At the end of June 2008, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN - www.icann.org), the nonprofit public benefit corporation that manages critical aspects of the Internet's infrastructure, approved a resolution for the expansion of new generic Top Level Domains (“gTLDs”). With this decision, ICANN has opened up the possibility for hundreds, potentially thousands new Internet extensions next to .com, .net, .org, .info, and many country-code extensions, such as .uk, .be, .au and .jp.
As a consequence, it will be possible for governments, organizations and commercial entities to obtain one or more proprietary Internet extensions, at the top level of the DNS hierarchy.
For instance:
• the hotel industry can apply for a .HOTEL top level domain; and
• an organization like Deloitte can obtain a .DELOITTE extension gTLD.
Before applying for a TLD and making the investment, the Flemish Government wishes to assess to which extent a TLD for Flanders would provide an added value, and whether this could result in a sustainable operation as required by ICANN .
In order to grasp the opportunities and the willingness of the Flemish market to invest in a gTLD for Flanders, the Flemish Government would like to develop a strategical vision. Therefore, the results of the questionnaire will include different stakeholders and will be followed by a feasibility study.
Following stakeholders will need to be included in the questionnaire:
1. Registrars
2. Resellers
3. Consumer organizations
4. Flemish government
5. ISPs
6. Representatives of the business community
7. Telecom operators
8. Hosting companies
9. Socio-cultural sector
10. Community at large
With this questionnaire, feedback will be requested on the following subjects:
- Is there a demand for a Flemish TLD?
- Which would be the best extension and why?
- How will the TLD provide added value for the stakeholders?
- What entity will own the TLD and which structure/policy is necessary to manage the registry?
- Which are the technical requirements?
Test