dotShabaka Diary — Day 11, 2013 RAA issues
The eleventh installment of dotShabaka Registry’s journal, charting its progress towards becoming one of the first new gTLDs to go live, written by general manager Yasmin Omer.
Tuesday 17 September 2013
As شبكة. gets closer to launch, signing up Registrars becomes ever more critical and we have started discussions with potential partners across three continents. To participate in Sunrise, Registrars must have already completed two steps: 1) Signed the 2013 RAA; and 2) Completed TMDB Accreditation.
To date, around 20 Registrars have signed the 2013 RAA according to the InterNIC website.
However, because Registrars cannot access the TMDB environment until they have signed the 2013 RAA, even fewer have started TMDB accreditation. Many of those that have signed the RAA have been frustrated by TMDB OTE access problems.
Is there any official ICANN database where Registries can confirm Registrar TMDB Accreditation?
Registries are locked out of the TMDB environment until the 2013 RAA is signed. Why not let Registries access the TMDB as needed (now) to accelerate readiness for the launch of IDN gTLDs?
And why aren’t ICANN or Deloitte publishing TMCH numbers for non-English trademarks? How can we decide whether the Sunrise Phase should be 30 days or more if we don’t know the numbers? Why not publish the forecasts and let the Registries decide how to optimise launch phases for their businesses model?
Read previous and future diary entries here.
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The ploy by ICANN to force early adoption of the new RAA first by forcing adoption for access to the new TLDs and second by refusing early access to the TMDB, however well-intentioned it may be, is proving to be an ill-conceived bottleneck to the timing of the launch of the new TLDs and a limiting factor to the ability of new registries to successfully market their TLD to a broad range of registrars and thereby registrants.
Essentially, ICANN is impairing the potential success of the new gTLD program to further its agenda with regard to its public image.
It is not like we did not warn them beforehand that this might happen.
ICANN should at least remove the ridiculous requirement of a signed 2013 RAA for registrar access to the TMDB. If it doesn’t, we will see a lot of registrars that have had no time to test their implementation let loose on the system, potentially causing downtimes and service failures due to insufficient testing time.
Thanks Volker for your comment, we absolutely agree with you. This is an important issue for many Registrars and Registries and it needs to be addressed.