2000.AFNIC-DNSO.html

DNSO expenses in 2000.

AFNIC report to the Names Council.

1 December 2000

DNSO Background

Since September 1998 the DNSO has been in the process of establishing itself pursuant to the ICANN Bylaws http://www.icann.org/general/bylaws.htm and the DNSO principles http://www.icann.org/dnso-formation.html as worked out by the Internet community in a worldwide international bottom-up process approved during Singapore meetings in March 1999. During the initial DNSO Berlin meetings in May 1999 the Internet community put in place the Provisional Names Council, approved the Interim DNSO voluntary Secretariat (7 months of service offered by AFNIC in 1999), and called for the further organization of the DNSO: each and every Constituency had to self-organize, put in place an administrative structure necessary for a group management, set up a website and mailing lists, prepare for elections for the Names Council delegates with respect to the requirements as set up in ICANN Bylaws. Simultaneously the Provisional Names Council put in place five Working Groups tackling to the difficult Internet issues which have been awaiting for international debate and solutions. With tremendous efforts and commitments the DNSO was able to select on time the 3 ICANN Board Directors, and therefore permit the ICANN structure happen. In the end of 1999 the Names Council elected a Chair and an Alternate Chair to the DNSO General Assembly, which later on became a working structure, with a voting registry, and respecting consensus rules decided by itself. The 1999 DNSO Secretariat Report http://www.dnso.org/secretariat/1999.Secretariatreport.html describes briefly the seven months of initial work and time.

ICANN Budget and its distribution as per contributors

An ICANN budget for fiscal year 1999-2000 (July-June) was adopted in Berlin. In July a Task Force on Funding (TFF) composed of representatives of DNSO Registries and Registrars, and Address regional Registries, reviewed the budgetary needs and made recommendations to the ICANN Board. The main funding scheme provides for payment shares: 10% for Address regional Registries and 90% for DNSO Registries and Registrars. The DNSO part being subdivided into 50% for Registrars, 5% for gTLD Registries and 35% for ccTLD Registries. Such a funding scheme, applied to $US 4.6M budget, set an enormous financial effort on the DNSO Constituencies providing for 90% of the whole ICANN budget, therefore any additional and layered budget’s raising for the general DNSO services became a very difficult if not an impossible exercise.

DNSO obligations as set up in ICANN Bylaws and the NC dilemma

There are obligations and responsibilities set on the DNSO in ICANN Bylaws, such as public meetings, physical or teleconferences, to which anybody in the world may listen and participate without being requested to afford expensive travels. The Names Council feels that, although financially difficult, these obligations are in the essence of the ICANN process and shall be fulfilled. Another set of obligations follows from the ICANN Bylaws, such as services to the Names Council, Working Groups and General Assembly. An office of liaison between all Constituencies, the Names Council, WGs, and GA forum able to provide information services to the international community - all these request for a permanent DNSO Secretariat, being able to work together with the ICANN staff. That being said, and after several meetings debating about finances, the Names Council concludes that it cannot reconcile Constituencies reluctance for the layered system of fees and assume its duties without asking for central ICANN funding. Nevertheless the Names Council wanted to show its willingness to reach a solidarity between Constituencies, and committed to raise $US 95,500 for 2000.

AFNIC expenditures for the DNSO services for FY 2000

AFNIC has been following the overall budget expenses as voted by the Names Council during its March meeting.

	EXPENDITURES
1	Personnel		34 000
	Webmaster (engineer part time)	24 000
	Technical support (part time)	6 000
	Temporary staff, help for 2 months of voting for ICANN Board	4 000
	Secretariat (part time, consultant, real cost USD 60 000)	(offered)
2	Offices and Equipment		2 000
	Office rental and office running (real cost for 70 sq meters is USD 25 000, AFNIC rented offices for his own staff in central Paris to keep place available for DNSO service)	(offered)
	PC desktop equipment purchase, software and hardware	2 000
3	Security, backup, connectivity		13 000
	Hosting dnso.org server in secure building, supervision, local and remote backups	5 000
	Connectivity to the Internet (real cost for 2 Mb/s is USD 25 000, supported by Renater)	8 000
4	External professional services		3 000
	Legal advice	3 000
5	Telephone		1 800
	Dial up from home (USD 90 per month)	1 080
	Business running (USD 60 per month)	720
6	Secretariat Teleconferences (NC and committees)		600
	from office/home (USD 30 per telecon)	360
	when on travels (USD 120 per telecon)	240
7	Travels to ICANN meetings		5 000
	(Cairo NC+GA, Yokohama NC+GA, Marina del Rey GA: real cost USD 12 220)	5 000
	Total Expenditure, Capital Equipment		59 400

The services provided to the DNSO includes:

Service to the NC

agendas/summaries/communication in between meetings
NC membership maintenance (addresses, phones any other means for contact)
NC e-mail list (maintaining, archiving, publishing)
design and implementation of the NC voting system
NC annual selection to the ICANN Board

Service to the GA

maintaining, archiving and publishing mailing lists (in various formats)
publishing GA documents on the dnso.org website
creating and maintaining the DNSO GA membership database (including constituencies members; necessary to have the DNSO votes)
adapting the NC voting system to the DNSO GA voting system
attending and reporting to GA meetings
day to day work with GA Chairs

Service to the Working Groups and Committees

maintaining, archiving and publishing mailing lists
publishing Working Groups documents
setting up lists for comments

General service for the DNSO

dnso.org web site concept and design
dnso.org web site maintenance, with appropriate links to items of interests to the DNSO
developping scripts and publishing statistics
help desk, round clock service by email or telephone; FAQs
hiring and training temporary staff to execute their responsibilities
search for independent offices
search of sponsors for offices and services
work with ICANN staff, receiving ICANN staff and President
receiving European ICANN Board members
conducting communication with European ICANN partners attending Brussels meetings, WIPO, GAC
conducting communication and liaison with Constituencies secretariats
publicizing and promoting documents, contact with press

Buildings, hardware, software, administrative work

Office rental, office running
Computers and printers for the staff
Telephone lines and fax
Connectivity to the Internet
Offices security service
Network and operating systems security service
Backup service, with the dnso.org mirroring on a distant site

AFNIC recommendations to the Names Council

AFNIC believes the DNSO is an essential ICANN partner in establishing Internet management, and the schedule of the whole corporation depends on its good and efficient international functioning. AFNIC has been providing the DNSO Secretariat service to Internet community, ensuring almost round-the-clock service, and work coverage far beyond the usual business working hours, assuming its function with the highest professional responsibility. Setting up from scratch the worldwide organizations within a very short time is of greatest challenge, we wish the DNSO and ICANN can succeed in their mission. It is time to consolidate.