The institution for local domain names continues to gain momentum, as the initial evaluation stage of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers' (ICANN's) new generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) project has been completed.
According to the ZA Domain Name Authority (ZADNA), the dotJoburg (.joburg) application has been submitted by the ZA Central Registry (ZACR). This is alongside the dotAfrica (.africa), dotCapeTown (.capetown) and dotDurban (.durban) applications.
A potential administrator of the new .africa gTLD, the ZACR, says it awaits final ICANN evaluation of its bid, which it claims is endorsed by the African Union Commission and "the majority of African governments".
The preliminary evaluation phase of the .joburg application follows that of .durban, which passed the same evaluation phase three weeks ago.
ICANN is currently processing around 1 300 new gTLD applications. The applications are considered in the order determined by the prioritisation draw held in Los Angeles at the end of last year. The .durban application drew position 303, and passed its initial evaluation last month. Joburg, says ZADNA, drew 566 and has now just been evaluated. Sitting at position 761 on the list, Cape Town still has a wait ahead of it.
Entrenching Joburg
Vika Mpisane, GM of ZADNA, says it is apt that Johannesburg has its own domain name for companies to use to convey a distinct association with the city. "Joburg is a city with its own unique atmosphere and is Africa's leading business and financial centre."
Once the Cape Town initial evaluation is completed, says Mpisane, the organisation will be on its way to giving SA's three major cities a platform on which to market themselves on the Internet.
City of Johannesburg's Phelisa Mangcu says the .joburg project opens up possibilities for the city. "[This] will help us position the city as a tourist destination of choice for business and leisure. It is in line with our vision of taking the Joburg brand global and marketing the city as a world-class African city."
ZADNA says the Johannesburg metro municipality will receive priority when it comes to registering names for its entities and programmes. "The South African government will also be given an opportunity to reserve its department and entity names, and names of national interest, such as heritage names.
"These measures complement those set by ICANN that require the new TLDs to give trademark owners an opportunity to register their trademarks in a database that will be used by TLD operators to ensure names that are applied for do not infringe on trademarks."
Preparations for the launch of the .joburg namespace are under way following a progress report workshop that ZADNA and ZACR held with the representatives of the three cities last week. The workshop kicked off an iterative consultation process that will allow the cities to influence policy and operation of the three namespaces.
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