[council] A workshop to discuss solutions to the contention problem amongst registrars when domain names are made available for registration by a gTLD registry

[Bruce Tonkin]

Hello All,

For information, the registrars constituency with the support of ICANN
is holding a workshop in Cape Town to discuss solutions to the problem
of contention for domain names made available by a gTLD registry (i.e.,
the deleted names or batch pool market).   Council members may wish to
inform their constituencies of this workshop, and each constituency may
choose to nominate a person to ICANN to attend the workshop.  

See below.

Regards,
Bruce Tonkin



From:
http://gnso.icann.org/mailing-lists/archives/registrars/msg02511.html

Registrar Constituency Workshop: Announcement and Call for Papers

Workshop Purpose

Jointly sponsored by the Registrar Constituency and ICANN to develop
solutions to the contention for domain names made available by a gTLD
registry (i.e., the deleted names or batch pool market).

Date: 1 Dec 2004, two hours in duration, precise time to be announced.

Location: ICANN Meeting, Cape Town, South Africa, room to be announced.

Due date for papers: 24 Nov 2004

Overview

When a domain name is cancelled, the registry releases the domain name
for re-registration following a redemption grace period and a notice
period of pending delete. In many cases there is more than one entity
that wishes to re-register the domain. The time at which a particular
domain name will be available for re-registration is known to
registrars. This causes contention at the registry, with many registrars
sending add commands to seek to register the name at the same time. This
process is an inefficient use of both registry and registrar resources.
This problem has been most noticeable for the com/net registry due to
its large volume of names, but may equally apply to other registries as
the number of names under management grows.

The purpose of the workshop is to receive industry input on possible
long-term solutions to the contention problem. This discussion is also
timely because the contention problem also applies at the time a new TLD
is created, and a new set of domain names becomes available for
registration. Therefore, the workshop results and ensuing steps will
become part of the process for introducing new TLDs.

The workshop will not discuss the various mechanisms introduced by some
registrars for re-allocating registered domain names after expiry to
different registrants, and the workshop will not discuss the proposed
WLS service. Although these mechanisms may limit the number of names
that are made available for re-registration, domain names will still be
released by the registry for re-registration, and thus the contention
problem will still exist.

Agenda

The agenda will consist of short presentations (10 minutes each) from
those wishing to present a proposal, followed by discussion, with the
aim to identify via straw poll the most favored solution for further
work. The workshop will be run in the style of IETF meetings where
written proposals are discussed prior to converging on a particular
solution.

All those wishing to present MUST submit a paper in advance (not later
than 24 Nov 2004). All submitted papers will be published in advance so
that workshop participants may read the papers in advance and consider
questions in advance. 

Details

The meeting will be co-chaired by the Registrar Constituency and ICANN.
Representatives from other constituencies may be invited; the list of
invitees is being determined. 

Papers should be submitted to Registrar Constituency Chair Bhavin
Turakhia [bhavin.t at xxxxxxxxxxx] and ICANN Chief Registrar Liaison Tim
Cole [cole at xxxxxxxxx]. Questions should be addressed to those
individuals.

The meeting will probably occur the afternoon of 1 December, the precise
time depending upon room availability. The time will be settled within
the next several days.