[soac-newgtldapsup-wg] This should help needy applicants

[Elaine Pruis <elaine@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Date: July 7, 2011 2:03:35 PM PDT
> Subject: Wiki to shake up the new gTLD market
> Source: DomainIncite - Domain Name News & Opinion
> Author: Kevin Murphy
> 
> Tens of thousands of dollars worth of registry secret sauce is set to be 
> released under a Creative Commons license on a new wiki, courtesy of the 
> International Telecommunications Union.
> 
> Applying for a new generic top-level domain could be about to get a whole lot 
> cheaper.
> 
> Before October, the ITU plans to publish template answers to all 22 of the 
> questions about registry technical operations demanded by ICANN’s Applicant 
> Guidebook.
> 
> Because it will be published under a Creative Commons license, new gTLD 
> applicants will be free to copy and paste the whole lot into their 
> applications for free.
> 
> And because it will be on a wiki, approved contributors will be able to 
> fine-tune the templates to increase their chances of passing ICANN’s 
> technical evaluation.
> 
> Currently, gTLD applicants are generally paying registry back-end providers 
> to take care of this part of their applications, paying $10,000 and up for 
> the privilege.
> 
> I think the word that applies here is “disruptive”.
> 
> Consultant and former ICANN board member Michael Palage, who has worked on a 
> number of previous TLD launches, is coordinating the creation of the 
> templates with input from registries and engineers.
> 
> The resulting “best in class” material will also be used by the ITU and the 
> League of Arab States in their bid for .arab and its Arabic equivalent, .عرب.
> 
> According to the Guidebook, applicants do not need hands-on experience 
> running a registry in order to have their application approved. ICANN is 
> trying to enable competition, after all.
> 
> But there is a period of pre-delegation testing that each successful 
> applicant must endure before their new gTLD is added to the root, so a simple 
> copy-paste of the ITU’s templates will not suffice.
> 
> I doubt this project will take a great deal of money out of the pockets of 
> the incumbent registries – well-funded applicants will presumably be happy to 
> pay the extra money for certainty – but it will provide a bit of flexibility 
> for applicants not already in bed with a back-end.
> 
> It could also help open up the new gTLD market to companies that may not have 
> otherwise considered it, such as those in the developing world.
> 
> Indeed, part of the rationale for the Creative Commons publication is to aid 
> with “capacity building” in these nations, according to an ITU presentation 
> delivered in Cairo this week.
> 
> We’ve already seen pricing competition hit the registry services market in 
> the wake of the approval of the new gTLD program, now it appears we’re seeing 
> the dawn of “free”.
> 

Elaine