From the category archives:

Fast Track

4 days in the Fast Track Process

by Tina Dam on November 19, 2009

Just a brief message to keep you up to date.
As of 00:00 UTC today – 4 days after the launch of the Fast Track Process we have new requests coming in.
The total number is 10 requests. They spread over 5 different languages.
Details about the process is at: http://www.icann.org/en/topics/idn/fast-track/
Please keep asking questions. Is there is [...]

{ 11 comments }

Fast Track Status Update

by Tina Dam on November 16, 2009

The IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process was successfully launched, as planned on 16 November 2009. It was done at exactly 00:00UTC with a very joyful count-down by the Fast Track Staff Team – followed by a wooohooo
The launch went smoothly. We have since monitored the system and everything is working.
As of 10pm Pacific [...]

{ 27 comments }

Next Generation Internet Users?

by Tina Dam on November 14, 2009

As we (at ICANN staff) have been preparing for the Fast Track launch, for tomorrow, it was suggested to me that I write a blog post about it. I could have written about all the hard work, the long hours, the aggressive testing of the online system, keeping it simple and yet flexible for all [...]

{ 9 comments }

Overwhelmed by ICANN material at the moment? Here’s a quick guide

by Kieren McCarthy on October 5, 2009

If you are a regular ICANN community member, it is likely you are currently feeling overwhelmed by the amount of material that has appeared in the past week. So here is a quick guide to help make sense of it all.
Sections are:

JPA/Affirmation
Applicant Guidebook/new gTLDs
Fast Track/IDNs
Public comment periods
Seoul meeting
And the remainder

{ 1 comment }

Managing variants at the top-level

by Tina Dam on August 21, 2009

Variant top-level domains (TLDs) and how they are managed is one of the most hotly discussed topics we are facing at the moment. What are variant TLDs, you ask? Well, that’s where the discussion begins…
ICANN’s staff is currently producing implementation plans for both the IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process and the New gTLD Process. What [...]

{ 4 comments }

How we ensure full public discussion of IDN issues

by Kurt Pritz on August 21, 2009

One particularly important aspect of ICANN’s launch of new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) will be the availability of Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) at the top level. That eagerly anticipated enhancement to Internet participation has also raised some issues.
For example, current practice dictates that gTLDs contain at least three characters – two-character Latin TLDs are [...]

{ 2 comments }