Application for .geo Sponsored TLD

Registry Operator's ProposalSection II.1

HIGHLIGHTS

JVTeam provides a level of skill and experience in registry operations that cannot be matched

JVTeam’s extensive DNS experience will ensure a stable and secure zone file distribution process which will enhance the stability of the Internet

Our rich history in database design and maintenance guarantees the security, privacy and accuracy of registration data

JVTeam’s resolute commitment to neutrality will ensure fairness and evenhandedness in the provision of registry services

II.1Overview of Registry Operator’s Capabilities(RFP D13.1)

The JVTeam Story

JVTeam brings to the domain name market the combined capabilities of NeuStar and Melbourne IT in order to provide the next generation domain name registry through technological innovation and proven channel management expertise by delivering the world’s most advanced domain name services on a trusted third party basis.

The Beginning

When ICANN announced its intention to initiate a formal process to introduce new top level domains (TLDs), both Melbourne IT and NeuStar saw a unique opportunity perfectly aligned with their individual business goals. Independently, each company saw itself as a strong competitor. Melbourne IT is a trusted provider of registry and registrar domain name services and operates a shared registry system to aggregate resellers’ requests and interface to the existing registry system. NeuStar is a trusted third party provider of critical clearinghouse services that enable communications networks to interoperate.

Similarities in experience and principles were identified and discussed in depth. Neutrality is a major focus of both companies and they are committed to impartiality and fairness. Both recognize the importance of understanding and working successfully within regulatory environments. Both companies have registry experience but in different arenas. Each is committed to developing and cultivating long term relationships with clients. Both are focused on technological innovation and quality service. Both see the Internet as a truly international public resource. In addition to the similarities, complimentary experience was also considered. Melbourne IT is a recognized industry leader in domain name channel management, and NeuStar is a recognized industry leader in shared registry and data center operations.

Through the course of these discussions it became apparent to both companies that while each was a strong competitor independently, together they could combine their respective talents and resources to serve the Internet community’s need for a stable, experienced registry. As shown in Exhibit II.1-1 it was this mutual recognition of overlapping core competencies and complementary skills, combined with a desire to make a significant contribution to the Internet that was the genesis of JVTeam.

Team Formation—A Team for Success

In reviewing the evaluation criteria presented by ICANN, Melbourne IT and NeuStar agreed that to address the issues raised in the RFP and comply with the spirit of the request, the successful introduction of new TLDs requires the following:

  • A reputation as a trusted, neutral third party administrator to promote fair and evenhanded competition among registrars
  • Geographical diversity of operations to support a global enterprise
  • Proven registry development and operations experience to ensure the highest levels of quality service to customers
  • Proven, evenhanded policy administration expertise
  • Technological innovation to provide high quality service and new features and functionality
  • Proven channel management expertise to facilitate early and streamlined adoption by the registrar community

They further agreed that a successful registry operator committed to increasing competition in the Internet must:

  • Understand the Internet environment
  • Build on the strength of its DNS experience
  • Have substantial database and distributed network experience
  • Have proven credentials in managing a significant public database
  • Operate the registry with integrity in a consistent, equitable, and neutral manner
  • Develop policy guidelines and long-term solutions for secure management of vital public resources

In addition, Melbourne IT and NeuStar recognized they shared a philosophy which incorporated a commitment to competition with a vision of the Internet as a global resource readily available to individuals as well as organizations. As these issues continued to be discussed, the two companies realized their vision must become a reality. Together they would be a formidable team committed to the responsible, evolutionary development of the DNS. They formed JVTeam.

JVTeam Overview and Structure

JVTeam is a Limited Liability Company (LLC) formed by Melbourne IT, a public Australian company, and NeuStar, a United States corporation. JVTeam combines the capabilities, experience, and resources of these two outstanding organizations to ensure the stability of the Internet by providing a new generation of registry services that will provide high quality service as well as new features and functionality beneficial to the end user. JVTeam has the full corporate support and financial backing of both Melbourne IT and NeuStar to successfully support the needs of the Internet industry.

JVTeam will be managed by its own set of officers, and will assume all responsibilities and contractual obligations for the registry services outlined in this proposal. In this regard we will:

  • Design, build, and/or customize all registry system components
  • Establish and manage the network infrastructure required
  • Deliver all registry services
  • Provide all support services: billing, customer support, etc.
  • Provide overall quality assurance

JVTeam is managed and staffed by experienced, dedicated individuals from within the industry who are keenly aware of the sensitivities and needs of the industry including:

  • Experienced, neutral, and evenhanded third party administration
  • Consistent service and stable systems that are extremely reliable and secure
  • Sensitivity to the demands, timetables, and ever-changing landscape of the evolving Internet environment
  • Subject matter expertise and experience in key technologies
  • Commitment to the ongoing cooperative development of a first-of-its-kind industry capability through a fully open, non-proprietary environment
  • Awareness of the need for flexible, scalable management and technical operations
Neutrality in a Competitive Environment

Neutrality for us is not a platitude; it is our identity, conveying impeccable, high-quality, evenhanded service essential to the central role we will play in the industry. We will process extremely sensitive and proprietary data to the highest security and confidentiality standards. We will not provide registrar services in competition with our customers. JVTeam is committed to the promotion of competition at the registry level and its goal is the equitable treatment of all registrars. Our previous experience as a registrar provides us the registrar perspective: We understand their needs, concerns, and issues. This understanding clarifies our responsibility to act in strict adherence to the principles of a neutral third party. All of our services will be available to all registrars on non-discriminatory terms. Neutrality is a belief we embrace and have embodied in the JVTeam Code of Conduct we have developed and by which we will abide.

