[registrars] Cape Town Workshop on developing solutions for Batch Pool

["Bhavin Turakhia" <bhavin.t@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi all,

Please find below details on a workshop to be held at Capetown with regards
to developing a solution to the Verisign Batch pool issue. It is important
to ensure maximum participation in order to have a fruitful discussion. Also
the workshop presents opportunity to any interested party to present papers
on this issue. Please read below for details

- Bhavin

Registrar Constituency Workshop: Announcement and Call for Papers


Workshop Purpose
Jointly sponsored by the Registrar Constituency and ICANN to develop
solutions to the contention for domain names made available by a gTLD
registry (i.e., the deleted names or batch pool market).

Date: 1 Dec 2004, two hours in duration, precise time to be announced.

Location: ICANN Meeting, Cape Town, South Africa, room to be announced.

Due date for papers: 24 Nov 2004

Overview
When a domain name is cancelled, the registry releases the domain name for
re-registration following a redemption grace period and a notice period of
pending delete. In many cases there is more than one entity that wishes to
re-register the domain. The time at which a particular domain name will be
available for re-registration is known to registrars. This causes contention
at the registry, with many registrars sending add commands to seek to
register the name at the same time. This process is an inefficient use of
both registry and registrar resources. This problem has been most noticeable
for the com/net registry due to its large volume of names, but may equally
apply to other registries as the number of names under management grows.

The purpose of the workshop is to receive industry input on possible
long-term solutions to the contention problem. This discussion is also
timely because the contention problem also applies at the time a new TLD is
created, and a new set of domain names becomes available for registration.
Therefore, the workshop results and ensuing steps will become part of the
process for introducing new TLDs.

The workshop will not discuss the various mechanisms introduced by some
registrars for re-allocating registered domain names after expiry to
different registrants, and the workshop will not discuss the proposed WLS
service. Although these mechanisms may limit the number of names that are
made available for re-registration, domain names will still be released by
the registry for re-registration, and thus the contention problem will still
exist.

Agenda
The agenda will consist of short presentations (10 minutes each) from those
wishing to present a proposal, followed by discussion, with the aim to
identify via straw poll the most favored solution for further work. The
workshop will be run in the style of IETF meetings where written proposals
are discussed prior to converging on a particular solution.

All those wishing to present MUST submit a paper in advance (not later than
24 Nov 2004). All submitted papers will be published in advance so that
workshop participants may read the papers in advance and consider questions
in advance. 

Details
The meeting will be co-chaired by the Registrar Constituency and ICANN.
Representatives from other constituencies may be invited; the list of
invitees is being determined. 

Papers should be submitted to Registrar Constituency Chair Bhavin Turakhia
[bhavin.t@xxxxxxxxxxx] and ICANN Chief Registrar Liaison Tim Cole
[cole@xxxxxxxxx]. Questions should be addressed to those individuals.

The meeting will probably occur the afternoon of 1 December, the precise
time depending upon room availability. The time will be settled within the
next several days.