Q1. Why do we need a .ASIA Top Level Domain (TLD)?
.ASIA TLD fulfils a market need and a dream: market needs in a dynamically growing community, and a dream to have a unified front that improves international recognition and regional competitiveness to balance the global forces.
With over 60% of the World’s population (and over 90 languages), Asia is a region that is experiencing tremendous economic, cultural and technical growth. Asia has begun to emerge from its financial and economic problems of the 1990s; at this critical juncture of rejuvenation, a special, dedicated domain can help players in the region to realize their global citizenship as well as the potential for regionally targeted efforts.
Although our cultures and languages are diverse, the Asia community has common interest with the word “Asia” and has a very good sense of belonging of being part of Asia. This is evidenced by the cooperative atmosphere and successful operations of APNIC, APNG, APTLD, APRICOT and etc.
Leveraging the successful experience of existing Asia community initiatives, DotAsia Organisation aspires to bring together the Pan-Asia and Asia-Pacific region. A regionally dedicated domain can help cement a common regional identity that will be reinforced by the reinvestment of registry proceeds into further development for the region. While a single domain registry cannot solve all of the macro issues in the region, this initiative nevertheless seeks to contribute to the realization that regional collaboration will lead to stronger global competitiveness among Pan-Asia and Asia-Pacific corporations, economies and people.
The Internet is playing an increasingly important role in the resurgent economies in the Pan-Asia and Asia-Pacific region. As corporations and entities look beyond their local markets, an online identity is key and a regional domain is a logical next growth step. Similarly, when multi-nationals establish presence in the region, they need a regional identity instead of simply a local one. For example, if a company establishes an Asia headquarters in Shanghai, a “.CN†address may be best for communicating with prospective clients in China. However, when this company visits Japan, a .ASIA address reinforces the broader scope of their market. A regional address may also help local companies to overcome biases when they expand outside their home market. A new domain will satisfy demand for a virtual central market with a neutral regional identity
As in most areas, the SME segment (small/medium enterprises) comprises the largest and fastest growing segment of the market. We believe this is precisely the segment that will benefit most from the market-expanding potential of a regional .ASIA domain.
As Prof. Kilnam Chon, a renowned Internet pioneer in Asia, points out, just as there is a place for international magazines, regional magazines and local magazines, there needs to be a place for international TLDs, regional TLDs and local TLDs. From the point of view of DNS operations, a .ASIA TLD provides specific services for a specialized community that has unique needs not otherwise served by a generic or a country code TLD.
Q2. Who would want a .ASIA TLD? Who are the target customers?
.ASIA is a highly recognizable phrase that is short, easy to remember, versatile but specific and focused on the Asia identity. It captures the essence of the community served and is a sustainable phrase that will not easily become obsolete. Asia traverses a broad region yet elicits a clear concept and coherence of the community, providing registrants tremendous value in establishing an Internet presence with global recognition and regional significance. The name value for .ASIA is especially remarkable for the thriving SME (small medium enterprises) make-up of the Asia economies. This is amplified even more as these SMEs continue to expand beyond their local market to the regional marketplace leveraging the Internet as a platform for growth.
The .ASIA domain can also be naturally used by individuals, businesses, organisations as well as community groups, without constraining to a particular silo within the community, promoting a diverse and dynamic community within the .ASIA namespace. This matches well and is consistent with the multicultural and vibrant community in Asia.
There is a recognizable latent demand in Asia for a TLD with regional significance and versatility. The .ASIA TLD will address this gap in the domain namespace. Furthermore, many of the less technically conscious SMEs in the region have almost out on the rush for a presence in the now well-occupied namespaces. The .ASIA domain will provide an opportunity for these entities to establish a representative yet adaptable online identity. Not only will commercial entities benefit from the opening of the .ASIA domain as a regional presence on the Internet, individuals and public or private initiatives, such as regional community organisations and events, will also be able to establish their presence with an Internet address that is meaningful.
Altogether, these elements will work to enhance both the geographic as well as the demographic diversity of the Internet namespace.
.Asia is a term with broad significance and has a clear and lasting value. Many companies, initiatives, events and organisations use .Asia as a defining element of the core values or sectional aspect in their names. For example:
>Regional companies in Asia
>Local companies expanding to the Asia regional market
>Asia headquarters or subsidiaries of global companies
>NGOs and not-for-profit organisations in Asia such as APNIC, APTLD, APNG, PAN/IDRC etc.