JVTeam intends to maximize our strengths, and leverage our marketing power, database skills, and investment to pursue DNS related opportunities. We are committed to the long-term viability of this company, and the domain name registry business. We plan to deliver quality registry operations in the most cost-effective and equitable fashion possible. And we plan to succeed.

II.1.1Company Information (RFP Section D13.1.1)

JVTeam, L.L.C.

Date of Formation:September 21, 2000

Legal Status:Limited Liability Company

Established in the State of Delaware, USA

Primary Location:1120 Vermont Ave. NW

Washington, DC 20005

USA

Size of Staff:*See Registry Operator’s Proposal Section II.1.7

Formal Alliances:*See Registry Operator’s Proposal Section II.1.3

References:*See Registry Operator’s Proposal Section II.1.3

Corporate or Other Structure:Limited Liability Company

Ownership Structure:55% owned by NeuStar, Inc.

45% owned by Melbourne IT Ltd. Pty.

*As explained in the preceding section, JVTeam is a limited liability company created to function as a registry. Therefore, to obtain formal alliance and reference information, it is necessary to look to the history of our parent companies which is described in detail in Section II.1.3 of this document.

II.1.2Current Business Operations (RFP Section D13.1.2)

Services and Products Offered

Because JVTeam was formed for the specific purpose of developing a domain name registry, it is necessary to look to the services and products offered by our parent companies as well as the duration of their provisioning to understand fully, the depth and breadth of our core capabilities. This information can be found in Section II.1.3 of this document.

Core Capabilities

The core capabilities of JVTeam are summarized on the following chart. Our personnel have the experience, skills, and expertise to successfully develop, manage, and maintain a complex database required for TLD registry operations and to effectively create, organize, and implement the comprehensive operations plan necessary to introduce new TLDs into the marketplace successfully.

CORE CAPABILITIES
Critical Success Factors / JVTeam Capabilities
Development of a Robust, Full-featured Registry /
  • Experience in the design, development, implementation, and operation of .com.au registry
  • Experience in the design, development, implementation, and operation of NPAC SMS Master Registry

Channel Management Expertise /
  • Manages over 250 User Agreements, manages, interfaces with over 4,000 Service Providers
  • NeuStar’s management of over 700 telcos
  • Melbourne IT’s management of over 700 channel partners worldwide

Management of vital public resources /
  • North American Numbering Plan Administrator providing solutions and working to delay the exhaust of the Numbering Resource for the U.S., Canada, and some Caribbean countries
  • Management of the com.au domain name space for the commonwealth of Australia

Even-handed policy expertise /
  • NeuStar is the only neutrality-certified entity in the world
  • Melbourne IT’s even-handed policy administration of the com.au space

Unquestioned neutral administration of registry operations /
  • JVTeam’s combined experience will build a robust, reliable and fully scalable system that will effectively compete with the current gTLD system

Enhancement of competition for registry services /
  • JVTeam will effectively address the current flaws with the TLD registry, thus offering additional functionality to the end user and bringing confidence to the new registry

II.1.3Past Business Operations/Entity History (RFP Section D13.1.3)

JVTeam fuses the DNS management expertise, registry operations experience, and technical database management capabilities of its parent companies and is dedicated to ensuring the stability of the Internet by providing a new generation of high quality registry services incorporating new features and functions beneficial to the end user.

JVTeam’s vision to make a significant, responsible contribution to global communications by serving as a trusted, neutral Internet domain name registry operator is derived from the high standards and business ethics fundamental to our parent companies. Likewise, JVTeam’s entrepreneurial spirit and the confidence of our skilled, talented workforce in their ability to deliver is an innate part of the culture from which we came. JVTeam’s passionate commitment to integrity, professionalism, and confidentiality while providing high quality products and services to its clients is directly attributable to the values shared by our parent companies—Melbourne IT and NeuStar.

Melbourne IT Ltd.

Date of formation:April 1996

Listed on Australian Stock Exchange on December 14, 1999

Legal Status:Proprietary limited company (Australia)

Primary location:Level 2, 120 King Street

Melbourne, Victoria

Australia 3000

Size of staff:161

Formal alliances:1.Verio Inc.

2.Ericsson Australia Pty. Ltd.

3.i-DNS.net International

4.Digital Envoy Inc.

5.eSign

References:Please see Registry Operator’s Proposal Section II.4.2, References

Corporate or other structure:Limited Corporation

Ownership structure:Melbourne IT is incorporated in Australia as a public company limited by shares. Melbourne IT’s largest shareholder is Melbourne Enterprises International Ltd., a Melbourne University Company.

