Re: [ga] NTIA "Request for Information" on the IANA Functions

[Kim Davies <kim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Danny,

Quoting Danny Younger on Sunday February 26, 2006:
| 
| I would ask you to keep your mind open to other possibilities as we
| do live in a changing world... the CENTR community (thanks in great
| measure to the contributions of NASK) has been working for quite some
| time on an effort to fully automate the IANA functions.
|
| Their e-IANA project has developed software to empower each
| Registry operator to be responsible for their entries in the
| Root Zone file. A fully working system has been evaluated by
| 50+ Registries worldwide. Documentation may be reviewed at:
| http://www.dns.pl/iana/Requirements_for_Automated_Management_of_TLD_IA
| NA_Database.PDF
|
| Their commitment to this project has made them, in my estimation,
| the leading candidate to manage the IANA functions should the RFI
| eventually result in an RFP.

For what its worth, my 2c:

I was involved in the e-IANA project from the CENTR side (as the CENTR
project coordinator), including developing the requirements document you
cite above.

I now work for IANA and we are adapting the e-IANA software to an
operational platform that we will use. NASK have fully supported the
effort and handed IANA the materials to enable this, and we continue
working cooperatively with CENTR, NASK, and indeed the entire root
management community on moving it forward.

As the requirements document was based upon speculation by the ccTLD
community on what was needed and IANA's internal operations, the present
work is on revising the system based upon the actual operational
experience of the IANA staff.

It is probably a useful juncture here to note that the IANA isn't solely
the root zone management function. Indeed, the bulk of its work is in
its other coordination roles. The e-IANA system is only for the
automation of parts of the root zone management function, so it would be
unfair to characterise it as an "effort to fully automate the IANA
functions".

kim