>Asia based events, such as Asian Games, Asian Cup, ITU Telecom >Asia, CommunicAsia and many others
>Asia version of global media or regional Asia media: Asian Wall Street >Journal, Asia Computer Weekly, Channel News Asia and many other >newspapers, magazines, TV channels which target the Asia market and community
>Asia focused businesses: Air Asia, JetStar Asia, Aero Asia, etc.
Being able to use a domain name such as a name .ASIA is therefore going to add a lot of value to the registrant as well as the general Internet user.
Q3. Who are the initiators of .ASIA initiative? How did it get started?
The beginnings of the .ASIA initiative can be attributed back to the discussions started in 2000 around the interest to establish a regional TLD .ASIA (http://www.wwtld.org/meetings/cctld/20001022.ccTLD-APTLD.html). It was quickly identified that there are many regional organisations in the Pan-Asia and Asia-Pacific region, yet unlike in Europe, there is no pan-governmental organisation like the EU, and such is unlikely to be formed in a meaningful horizon. Furthermore, the code, although not used at the moment, is a reserved code for African Regional Industrial Property Organization€ based on ISO3166, and ICANN views 2-character TLDs to be reserved for ccTLDs.
Discussions and interests of an Asia focused TLD registry continued intermittently during informal discussions within the community. In fact, additional attempts were put forward by different organisations and individuals, including an initiative from Korea and another to repurposed the .ASIA TLD as a regional domain. In late 2002 during the ITU Asia conference in Hong Kong, informal discussions began to intensify as the conditions ripen and were propelled by the coincidental discussions at ICANN for a new round of Sponsored gTLDs. Throughout 2003, the concept began to take shape as informal discussions continued during different regional and international conferences. Among the active proponents were Che-Hoo Cheng, who is a long time participant in the Internet community in Asia and Edmon Chung, who is an enthusiastic pioneer of multilingual domain names (IDN- Internationalized Domain Names). Che-Hoo has been working especially hard as a volunteer to kick-start the initiative.
On 15 December 2003, ICANN announced a Request For Proposal (RFP) for Sponsored Top Level Domain Names (http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-15dec03.htm). The initiative immediately accelerated and started to formalize. As identified in the discussions, no particular existing organisation was chartered to particularly suit in spearheading the initiative. Further, as discussions gradually materialise from informal conversations into the formation of a movement towards a response to the RFP from ICANN, a structure for a new sponsoring organisation emerged that would be open to many different organisations in the region to participate. This not only ensured a broad participation but also a critical knowledge base for managing a TLD registry with particular experience in managing public resources that balances the interests of public authorities and the community at large.
When the proposal was submitted to ICANN on 16 March 2004, 7 ccTLDs (.CN, .ID, .JP, .MO, .NU, .TW and .VN) as well as APNIC and APNG already participated as members. Since then, recruitment of members continued, and as of February 2005, there are already 20 participating ccTLDs (including .KZ, .TJ & .UZ from Central Asia, .AF, .BT, .IN & .IR from South Asia, .KH, .PH & .SG from South-East Asia, .KR & .MN from East Asia and .NZ from Pacific) along with 3 regional organisations: APNIC, APNG and PAN/IDRC.
The formation of DotAsia is therefore truly a bottom-up community-based initiative that was not created or mandated by any government or particular existing organisation or constituency. Rather it was a grassroots initiative that gradually gained the support from a broad and diverse range of well-established organisations in the region (see http://www.dotasia.org/about/members.html for list of supporters).
Q4. What is the DotAsia Organisation Limited (DotAsia)?
DotAsia Organisation Limited (DotAsia) was created for the focused purpose of initiating and managing a Top Level Domain registry for the Asia community. DotAsia, when formally established upon approval of ICANN on .ASIA, will be a not-for-profit membership-based organisation incorporated in Asia, registered as a Limited-by-Guarantee Company in Hong Kong. DotAsia will be the Registry Operator and the Sponsoring Organisation for the .ASIA Top Level Domain Registry.
Q5. What is the Vision & Mission of DotAsia?
