experience offers a number of lessons, among them that a policy to encourage the establishment of secondary servers to promote continuity of service as well as DNS stability could be useful and in the global public interest. ICANN will ask the ccNSO to consider proposing a policy to address this type of situation.

ICANN helps to ensure a secure and stable global Internet through its coordination of the domain name system, and is the global policy development body for the DNS and related matters. More than 100 ccTLD operators are voluntary members of the Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO), a formal ICANN policy and coordination body.

It turned out they needed less than three hours to reach to the 100,000 domain names! Such a gold rush was not expected, and numbers continued to grow – 200,000 within 6 hours from the beginning of the registration period. And more than 460,000 by today.

The registration process, which clearly exceeded (and continues to exceed) all expectation, includes some interesting details, for example there is a list of 4023 words, which are not allowed for registration. The so-called “black list” contains variations of all different vulgar words, known in the Russian language. However, users have already found ways to bypass it, with simply adding another word in front, or after the blacklisted words.

We’ll be waiting to hear more on the history and the development of the Russian IDN ccTLD during the ICANN meeting in Cartagena, where several of the Russian ccTLD top management people will be present.
And we’ll prepare a posting on that topic, with more details for the general public. We hope that these details might be helpful in the launch of other new TLDs.

There are hundred of publications in the Russian central media, and even more all over the web, with people sharing opinions about who might be these registrants, why there are so many domains registered, and what does the fact of so many domains mean for the Russian Internet. It will be also interesting to see in exactly one year how many of these domains will be renewed. But certainly the Russian IDN ccTLD has made history.

More on the Russian ccTLD Coordination Center here (in Russian).

More on the ICANN IDN program here.

Interesting background information
The Cyrillic IDN ccTLD started as an idea, discussed during the meeting of the Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov with his Russian colleague President Vladimir Putin on January 18, 2008 in Sofia, Bulgaria. The Bulgarian President’s office published last week the transcript from that meeting. Asked by President Putin, the Russian foreign minister responds, “As for the usage of Cyrillic in the Internet, our experts have already reviewed these issues, we have contacts with the international structures [ICANN], now we are solving the technical questions and the contacts between our specialists on that issue, of course, will confirm our commitment that Cyrillic should be used in the domain names. As for the consultations, as a whole, we are very happy from our cooperation [between Russia, Bulgaria, and ICANN].”

UPDATE FROM November 18, 2010:
As of today, November 18, the number of domains in .рф (.rf IDN ccTLD) passed half a million. As the Coordination Center announced, the 500000th domain registered was металлоконструкции74.рф (xn--74-6kctqamahahrlb5apjiu5d.xn--p1ai – in puny-code). This number brings .рф on 17th place among all European domains. Domains, which were delegated, or a working, account to more than 162,000. Most of them are already used in advertising, not only as single words, but as whole phrases, which are easy for the Russian speaker to understand.