Domain Name Talks at WHD.global 2016

The support of internationalized domain names and email address internationalization brings the Internet a huge step closer to fulfilling its promise of facilitating the sharing of knowledge globally and promising connectivity to the next billion new Internet users. For those in under-served regions, such capabilities would remove yet another barrier in information access by enabling communication in native languages.

But that promise of inclusiveness and diversity is only partially fulfilled. Currently, treatment of internationalized domain names and email addresses is inconsistent across systems, including rejection. This is part of a class of issues commonly referred to as “Universal Acceptance.” This panel discussion will bring attention to the lack of Universal Acceptance, discuss necessary systemic changes, and facilitate stakeholder collaboration to develop meaningful solutions.

Lars Steffen is part of the Member Services team at eco – Association of the Internet Industry, the largest Internet industry association in Europe. At eco, he takes care of the members from the domain name industry and e-commerce sectors. He further represents the industry as a member of the Universal Acceptance Steering Group at ICANN, to facilitate the support of internationalized domain names and email address internationalization.

Christian Dawson is currently the Executive Director of the i2Coalition, and co-founder of Open-i Advisors. Dawson is the former President of innovative web hosting provider ServInt.

Bert Hubert has a 20 year track record in commercial and open source software development and support. PowerDNS serves more than 30 percent of all Internet domain names worldwide. In Scandinavia, Germany and The Netherlands. PowerDNS customers include leading telecommunications service providers, content distribution networks, cable networks, multi-service operators and Fortune 500 software companies.

Peter Janssen is EURid’s CTO, he focuses on further improving the .eu system infrastructure, making it even more responsive and resilient and fully capable of coping with all kinds of contingencies.

Ram Mohan has over 20 years’ experience in technology, leadership and entrepreneurship within both publicly quoted and private companies. After joining Afilias in July 2001 as Chief Technology Officer, Ram has overseen the key strategic, management and technology choices for the Company. He has also advised several governments on internet security and internet globalization issues as part of Afilias‘ ccTLD portfolio.

Werner Staub is Coordinator of the Permanent Secretariat and member of the Executive Committee of CORE Internet Council of Registrars (CORE Association). He is also president of Axone Services & Développement SA, an IT and language services company based in Geneva, Switzerland.

With ICANN‘s new gTLD program, a new species of Top-Level Domains was created: the so-called .brands, or Brand TLDs, like .symantec, .bmw and .barclaycard. In the meantime, many other companies have registered their brands as Top-Level Domains, but so far only a few of them have made it into the public sphere.

When will we see the big step towards the end? Which applications and business models will become associated with the Brand TLDs? These and further questions will be discussed with industry experts who are advising and accompanying the big brands along the path to the Rootzone.

Lars Steffen is part of the Member Services team at eco – Association of the Internet Industry, the largest Internet industry association in Europe. At eco, he takes care of the members from the domain name industry and e-commerce sectors. He further represents the industry as a member of the Universal Acceptance Steering Group at ICANN, to facilitate the support of internationalized domain names and email address internationalization.

Achim Brinkmann is the Sales Director for the DACH region for Nameshield group, a leading European registrar of French origin. Nameshield prides itself on its combined vision of online intellectual property assets (brands, trademarks and domain names) and provides a holistic approach for its DotBrand clients, from guiding them through the application process for their DotBrand, to helping them launch, manage and use their DotBrand.

Ben Crawford is one of the best-known figures in the domain industry, featuring extensively on ICANN’s “Ask the Experts” website and is frequently quoted in the global media. Ben has been the Chief Executive Officer of CentralNic since 2009, successfully launching the company into new markets including the Middle East, Japan and Russia, as well as winning 60 new TLD and the .PW ccTLD contracts.

Martin Küchenthal is co-founder and CEO of LEMARIT, an ICANN accredited registrar and digital brand protection company based in Northern-Germany, which was founded in 2002. LEMARIT is serving some of the world’s famous corporate brands, all of who have their HQ in the DACH region. Todays challenge is to show the clients their way through the jungle of legacy and new TLDs, keeping in mind the clients resources and budget.

Katrin Ohlmer is CEO of DOTZON, the consulting company for the application, introduction and operation of gTLDs, which serves Geo, Brand and Generic TLD clients. In 2005 she became involved in the .berlin top-level domain initiative among others, backed by 20 years of experience in the ICT industry. She works within the ICANN framework of policies and procedures, including several ICANN groups and initiatives.

Jannik Skou is Partner at Thomsen Trampedach GmbH. Thomsen Trampedach is assisting large international Brands in Europe and Asia within the field of Online Brand Protection. In addition to their online brand protection monitoring and enforcement services Thomsen Trampedach is consulting on and operating new gTLDs for their clients. Their customers include such German brands as BMW AG, Merck KGaA, TUI AG, Spiegel-Verlag, Fresenius and DVAG who are all operating their own .brand gTLDs.

On 27th March 2014, the general availability of .ruhr heralded the beginning of the geographical Top-Level Domains within the new gTLD program at ICANN. Since then, 48 geoTLDs have come onto the market and more are expected. How have the geoTLDs fared on the market so far? Have expectations been fulfilled? What added value do the geographical TLDs offer both the companies and individuals registering them and the respective cities or regions? These and further questions will be discussed with representatives from the registries of .berlin, .koeln / .cologne, .nyc, .ruhr and .wien.

Lars Steffen is part of the Member Services team at eco – Association of the Internet Industry, the largest Internet industry association in Europe. At eco, he takes care of the members from the domain name industry and e-commerce sectors. He further represents the industry as a member of the Universal Acceptance Steering Group at ICANN, to facilitate the support of internationalized domain names and email address internationalization.

Anja Elsing is managing director of the .RUHR TLD – the geographic identifier for the RUHR region on the internet. 5,2 million inhabitants, 53 cities and municipalities as well as 160.500 businesses are located in this area. She represents the TLD  in the geographic region and beyond.

Dirk Krischenowski is founder and CEO of dotBERLIN GmbH & Co. KG, the registry for .berlin, which creates a digital identity for citizens, companies and institutions. Dirk is involved with Germany’s chapter of ISOC, he was elected to its executive committee in 2010. He has a master of science in biochemistry and BA in business administration from Technische Universität in Braunschweig.

Crystal Peterson is Neustar’s Director of Registry Services & Global Channel Management where she is responsible for overseeing the growth of some of Neustar’s most prominent domain name products, including the .biz, .CO and .US Top-Level Domains. Most recently, Crystal has been instrumental in the highly successful launch of .nyc domain names, playing a pivotal role in positioning .nyc as the world’s largest geographic-based new Top-Level Domain.

Hartmut Schulz is Head of Registry Operations (domain administration) for the two geographic Top-Level Domains .koeln and .cologne.

Schwärzler was Online Director and member of the Management Board of Austria Broadcasting Company ORF (2002 – 2006) and afterwards he headed the digital activities of the Austrian newspaper KURIER. He was a founding board member of the „Internet Service Providers Austria“ and is member of the Domain Name Council of the .AT-registry. Since 2012 he is CEO of the newgTLD registry .WIEN. In December 2015 Schwärzler has been elected to the Executive Committee of the newly founded geoTLD Interest Group.