[registrars] Registry Certification

[Richard Lindsay <richard@interq.ad.jp>]

Fellow Registrars,

Allow me to don my Afilias hat for a moment and clear up some issues
that have been discussed on the list recently, mainly with regard
to certification by registrars for the new gTLD registries.

First of all, I would like to preface by stating that Afilias is
now working diligently to put together sufficient information to
allow registrars to start technical and business preparations in
order to register .info domain names.  I believe when this information
is available, it should allay many of the concerns or questions that
many of you have.  In the mean time I would like to attempt to answer
some questions I have seen discussed.

First of all, Afilias will not be conducting any king of accreditation
similar to ICANN.  The certification to go live is meant to be as
simple and painless as possible, and basically consists of two steps,
which can be conducted simultaneously.

1.  Demonstrate the ability to use the protocol, which will be
likely very similar to all the new registries since it is based
on the work progressing at the IETF.

2.  Open an account with Afilias, that will be based on your
estimated volume of monthly registrations.

There will be no case where Afilias is able to make any arbitrary
decision which could cause a registrar to not be able to register
domains in the .info registry.  As long as a registrar has been
accredited by ICANN, it is eligible to register in the Afilias
registry.

I hope this brief mail assures you that the Afilias registry will
be open to all registrars, and that concerns about certification
are unfounded.  As I mentioned, we are working very hard now to
put together the technical and business documentation that will
allow you to start preparing to become operational as quickly and
as painlessly as possible.  Further, rest assured that Afilias
members are not given any tangible advantage in becoming operational.
Afilias members will receive the pertinent information when it is
made public to all registrars.

Best Regards,
Richard

--
_/_/_/Richard A. S. Lindsay
_/_/_/Chairman, Board of Managers
_/_/_/Afilias Ltd.
_/_/_/TEL (Direct):  81-3-5456-2703
_/_/_/TEL (Cellular):  81-90-8744-5860
_/_/_/FACSIMILE:  81-3-5456-2556