The vision of DotAsia is to create a globally visible domain that embodies the successful, cooperative atmosphere established within the Pan-Asia and Asia-Pacific Internet community to accelerate the overall growth of the region.
The mission of DotAsia is:
To sponsor, establish and operate a regional Internet namespace with global recognition and regional significance, dedicated to the needs of the Pan-Asia and Asia-Pacific Internet community.
To reinvest surpluses in socio-technological advancement initiatives relevant to the Pan-Asia and Asia-Pacific Internet community; and To operate a viable not-for-profit initiative that is a technically advanced, world-class TLD registry for the Pan-Asia and Asia-Pacific community.
As part of the mission, an important philosophy of DotAsia is to be able to reinvest back into the social and technological advancement initiatives within the community. Based on the revenue allocation structure of DotAsia, a guaranteed portion of revenues will be directly re-invested into the community through participating ccTLDs (as Sponsor Members) (see Q14 below for more information). This ensures that DotAsia will immediately contribute to its sponsored community from its operations.
Q6. Why should .ASIA be a Sponsored Generic TLD (sTLD) instead of an Unsponsored Generic TLD (gTLD)?
Based on ICANN’s definition (http://www.icann.org/registries/):
“Generally speaking, an unsponsored gTLD Registry operates under policies established by the global Internet community directly through the ICANN process…
A sponsored TLD is a specialized TLD that has a sponsor representing a specific community that is served by the TLD. The sponsor thus carries out delegated policy-formulation responsibilities over many matters concerning the TLD…â€
An important reason why .ASIA should be a Sponsored gTLD is that it will retain certain policy formulation responsibilities specific to the interests of the sponsored community. For example, the .ASIA registry will have an expanded list of reserved domain names; explore the feasibility and value of augmenting the UDRP with local DRP forums; eligibility requirements; and other policies and practices that minimize abusive registration activities and other activities that affect the legal rights of others, especially in the community.
The boundaries of the .ASIA community are clearly defined based on the ICANN Asia / Australia / Pacific region (http://www.icann.org/montreal/geo-regions-topic.htm). Eligibility of domain registrations is restricted to legal entities within the boundary.
DotAsia views .ASIA as a term that appropriately embodies the diverse and vibrant Pan-Asia and Asia-Pacific community, and a TLD name-string that is representative, short, recognizable and conceptually viable. DotAsia believes that dotAsia as a term used for a TLD has broad significance, clear and lasting value, and creates a new and differentiated space that enhances the diversity of the Internet namespace.
Q7. Where did the seed money for DotAsia Organisation come from?
There is no “seed money†in the entirety of the meaning. DotAsia Organization is a not-for-profit initiative. Initial capital is obtained in the form of a zero-interest unsecured loan from Afilias. DotAsia will begin repaying this loan mid-way through the first year of operations, after the launch of registrations and has started receiving income. The repayment terms are favourable to DotAsia in that it is risk free and on a per-domain-year basis. The loan is also not convertible to “shares†or sharing of “retained earnings†of the organisation. This greatly reduces the financial risk for DotAsia and is an important element, among other technical and operational considerations for choosing Afilias to be the back-end registry services provider (see Q27 for more information).
Q8. Who is paying for the expenses that DotAsia Organisation has so far including the US$45K application fee to ICANN?
DotAsia is currently operated by volunteers and consultants. Out-of-pocket expenses are paid for by DotAsia and endorsed by the Initial Board, drawn from a loan as described above in Q7.
Q9. Does DotAsia have endorsement from governments?
DotAsia is a community-based bottom-up initiative, with a membership-based not-for-profit organisation structure. Therefore, it is realised that it is inappropriate to solicit direct “endorsements†from governments because it is a private sector initiative. The governance structure of DotAsia Organisation represents a knowledgeable base, including participation from ccTLDs and regional organisations, that is experienced with the management of public resources (e.g. domain names, IP address blocks, etc.) while balancing the interests of public authorities and the community at large. For more discussion on the governance structure, please refer to Q10 below.
Nevertheless, and further to the indirect support through participation of ccTLDs, the organisation believes in the importance of a channel of communication with respective governments, because in fact, they form an important part of the community as well. DotAsia has had continued communications with a number of governments and inter-governmental entities. We also have had informal information exchange meetings with GAC members from the region during recent ICANN meetings and plan to continue to have such gatherings during future meetings. An informal information exchange mailing list has also been set up. If agreeable and appropriate, a liaison may be established in the future to DotAsia for continuous communications when DotAsia is officially formalized. So far, our communications with them are proven useful and we have received no objection.
