In a series of recent blog posts I’ve described the technical challenges in registration operations, a proposal for an industry association, and announced an interactive workshop to explore association formation. This is an update on where things stand with the workshop.

The first Registration Operations Association Workshop is scheduled for Thursday, 16 October 2014 in the Pacific Palisades room at the Los Angeles Hyatt Regency Century Plaza hotel, the same venue being used for ICANN 51. The event is not affiliated with ICANN, but with ICANN’s support we’ve been able to secure a room that’s large enough to seat more than 100 people. Still, space is limited and seats are going fast. Please register quickly if you haven’t already done so. Registered attendees will receive updates via email as we get closer to the event date.

Verisign is sponsoring the workshop and has set up a web site to provide information and allow people to register. We’re asking people to register in advance so we can make sure that we have reserved a large enough room and that we provide enough food for breakfast and lunch. I’ve also had a mailing list created to share information about the workshop. Subscription info can be found here:

https://lists.verisignlabs.com/mailman/listinfo/roa

This list name is “[email protected]”. You must be subscribed to the list to post and to view the list archives.

Remote participants are welcome! We’ll have a telephone bridge and a webcast available. Please note if you’re planning to participate remotely when you register, and join the mailing list to receive timely updates.

The agenda includes time to discuss technical challenges and the need to address them. Two registrar representatives are scheduled to describe the issues they’ve faced in implementing client-side EPP extensions. Their presentations will include first-hand observations of the current state of extension management and the issues faced by registrars.

The remainder of the workshop agenda will be devoted to presenting and discussing proposals for forming a new association or integrating with an existing association. While I’ve found significant agreement with the goal of working together as part of an association, I’ve also found differences of opinion in how we can best work together. We need to explore and discuss our options. Individuals who wish to present a proposal can indicate their desire to do so on the registration form.

We need broad, active participation for an association to succeed. The association proposal I described is intended to meet a number of goals to secure that participation, including functional independence, openness, focus on a technical mission, and cost effectiveness. Every association proposal presentation should clearly indicate how these goals can be met.

It may also help to think about association participation a little more broadly. We currently have communities of interest such as CENTR, LACTLD, eco.de, and the Domain Name Association where like-minded people join together for reasons that aren’t directly focused on EPP. These communities exist precisely because they attract people with common interests. The communities share an interest in domain names, but each serves other unique purposes as well. Instead of focusing on what makes the communities different, let’s focus on a common interest in registration operations and consider the possibility of a new association established just for that purpose. This would allow each community to address its own local challenges, as well as to share proposed solutions for registration operations with the other communities. This doesn’t have to be an “either or” proposition.

The workshop will conclude with a discussion of areas of agreement and consensus. It’s my hope that we’ll find enough common ground to lay the foundation for collective technical problem-solving to start in the very near future.

For additional details about the workshop, please visit www.regiops.net.