Network Solutions Inc (NSI) cannot be surprised by anything the paper contains and has come out of it as well as it could have expected. Its costs will be reduced by 30% for the last six months of its contract as it no longer has to put money into the internet infrastructure fund, but on the other hand it will have to fund the creation of a shared registry database in anticipation of competition being introduced into the .com .net and .org name space. NSI said it will pass that saving directly on to users, reducing its fee for two years registration to $70 from $100. Senior VP internet relations Don Telage said the company has already begun development of the shared registry system. The Herndon, Virginia company’s shares closed down $1.875 at $18.75 on Friday. NSI, describing the green paper as a point of inflection for the internet, does not think real competition in the .com, .net and .org space will arise for 12 to 18 months. Having known that its cooperative agreement with the government was coming to an end this year, NSI’s chief executive Gabe Battista said the plan would have no impact on our business model. NSI knew it would have to cede control of the A root server, and always said it would be willing to do so, as long as an alternative guardian was found. That guardian, the not-for-profit organization, would have 15 members under Magaziner’s proposal. Three members would come from the three existing regional IP registries: ARIN in North America, RIPE in Europe and APNIC is Asia/Pacific; two from the Internet Architecture Board (IAB); two from a yet-to-be-created association representing registries and registrars; seven from another yet-to-be-created association representing users and the last place for the CEO of the corporation. Its remit would be to set policy for and direct the allocation of blocks of numerical IP addresses, to oversee the root server system; to decide which, and how many TLDs are added to the system and to coordinate the development of other technology needed to maintain the internet’s stability. The green paper says the CEO should be someone with corporate experience and the corporation should be based in the US. NSI’s Telage points out that no procedures are in place for selecting people for the board, but he said there was a very strong chance that we will have representation one way or another in that group.
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