Q10. What is the governance structure of DotAsia?
The governance structure of DotAsia will be constituted based on two types of membership organisations:
1. Sponsor Members (ccTLDs in the region)
2. Co-Sponsor Members (regional organisations)
(For more description of the 2 types of members, please refer to Q12 below.)
The governance of DotAsia will be the responsibility of the Board of Directors, which will be advised by an Advisory Council. To ensure that the Board of Directors is relevant and representative of the multicultural Pan-Asia and Asia-Pacific region, geographical diversity will be an important criterion for the selection of the Directors. This geographical diversity requirement will be enforced and at least one individual from each of the 4 sub-regions will be represented on the Board. Each member of the Board of Directors will be expected to act on behalf of the organization as a whole and not as a representative of the organisation from which s/he was nominated. An Advisory Council will be created to advise the Board on all policy matters.
In addition to the Board of Directors, a Proceeds Steering Committee (PROSCOM) will be created by the Board to oversee the allocation of surplus proceeds from registry operations. The PROSCOM will solicit, evaluate and recommend (within the committee or through a third party evaluator) grants to relevant social and/or technical initiatives and activities from the surplus proceeds. The Board will ultimately authorise the grants and decide the qualifications for and number of members of the PROSCOM.
In summary, the main activities of DotAsia will be governed by three key groups:
• Board of Directors: made up of elected representatives from Sponsor (8) and Co-Sponsor (2) members plus the CEO;
• Advisory Council: made up of representatives of Co-Sponsor members; and
• Proceeds Steering Committee: created by the Board.
The direct and close involvement of many regional ccTLDs ensures a wealth of knowledge and expertise in the operational and policy management of a TLD registry in the Pan-Asia and Asia-Pacific region. Furthermore, representation in governance from successful Asia-Pacific Internet and Information Technology groups provides broad representation and relevance from the Pan-Asia and Asia-Pacific community. Together they create a well-balanced governance structure that forms a solid foundation for a successful TLD registry for Asia.
Q11. How can I participate in .ASIA initiative as an individual?
As an individual, you are welcome to provide suggestions directly to the initiative by emailing to [email protected]. Furthermore, you can participate in .ASIA via our Sponsor Members (ccTLDs) or our Co-sponsor Members (Regional Organisations). If your affiliated organisation has not joined the .ASIA initiative as member but is interested to join, please encourage your organisation to join us by connecting with us via email: [email protected].
Moreover, DotAsia Organisation intends to operate in an open and transparent manner. DotAsia Organisation will maintain a public Web site to post policies and news of relevance to the community. Annual General Meetings will be open for observation by the public. DotAsia Organisation intends to hold its Annual General Meetings in conjunction with annual APRICOT conferences for the convenience of participants and to further encourage the participation of interested observers. APRICOT conferences are attended by many leaders and active participants from the Internet community in the Pan-Asia and Asia-Pacific region.
Q12. Who are members of DotAsia Organisation?
There are 2 types of members defined:
1. Sponsor Members
Sponsor Members shall be organisations in the Pan-Asia and Asia-Pacific region, as defined by ICANN’s Asia / Australia / Pacific Region (based on the ICANN Region definitions) that manage and operate any of the country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) registries in the region.
2. Co-Sponsor Members
Co-Sponsor Members shall be regional-based Internet, Information Technology, Telecommunications, non-profit, NGO or other relevant community organizations in the Pan-Asia and Asia-Pacific region.
Current members of DotAsia come from a diverse geographical basis in the Pan-Asia and Asia-Pacific community, demonstrating evidence of broad support from the community. For an up-to-date list of members, please refer to: http://www.dotasia.org/about/members.html.
Q13. What are the benefits of being a member of DotAsia?
Rather than viewing the membership as benefit, members of DotAsia contribute to the governance of the .ASIA Sponsored gTLD. Members of DotAsia Organisation participate in the nomination and election of the Board, which will oversee the governance of the .ASIA registry. Co-Sponsor Members will also nominate a representative on to the Advisory Council.
