Four New Generic Top Level Domains

At its meeting in Durban, ICANN signed contracts with the applicants for four new top level domains. The new domains are ????, which means "web" in Arabic, ?????? and ????, which mean "online" and "site" in Russian, and ??, which means "game" in Chinese. They should give us an interesting hint about the future of the new TLDs, because all four are utterly, totally, generic. more

DNS, DNSSEC and Google’s Public DNS Service

For some time now we've been tracking the progress of the deployment of DNSSEC in the Internet. Its been a story of an evolution of the measurement technique... In the process we've learned perhaps more than we had wanted to about the behaviour of Flash engines, Apache web servers and FreeBSD system tuning, and also learned much more than we had anticipated about the finer details of Google's online ad presentation behaviour. But one thing we did not see in all of this was any large scale jumps in the level of client use of DNSSEC validation over this period at the start of the year. more

First Four Registry Agreements Signed for New TLDs

The first four new Top Level Domains (TLDs) have signed contracts with ICANN, known as Registry Agreements, to allow the applicants to operate new TLDs on the Internet. This is a historic event and marks the first of many new Registry Agreements which will be signed over the coming months as prospective new TLD operators complete the Initial Evaluation phase, pre-delegation testing, and finally sign Registry agreements. more

Can a CDN Help Website and Application Performance?

Before we answer the question, "Can a CDN help your website and application performance," let's take a moment for a short CDN 101. A CDN (content delivery or content distribution network) is a system of computers placed at different network nodes to provide the same content from the shortest distance possible. In other words, a CDN attempts to take pieces of content from your website and pass it to various nodes around the Internet. more

ICANN Mission Creep is Becoming Mission Leap

Under the leadership of Fadi Chehade and Steve Crocker, ICANN finally runs like an organization that has grown up. When it comes to process, accountability, and transparency, this is excellent news for the Internet. But it also raises a new question: how far will we let ICANN grow "out" of the limited technical mission for which it was created? In his opening remarks here in Durban, Chehade announced the expansion of local engagement centers and significant expansion of ICANN staff - for the second straight year. more

Over 100 gTLD Applications Committed in Aug. 13 Applicant Auction

In early June, the first Applicant Auction resolved contention for 6 contested gTLDs. The successful outcome of that auction has generated a great deal of interest from other applicants, and Innovative Auctions is expecting a big turnout in our next auction, to be held on August 13th. For more than half of the contested applications, at least one applicant is ready to resolve contention via our auction. more

The Death of IP Based Reputation

Back in the dark ages of email delivery the only thing that really mattered to get your email into the inbox was having a good IP reputation. If your IP sent good mail most of the time, then that mail got into the inbox and all was well with the world. All that mattered was that good IP reputation. Even better for the people who wanted to game the system and get their spam into the inbox, there were many ways to get around IP reputation. more

First “Africa DNS Forum” To Be Streamed Live July 12 and 13 From Durban, South Africa

The first Africa DNS Forum will take place on Friday, July 12, and Saturday, July 13, 2013, in Durban, South Africa, in advance of next week's ICANN 47 meeting. Jointly organized by AfTLD, ICANN and the Internet Society, the Africa DNS Forum "aims to establish a platform for the DNS community across Africa and to advance the domain name industry and domain name registrations on the continent."  more

Passwords Are Not Enough: Without Two Factor Authentication Your Business Is At Risk

Passwords are no longer sufficient to maintain an adequate level of security for business critical infrastructure and services. Two-factor authentication should be considered the minimum acceptable level of access control. There have been two types of security stories in the technology news over the last few months that should be of particular concern to system administrators and those responsible for maintaining business network infrastructure. more

Website Load Testing Services: Remove Online Roadblocks

We've all experienced it -- that moment when you have ten minutes to get to the office, coffee in one hand and a croissant on your lap, and just as luck would have it you're stuck behind an oversize load and feel like you are going "- 5" MPH. This is exactly what many companies put their online customers through during high-traffic times, such as holidays and sales promotions. By failing to identify bottlenecks and optimize their websites, many companies risk slower performance and, ultimately, loss of revenue. more