The dotDurban domain is expected to be launched before the end of the year, after it passed the initial evaluation phase of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
The dotDurban Top Level Domain (TLD) project is one of the recent collaboration efforts between the .ZA Domain Name Authority (ZADNA), ZA Central Registry (ZACR) and the Department of Communications (DOC). Other collaborations include the dotCapeTown and dotJoburg TLDs. Funding comes from ZACR using revenue generated over time from .co.za operations and other investments.
However, the dotDurban application was ranked ahead of the dotCapeTown and dotJoburg applications when ICANN decided to use a lottery to prioritise the over 1 300 TLD applications it received last year. This rank set dotDurban to be evaluated ahead of the other two local city TLDs.
ZADNA explains that, in the initial evaluation phase, ICANN wanted to determine if the applicant possessed the required financial and technical ability to operate an Internet TLD. This makes it likely that URLs ending with .durban, such as tourism.durban and police.durban, will make their appearance in 2013.
According to Dr Hasmukh Gajjar, ZADNA chairperson, the initial evaluation outcome is an important development that gives a great vote of confidence to the ZADNA-driven ZA Central Registry project. "It shows that the Central Registry provides a world-class platform that an international decision-maker like ICANN can trust to keep the Internet running safely and effectively."
The decision to have the ZACR apply to ICANN for the three local city TLDs came after ZADNA secured the support of the DOC and the relevant metro municipalities for ZACR.
"The three applications are a solid contribution to reinvest revenue generated from .co.za into protecting SA's interests. This is especially important at a time when ICANN is opening up the Internet massively beyond dotCom, dotNet and dotOrg. We applied for the three cities because we saw a firm trend where leading international cities are planning to secure their exclusive namespaces," says Gajjar.
The successful evaluation of dotDurban means ZACR and its partners can confidently expect the dotCapeTown and dotJoburg applications to pass the initial evaluation stage as well.
As custodians of their cities' names, the relevant metro municipalities will receive priority when it comes to registering names for their entities and programmes. In addition, provincial and national governments will be given an opportunity to reserve their names and those of national heritages in the three TLDs before the general public is allowed to register names on a first-come, first-served basis. These names will form part of a reserved name list, which is an important requirement by ICANN for the new TLDs.
ICANN has also ensured that the new TLDs prevent intellectual property and trademark abuse by allowing 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 three city TLDs are currently under way, with ZADNA and ZACR planning to hold a joint policy and project workshop with the three cities on 31 May. The workshop is meant to provide detailed feedback and to outline launch plans for the three city TLDs.
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