Internet Bigger Than Agriculture or Energy Sectors - Importance of R&E Networks

Several months ago McKinsey did a very interesting study on the economic value of the Internet. They pointed out that Internet in the G8 countries as well as Brazil, China, India, South Korea, and Sweden is now bigger than agriculture or energy. The Internet represents 3.4% of GDP and accounted for 21 percent of GDP growth over the last five years among these developed countries and as Vint Cerf pointed out in his blog created 2.6 jobs for every one lost. more

Where Domain Security Meets the Supply Chain Crunch

Over the last two years, we've all faced supply shortages on items we previously never thought could be in short supply. Most recently, the baby formula and semiconductor markets were hit. Before that, supply chain attacks on Colonial Pipeline and JBS Foods showed us that an attack on one company through a singular point of compromise has the potential to disrupt an entire network of connected companies, products, partners, vendors, and customers. more

Internet Governance for Sustainability

Sustainability is a difficult term to avoid these days. With that in mind, it's somewhat surprising that last week's European Dialogue on Internet Governance (EuroDIG), now in its tenth year, featured one of its first workshops looking at the subject. But while the workshop focused on issues of energy usage and e-waste, the concept of sustainability raises some much broader and likely difficult questions for the Internet governance community. more

A New Boom to Come? Re-Evaluating the Success of the New TLD Program

I think it's fair to say that quite a few people -- both within the domain name industry and beyond -- have an opinion on whether the new TLD program is succeeding or struggling. But are things really all that bad? Are we forecasting doom before it has really had a chance to run? Crunching the numbers... Let's consider the (relatively short) history to this point and take a look at some statistics. more

Bloomberg on Netflix as World’s Biggest User of Cloud Computing

Netflix is arguable one of the world's biggest users of cloud computing, renting all its computing power from Amazon Web Services, the cloud division of Amazon.com, which runs its own video-streaming service that competes with Netflix. Ashlee Vance from Bloomberg reports. more

ICANN’s Economic Reports: Finding the Missing Pieces to the Puzzle

The ICANN community has been especially concerned about the economic reports used by ICANN to justify its decisions as to whether, and how, to implement applications for new gTLDs. Among the greatest sources of concern has been the failure of ICANN staff to issue a complete public response to the ICANN Board's October 2006 demand that ICANN Staff commission economic studies about gTLDs... more

Breaking the AI Bottleneck: The Future of High-Density Data Centers

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become synonymous with innovation, transforming industries at an unprecedented pace. While some may frame AI as a groundbreaking development of our time, it's essential to acknowledge that its roots run deep. AI has evolved immensely from early tools like the abacus to present-day GPU-driven large language models. What sets the current landscape apart? The sheer scale of data, computational demand, and complexity of workloads. more

Thirty-Three Million and Counting

Two weeks ago I blogged about ICANN's astonishingly lucrative domain auctions. At that time, they'd raised $26.7 million. Now, two auctions later, they're up to about $33 million. Yesterday's two auctions were for .MLS and .BABY. The former, for those who aren't deep into the real estate biz, stands for Multiple Listing Service, the system that lets you list a house with one broker, and all the other brokers can sell it. more

Secure Domain Foundation Launched to Help Internet Infrastructure Operators Fight Cybercrime

Experts and companies in the information security industry today announced the formation of the Secure Domain Foundation (SDF), a new, non-profit, community-driven organization devoted to the identification and prevention of Internet cyber crime utilizing the domain name system (DNS). more

ICANN-JPA Coverage

At the end of this month, September 30th, the Joint Project Agreement (JPA) between the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the U.S. Department of Commerce (DoC) will come to an end. While ICANN has affirmed its commitment in maintaining a long-term, formal relationship with the United States, talks of new changes and a more independent ICANN is intensifying as the expiration date is quickly approaching. For the next upcoming days, this page will be frequently updated with related news and updates. more

Starlink in the Spotlight: Growth, Challenges, and Future Ambitions

There is a lot of speculation that Starlink is positioned to get a lot more federal subsidy from the BEAD grant program. There are a few things that have to happen for that to come to pass, but that is not the only news about Starlink these days. Starlink announced in September that it reached four million customers worldwide. What is most impressive about that announcement is the rate of growth, with the company just hitting the three million customer mark in May of 2024. more

Are Service Providers Giving Up on Landline too Soon?

Interesting times in the carrier space, for sure. While most readers of this column are focused on the business market, it's hard to ignore what's occurring in the consumer space right now. Being based in Toronto, I happen to be struck by the similar trends shaping on both sides of the border. Over the past few days, we've seen earnings reports from major telcos and cablecos, and these businesses seem to be going in opposite directions. more

Quake Damage in Japan

The 8.9-magnitude earthquake in Japan rocked the northeastern portion of the coast. The quake was the strongest to hit Japan in at least a century, sending a tsunami that flooded northern towns and also reached portions of the United States, including Hawaii. The quake was followed by a 7.1-magnitude aftershock. Impact on Internet connectivity... Japan’s Internet performance seemed to have emerged largely unscathed, but concerns continue for the telecommunications infrastructure as the country struggles to meet power demands in a state-of-emergency. more

Advancing Digital Trust: Global Innovations in Domain Registrant Verification (Highlights from the ICANN79 Community Forum)

On 6 March 2024, the ICANN At Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) held a plenary session entitled "Building Trust on the Internet Through Registrant Verification" at the ICANN79 Community Forum in San Juan, Puerto Rico, that Michael Palage and Avri Doria co-moderated. This session was inspired in part by a recent World Economic Forum report entitled "Reimagining Digital ID"... more

Blockchain Technology Can Solve Some of Africa’s Problems

Lately, the word blockchain is gaining a lot of attention from businesses, investors and governments, especially around how it could transform how we do business today. As the world looks up to Blockchain technology for radical transformations in many industries and sectors, I want to take a look at how it could help governance in Africa.
The African continent is plagued with corruption, bad governance, mismanagement and lack of accountability. more