Sponsor Members will contribute by managing direct re-investment activities to fuel socio-technical initiatives in the region. These funds will be allocated directly from proceeds of the .ASIA registry on a per-domain-year basis so that there would be benefits to the community immediately. (See Q14 for more details.)
Q14. As ccTLD member of DotAsia, do I share the revenue of DotAsia?
As a core part of the constitution of DotAsia to contribute financially to the community served, a guaranteed portion of the revenue will be directly re-invested into technical and social developmental activities for the Internet community in the Pan-Asia and Asia-Pacific region. This direct re-investment will be procured through participating ccTLDs (Sponsor Members) on a per-domain-year amount basis. There will be certain restrictions applied to this because DotAsia Organisation is a not-for-profit organisation. The policy for this will be established by Advisory Council in due course.
The Proceeds Steering Committee will manage allocations not directed through the Sponsor Members.
Q15. Who are the current members of DotAsia?
Members of DotAsia come from a diverse geographical basis in the Pan-Asia and Asia-Pacific community, demonstrating evidence of broad support from the community. For an up-to-date list of members please refer to: http://www.dotasia.org/about/members.html.
Q16. Who are in the Board and the Advisory Council?
The board and advisory council are constituted of elected sponsor and co-sponsor members as well as distinguished individuals from the community. Please refer to:http://www.dotasia.org/about/board_and_advisory_council.html for the list and brief bios.
Q17. Will our organisation lose any benefits if we join later?
Members value contributing to the governance of the .ASIA Sponsored gTLD registry as a key benefit. All Sponsor Members or Co-Sponsor Members enjoy the same benefits and are treated equally no matter when they join. This is consistent with the inclusive approach of DotAsia, so that organisations may join the initiative at its own pace.
Moreover, DotAsia will also be committing to continual outreach to recruit additional members from the region. In fact, as described in our proposal to ICANN, a portion of the budget of the organisation is dedicated to this activity. The outreach efforts will further the community mandate of the organisation as well as to help bring the less active local constituencies into the regional and international Internet community and forums such as ICANN, ccNSO and APTLD.
Q18. Why should our organisation join .ASIA initiative?
There are many reasons that your organisation should join DotAsia as members, including but not limiting to:
Participate in the governance of an exciting initiative and the first global TLD in Asia for Asia
DotAsia is a not-for-profit organisation that is owned by the community and will contribute its proceeds directly back to the community
Contribute to the development and adoption of Internet in Asia at large
Bring more diverse views and perspectives of the diverse Asia community to the development and management of the .ASIA registry
Q19. What should we do if we want to join .ASIA initiative?
If your affiliated organisation would like to join .ASIA initiative, please contact [email protected].
Q20.When will .ASIA TLD be available?
It is planned that .ASIA TLD will be launched within 6-9 months after the agreement between ICANN and DotAsia is signed. The initial launch will be phased to take into consideration intellectual property considerations as well as the best interests of the rights of others in the community. The first stage will be the Sunrise Period for trademark owners. .ASIA TLD will then be generally available to eligible customers after the Sunrise Period. Details of the arrangements will be announced as they become confirmed. Please stay tuned.
Q21.Who can register names under .ASIA TLD?
Legal entities within the Pan-Asia and Asia-Pacific region (defined by ICANN as Asia/Australia/Pacific region; see http://www.icann.org/montreal/geo-regions-topic.htm) can register names under .ASIA TLD.
Q22.Where can I register names under .ASIA TLD when it is available?
You can register names under .ASIA TLD through our accredited registrars and participating ccTLDs (see http://www.icann.org/registrars/accredited-list.html) or their resellers.
Q23. What are the special features and differentiators of .ASIA TLD?
The .ASIA Sponsored gTLD will allow companies, organisations, events and individuals within the Asia community to establish their online identity in a regional context. While current gTLDs tend to focus on a vertical group (e.g. commercial entities, network providers, organisations, museums, cooperatives, etc.) within the global Internet, .ASIA will embrace a horizontal perspective with a clear brand to reach and enrich the broad global community. Unlike ccTLDs also, which provides for a local audience, .ASIA will allow the user to express a regional relevance.
