DotAsia sTLD Initiative: A Top-Level Domain for the Pan- Asia and Asia Pacific Internet Community

The.Asia Concept Result of over a year of work All TLDs except ccTLDs are perceived as Western-based Yet, over 60% of the world’s population and 90 languages reside in Asia Asia undergoing dramatic, accelerating change Economic Cultural Technical Asian community bound together by this dynamic environment Coherent/mature/thriving (e.g. APNIC, APNG, APRICOT meetings) NOW is the time for the Asian community to establish its own identity on the Internet

Why a.Asia TLD?.Asia fulfills a market need Internet penetration/usage growing exponentially in Asia Internet is critical to community’s growth, access and integration A new domain will satisfy demand for a “virtual central market” with a neutral identity.Asia fulfills the requirements for an sTLD “…a specialized TLD that has a sponsor representing the narrower community that is most affected by the TLD.” “…a sponsor is an organization to which is delegated some defined ongoing policy-formulation authority…”.Asia fulfills a dream A powerful, integrated market to balance the West

Who needs.Asia TLD? Asia based regional companies Local companies expanding to regional Asia Headquarters of global companies NGOs and not-for-profit organisations in Asia such as APNIC, APIA, APTLD, ASOCIO, etc. Asian Games, Asian Cup and many other Asia based sports events Asian Wall Street Journal, Asia Computer Weekly, Channel News Asia and many other newspapers / magazines / TV channels which target the Asian market or community Many others…

What is.Asia? A “sponsored” top level domain, or sTLD Registrations available in LDH at the second level (e.g. name.asia) idn.asia to be supported in the future Eligibility requirement: legal entity in Pan-Asia or Asia Pacific Definition: ICANN’s Asia/Australia/Pacific region Sold via registrars including ccTLDs Standards-compliant domain

DotAsia Organisation Limited: formed to serve the community Vision: Leverage the successful and cooperative platform of the Pan- Asia and Asia Pacific Internet community to further this collaborative approach to other areas of the growing economies. Mission: Sponsor, establish and operate an Internet namespace with global recognition and regional significance dedicated to the needs of the Pan-Asia and Asia Pacific Internet community Reinvest surpluses in socio-technological advancement initiatives relevant to the Pan-Asia and Asia Pacific Internet community Operate a viable not-for-profit initiative that is a technically advanced, world-class TLD registry for the Pan-Asia and Asia Pacific community

Who is DotAsia Organisation Limited? Not-for-profit organisation incorporated in Hong Kong “Owned” by Pan-Asia and Asia Pacific Internet community: Sponsored by ccTLD’s Co-sponsored by regional based Internet/IT/Telecom groups, NGOs, and other relevant community organizations Open and accessible governance Board of 11 (8 sponsors, 2 co-sponsors, 1 CEO) Advisory Council (1 representative from each co-sponsor, plus other experts appointed by the Board) Proceeds Steering Committee—selects community projects to fund Initial funding loaned by Afilias Limited

Organization Structure

Special Features & Differentiators Pan-Asia and Asia Pacific regional presence requirement Augmenting UDRP & WIPO reserved domains list with local DRP & reserved lists Improve regional intellectual property rights protection Especially important for IDNs Joint marketing, product bundling with ccTLDs Proof-of-concept IDN lab Leverage existing ccTLD experience Advanced application of standards

Sponsor members (ccTLD) participation and benefits Nominations to and votes for the Board Local Domain Dispute Resolution Policy to augment the UDRP List of Reserved Names to be blocked Language expertise on multilingual domain names TLD operating experience from your ccTLD No capital investment is needed “Revenue sharing”

.Asia expected to complement ccTLDs Example:.INFO launch in Germany 260,000.INFO’s in Germany did not negatively impact sales of.DE.UK experience similar during.INFO launch.INFO.DE

Co-sponsor members (AP Groups) participation and benefits Nomination of a representative on the Advisory Council From the AC representative, nominate and vote for the seats at the Board Experience and policy knowledge for.Asia Bids to the Proceeds Steering Committee for grant allocations Counsel to Proceeds Steering Committee on areas of interest for re-investment No capital investment is needed

.Asia bid already has good support Current Sponsors (LOIs signed).CN - China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC).ID - Country Code Top Level Domain Indonesia (ccTLD-ID).IN -.IN ccTLD Registry.IR -.IR ccTLD Registry.JP - Japan Registry Service Co., Ltd. (JPRS).KR - Korea Network Information Center (KRNIC).MO - Macau Network Information Center (MONIC).NU - Internet Users Society - Niue (IUSN).NZ - InternetNZ.PH - PH Domain Foundation.SG - Singapore Network Information Centre (SGNIC).TW - Taiwan Network Information Center (TWNIC).VN - Vietnam Internet Network Information Center (VNNIC) Current Co-sponsors (LOIs signed) APNG - Asia Pacific Networking Group APNIC - Asia Pacific Network Information Centre PAN – Pan Asia Networking, International Development Research Centre

Other Supporters Asia Pacific Top Level Domain Association (APTLD) Hon SIN Chung-Kai, Legislative Councillor, HKSAR Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited (CYBERPORT) Hong Kong Information Technology Federation (HKITF) Hong Kong Information Technology Industry Council (HKITIC) Hong Kong Internet Service Providers Association (HKISPA) Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) Hong Kong Telecommunications Users Group (HKTUG) Information and Software Industry Association, Hong Kong (ISIA) Invest Hong Kong, HKSAR Government (InvestHK) IP Mirror Private Limited (SGNIC-Accredited Registrar from Singapore) Netpia.com (ICANN-Accredited Registrar from Korea) Philippine Internet Services Organization (PISO) Web Commerce Communications Limited (ICANN-Accredited Registrar from Malaysia)

Initial Board Indra K. HARTONO (Managing Partner, ccTLD-ID) Hirofumi HOTTA (Director, JPRS) LIM Choon Sai (General Manager, SGNIC) Tommy MATSUMOTO (Chairman, APNG) Dr. SIR Jae-Chul (Vice President, KRNIC) Richard ST. CLAIR (Co-founder and Technical Manager, IUSN) Dr. THAM Yiu Kwok (Administrative Contact, MONIC) Prof. TSENG Shian-Shyong (Chairman, TWNIC) YU Yang (Commissioner, International Affairs, CNNIC) One vacancy from Co-Sponsor Member CEO (Ex-Officio)

Initial Advisory Council Izumi AIZU (Member Asia / Australia / Pacific, Interim ALAC) R.K. ARORA (Group Coordinator & Senior Director, Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Government of India) Prof. Vincent CHEN (Advisory Board, APNG) Prof. Kilnam CHON (KAIST) Khaled FATTAL (Acting Executive Director, AINC) Dr. Kenny HUANG (Advisor, CDNC) Maria NG Lee Hoon (Regional Senior Program Specialist, PAN, IDRC) Paul WILSON (Director General, APNIC) Prof. XUE Hong (Member Asia / Australia / Pacific, Interim ALAC) More experts are needed

.Asia timetable ICANN bid submitted : March 16, 2004 The first bid from Asia ever Public comments: April 1 – May 14 Independent evaluation: May-July First physical Initial Board Meeting in KL in July August 1 and forward: Selection of applications for commercial / technical negotiation and contract talks

Joining as Member Please join.Asia: Run by Asians for the Asians Owned by the Community Not-for-profit organisation Participate in the governance Help Internet development in Asia the only gTLD bid from Asia Only non-binding Letter of Intent (LOI) is needed at this stage More support means higher chance of success

Thank you Questions?