General Assembly decides in favour of applying for the .net Top Level Domain, which is currently open for bids

DENIC Comments on ICANN’s bidding documentation and the appraisal procedure

DENIC eG is to submit a bid to take over the administration of the .net Top Level Domain (TLD), which is currently the object of a competitive bidding process. This decision was taken with a large majority of 90 per cent in favour today by the members of the Frankfurt-based registry, which is organized in the form of a registered cooperative. DENIC administers the German TLD .de which, with over eight million domains, is the world’s biggest country code (cc) TLD. DENIC does not strive to make a profit, but sees itself as an impartial service provider for the whole Internet community. This decision shows that there is very broadly-based backing for DENIC’s bid, since many of the members of the cooperative, including noteworthy international domain businesses, Internet service providers and carriers, are experienced national and international registrars and users not only of .de domains but also of other TLDs, such as .com and .net.

ICANN, the international Internet organization, has decided to assign the future administration of .net, which, with more than five million domains, is the world’s third largest TLD, through a worldwide process of competitive biding. According to the recently revised timetable, bids must be submitted by 18 January 2005 and transfer of the administration of .net to the successful bidder (which could also be its existing operator) is scheduled for 1 July 2005.

ICANN has drawn up a catalogue of requirements, which states in detail what it expects of the future .net operator. This document is clear and meticulous in defining the extremely tough preconditions that a bidder will have to fulfil to have any prospect of success. DENIC welcomes the noticeable focus on presenting the candidates’ technical competence. The security and stability of the services constitute a decisive criterion, and their effect will be to limit the number of applicants with serious chances to no more than a handful, which is bound to include DENIC, as one of the world’s leading registries. Sabine Dolderer, a member of DENIC’s Executive Board, comments thus: “in emphasizing technical performance as a top priority, ICANN’s call for proposals is at all events pointing in the right direction. Our view, however, is that for some of the individual issues there is a lack of uniform standards on which to base the appraisal criteria. In such cases, we shall be putting forward our own proposals and, naturally, leveraging our experience from operating .de.”

DENIC is ideally poised to take over the administration of .net:

• For more than ten years, DENIC has been administering the .de TLD, an absolutely top-grade technical service, which has never gone down, not even once;

• DENIC has experience as a large-scale registry with many million domains and today is already administering the world’s second biggest Top Level Domain after .com

• For many years, in close cooperation with the German Internet community, DENIC has been strongly committed to the further development of the Internet;

• A decision in favour of DENIC would enhance competition and bring in an alternative to the op-erators who have administered the generic TLDs to date.

So it can be seen that DENIC fulfils all the preconditions and criteria ICANN intends to use as the basis for the decision on the future operator of .net. Sabine Dolderer adds: “we are looking forward to a fair and professional bidding process and a decision inspired primarily and equally by meeting the needs of both the .net users and registrars and the Internet community as a whole. DENIC’s detailed bid is going to include particular consideration of the demands of these groups and will bring a new impetus to the administration of .net.”