Uniforum SA, the administrator of the .co.za domain name, is revamping the registration model and updating its process. This will change the way applications are made and run for the country's commercial suffix.
The non-profit company has been administrating the .co.za domain name for the past 15 years. This simple registration method allowed more than 560 000 individuals and companies to reserve their addresses on the World Wide Web. It currently charges an annual fee of R50 per domain name.
Uniforum SA has been administrating the .co.za domain name without a licence. Once new regulations come into effect in June, zaDomain Name Authority, the country's top-level domain name authority, will regulate the entire .za domain name space that includes .co.za and .org.za.
Changes to the registration model and system are also designed to meet the regulations that have been drafted in terms of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, and are expected to be promulgated in June.
In the legacy model, anyone who can supply the relevant technical information to register a domain name can do so. However, Internet service providers (ISPs), on behalf of their clients, handle the vast majority of such registrations.
Uniforum SA's legal and policy advisor, Neil Dundas, says the company has already begun implementing its new system and expects it to become operational towards the end of this year. The system will take at least a further two years to become widely adopted.
In terms of the model changes, ISPs will have to apply and qualify to become registrars as Uniforum will assume a registry role only and will not deal directly with clients at all, other than through the legacy system.
As far as the technical changes are concerned, Uniforum SA has begun implementing an Extensible Provisioning Protocol (EPP) system, similar to those used by other international domain name registrars, such as Tucows, Register.com and GoDaddy.
According to Wikipedia, EPP is a flexible protocol for allocating objects within registries over the Internet.
Dundas says the new model and business system will mean only ISPs that are accredited registrars will have full integration and access to the EPP system. He says the technical development of the system is between 30% and 40% complete.
“We understand that ISPs have invested a huge amount of time and energy in legacy systems, so we do not want to change it overnight,” Dundas says. “Our goal is to introduce and grow an additional registry option in terms of the EPP system.”
He also says the key success factor is how the two systems will exchange and synchronise data properly.
“We are spending literally millions of rands on the new system and a large amount of it is to do with ensuring data is transferred properly.”
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