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dotShabaka Diary — Day 3

Kevin Murphy, August 14, 2013, Domain Registries

Here’s the third 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.

Wednesday 14 August 2013
Our Pre-Delegation Testing (PDT) continues. The latest ICANN published timeframe shows 30 days duration to 30 August. Previous communications indicated it would take 14 days plus rectification (if required) and the PDT ‘clock’ is counting down 21 days. When will it end?
We now have access to the TMDB and have received the initial Registration Token. We have run some internal tests and it all looks OK. So what next? We will attend the TMDB webinar today and hopefully the TMDB integration and testing process will be defined. Stay tuned.
According to ICANN we will receive a ‘new Registry’ Welcome Pack soon. I suspect we are ‘ahead of the curve’ in terms of the timing of this pack and other applicants will receive this information once the Agreement is signed.
In other news, ICANN have published IOC, Red Cross and Red Crescent reserved lists in multiple languages, but the IGO list has not been defined. Is ICANN going to publish a list of countries (in six official United Nations languages) or is every Registry going to generate their own list with their own rules? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Read previous and future diary entries here.

dotShabaka Diary — Day 2

Kevin Murphy, August 11, 2013, Domain Registries

This is the second in DI’s series following the progress of شبكة. applicant dotShabaka Registry as it prepares to be one of the first new gTLD registries to launch.
The following journal entry was written by dotShabaka general manager Yasmin Omer:

Date: Saturday 10 August 2013
It has been nearly a month since we signed our Registry Agreement with ICANN and we are still confused about TMCH Integration Testing, which is a concern given it’s now seven weeks out from ICANN’s first delegation date.
Whilst we have access to the Sandbox LORDN file test environment, ICANN happened to mention that the ‘OT&E environment’ is available in this week’s webinar. That’s new information.
We still have no idea what the process is for TMCH integration testing or how we access the environment. Are there test cases? What’s the schedule?
The lack of information is a concern as we need to pass TMCH Integration to provide Sunrise notice. Let’s hope it’s not as complicated as PDT.
In other news, we received an email from Wendy Profit (Registry Product Manager) yesterday. It’s the first formal email we have received since signing our contract nearly a month ago.
The email contained a copy of the contract and a spreadsheet for contact details. Not sure if Wendy is indeed our account manager or if we even have one. We have sent an email asking her the same. Clearly we have a few questions for an Account Manager once we get one.

You can read past and future entries in this series here.

dotShabaka Diary — Day 1

Kevin Murphy, August 8, 2013, Domain Registries

Three weeks ago, dotShabaka Registry became the first of the current crop of new gTLD applicants to sign a registry contract with ICANN, but there’s still a way to go before launch.
The company has offered to provide DI readers, in a series of journal entries, with an insight into its operational experiences and concerns as شبكة. progresses on the path to delegation and launch.
With a Prioritization Draw number of 3, dotShabaka will be often be the first to encounter any pitfalls that emerge in the latter stages of the new gTLD evaluation and delegation process.
DI has agreed to carry the journal, unedited, in the belief that a regular focus on operational matters from a high-prioritization applicant will prove an invaluable resource for applicants and program observers alike.
Here’s the first entry:

Welcome to The شبكة. Journal.
In association with Domain Incite, dotShabaka Registry has launched a journal series to provide regular updates on our progress through delegation and then launch.
The aim will be to offer a transparent insight into the operations of شبكة.. As the first new TLD to sign a Registry Agreement and begin the delegation process, we are throwing the door wide open and will report the good, bad and ugly of our experience via this journal.
You can expect to read reports on our interaction with ICANN, how we handle technical issues and our progress with establishing commercial operations.
For example, we can report that:
شبكة. began pre-delegation testing in the first-available slot on Monday 5th August – nearly three weeks after ICANN’s ‘earliest path’ timetable published in Durban. We are confident of a successful outcome after passing beta testing in July.
Updated RPM Requirements were finally published for comment on 6th August. The good news for شبكة. is the welcomed proposed revisions to support anchor tenants. The bad news is that public comment process is open until 18 September. Another delay!
This lack of certainty has made it impossible for us to finalise launch plans and policies, which is frustrating.
The good news is شبكة. is in the low risk category for New gTLD Collision Risk Management and we don’t expect any impact on the timeline for delegation. Who will be left standing with شبكة. after ICANN’s ‘risk mitigation’ actions for name collisions and GAC Advice are accounted for?
We welcome your feedback and encourage readers to comment below in the Domain Incite comment box. We’ll attempt to address questions the community may have.
Please stay tuned for future updates exclusively via Domain Incite.

One-time disclosure: I’d like to state for the benefit of those who are seemingly always ready to pounce on DI for “selling out” that the journal series are not “sponsored” posts.
There’s no financial relationship whatsoever between DI and dotShabaka or any of its affiliated companies. This is just about the info.