For Dispute Resolution Policy (DRP), we will adopt the Universal Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) as our default DRP. However, we will also explore the feasibility and value to apply local dispute resolution policy developed by participating ccTLDs (our Sponsor Members) wherever possible, for example for cases where both the complainant and the respondent come from the same economy. This may be particularly useful for IDN cases. We will conduct an extensive study on this matter after we obtain the approval of ICANN.
Also, DotAsia will have Charter Eligibility Dispute Resolution Policy (CEDRP) which can help to restrict non-compliant domain registrations. DotAsia will have extensive reserved name arrangements with ccTLDs so that certain level of geographical names and politically sensitive names can be protected. Last but not least, DotAsia will do joint marketing and product bundling with participating ccTLDs (Sponsor Members).
Q24. Will .ASIA offer IDN services?
Yes. .ASIA will launch ASCII domain name services first. Afterwards, we will launch IDN services step by step, language by language, strictly following the IDN standards of IETF and IDN guidelines issued by ICANN.
Q25. What are the roles of Afilias in DotAsia?
Afilias will be the back-end registry services and technology provider for the .ASIA TLD. Afilias will also be a creditor of DotAsia Organisation, providing loans (please see Q7, Q8 and Q26 for more information on the loan) for the initial start-up of the registry. Other than these two roles, Afilias does not have much role to play for DotAsia. Afilias is not and will not be our investor, shareholder, or member. DotAsia will be working independently of Afilias and neither organisation may act on behalf of or in the capacity of the other.
Q26.Has Afilias provided any donation or subsidy to DotAsia?
No. We have not accepted and do not intend to accept or receive any donation or subsidy from Afilias. DotAsia organisation intends to maintain complete autonomy with its governance formed from our community. The expenses incurred to date by DotAsia, including the US$45K sTLD application fee to ICANN and other expenses for DotAsia, such as travelling expenses, are drawn from a loan to DotAsia obtained from Afilias (see Q7). The loan is a zero-interest unsecured loan to DotAsia and with repayment terms based on a per-domain-year schedule, after DotAsia opens its registration operations. The structure of the loan, affords the organisation and our members virtually no financial burden on the start-up of the registry.
Q27.Why was Afilias chosen as the back-end registry services provider?
Some of the reasons why Afilias was chosen as the back-end registry services provider of DotAsia include:
Afilias is the world’s second largest gTLD registry company, and the leading registry services provider. They currently operate .INFO, .ORG, .IN and 8 other ccTLDs, with a total of over 10 million domains under management, representing over 10% of the world’s total number of domains. Afilias was evaluated to be a proven provider with good experience operating TLDs for themselves and for others. Having Afilias as a technology provider provides high level of confidence for DotAsia to meet ICANN’s technical requirements. This is now proven to be an accurate assessment. Afilias has a proven track-record for maintaining good relationship with ICANN and ongoing compliance with ICANN policies. The knowledge and experience from Afilias for dealing with ICANN will be valuable to DotAsia.
The financial terms for the ongoing registry services as well as the loan for start-up activities of DotAsia Organisation proposed by Afilias is highly favourable and risk free, based entirely on a per-domain-year structure. There would be no one-time set-up cost to DotAsia so the organisation would have very little financial burden on the capital expenses part during the start-up period. In other words, it would be a risk sharing model which would encourage both parties to do a better job.
Unlike other providers, Afilias is focused solely on domain registry services and will not be distracted by other priorities in other lines of businesses.
There are many Asians working for Afilias, especially on the .ASIA project, including their CTO Ram Mohan who is from India. This will be useful when .ASIA starts to offer IDN services.
DotAsia Organisation does not believe that it would have been able to obtain a materially better deal from any other existing providers, considering the per-domain-year fee level as well as the zero-interest unsecured loan, or have the capacity as a start-up not-for-profit organisation to assume all technical responsibilities in a manner acceptable by ICANN requirements. DotAsia Organisation believes that the decision was made with fiscal prudence and was a correct decision. The arrangements and rationales for the selection of Afilias as the registry services provider are also well understood by our members.
Q28. Will Afilias have any control over the policy formulation for the .ASIA TLD?
No. DotAsia Organisation will have its own bottom-up policy formulation process led by our Board and our Advisory Council, based on inputs from our members and our community. Policies developed by Advisory Council have to be endorsed by our Board before they are put forward to implementation. Afilias is not and will not have any control over the process other than providing technical advices in the capacity of a registry services provider when being asked.