History and Overview

Melbourne IT was founded on a simple yet powerful idea. Melbourne IT is a place where highly skilled, uniquely talented people utilize leading edge technologies to produce innovative, first-of-a-kind technology solutions. Melbourne IT was founded in 1996 as a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of Melbourne. At that time the company’s focus was to commercialize the University’s immense IT and telecommunications expertise. From a humble beginning, this quickly evolved into one of Australia’s most respected and successful information technology companies. This success continued in all areas of operation throughout the late 1990s and in 1999, Melbourne IT became a publicly traded company, expanding its customer and product base on a global scale.

Melbourne IT is a unique technology company that constantly seeks to learn, explore, and improve. It has an established culture of research and knowledge, where staff members are actively encouraged to explore ideas, to experiment with new technologies, and constantly expand the application and usefulness of information technology. Melbourne IT employees are given every opportunity to try new things, to be creative, to make mistakes, to learn and grow. It is a true culture of creativity and innovation.

Melbourne IT has played a leading role in the development of e-commerce in Australia and the Asia Pacific region, participating as a subject matter expert in forums on many of the technology areas in which it currently operates. It has also fostered the development of innovative technologies through an incubator program, providing many young software engineers with an opportunity to turn creative ideas into commercial solutions.

While technological innovation has permeated Melbourne IT’s product development, integrity and responsibility have characterized its ongoing involvement with the global community. Melbourne IT has built its global reputation on the strength of its interaction with customers and the community at large. Melbourne IT has cultivated long-standing, positive relationships with all of its clients, partners, and industry bodies throughout the world. In addition, Melbourne IT has actively participated in the development of standards and policies which serve to institute fairness and openness in the application of information technology. Melbourne IT has developed leading edge products through innovation and creativity and has built a global, successful business on the strength of strong and trusted relationships.

Services and Products

Melbourne IT offers a diverse range of technology products and services which can be broken down into four main categories:

  1. Domain name registration, maintenance, and related services and products
  2. Advanced telecommunications services and products
  3. Incubator program
  4. Research and Development.
Domain Name Registration, Maintenance, and Related Services and Products

com.au Domain names—On October 8, 1996 Melbourne IT became the delegated administrator of the com.au domain space. Melbourne IT leveraged its application development, project management, database, and networking experience to produce a domain name registration system that is automated, scalable, and eminently reliable.

Prior to Melbourne IT becoming the administrator of the com.au domain space, fewer than 5,000 com.au domains were registered. Because the space is tightly restricted by the com.au domain allocation policy, every application required manual verification for accuracy and completeness. This resulted in long delays and threatened to hamper the growth of e-commerce in Australia. Melbourne IT developed both front-end and back-end components of an automated registration system and within a very short space of time registrants enjoyed much faster service and a com.au domain name became an integral part of doing business in Australia. Melbourne IT currently processes up to 12,000 applications each month and the space has grown to over 190,000 domain names, making it one of the largest, most highly prized ccTLD spaces in the world. Melbourne IT has continued to innovate by providing the world’s first, live trademark check for new domain name applicants, implementing automated policy validation, and by providing registration services to a network of more than 500 Australian channel partners. All of Australia’s top 500 companies actively promote their com.au address in preference to .com because Melbourne IT has successfully differentiated com.au as a domain space specifically for genuine Australian registered businesses. Australian and international consumers have come to trust com.au as a domain space that has maintained the highest standards of integrity both commercially and technically.

generic Top Level Domains—In April 1999, Melbourne IT was selected to be one of five test-bed registrars for the introduction of competition in the .com, .net, and .org domain spaces. On July 1, 1999, Melbourne IT launched a domain management system called SPIN (System for Processing Internet Names) that is unique in the industry. Unlike the highly manual legacy systems of other vendors, SPIN, the synthesis of four and a half years experience in domain management, is a multi-million dollar software investment engineered to be highly scalable and rapidly adaptable to new naming rules and domain products. SPIN supports multiple interfaces allowing channel partners of many varying technical standards and backgrounds to easily interface to a real-time registration system. Melbourne IT has been a pioneer in the introduction of new TLD features such as 63-character domains, enhanced domain name security, and excellent 24-hour multi-lingual help desk support. It is continually and rapidly customizing the registration platforms to meet the needs of its channel partners.

Advanced Telecommunications Services and Products

Melbourne IT has also played a significant role in the development of advanced telecommunications technologies through The Advanced Services Application Centre (ASAC). ASAC began as an unincorporated joint venture between Melbourne IT and Ericsson Australia. Based in Melbourne, ASAC was established in 1995 to bring together IT and telecommunications competencies to build intelligent network (IN) and mobile data applications.

The following is a summary of some of the achievements of ASAC since 1995:

  • Development and Installation of an Infoserver Product—ASAC developed, integrated and supported an Infoserver product known as Smart Message Services (SMS) from concept through to commercial operation in the Telstra network in Australia. The associated applications allow the delivery of personalized information to a GSM subscriber using the SMS facility. The product first went into service in 1996.
  • Development and Support of an Enhanced Service Node—ASAC played a leading role in the development and support of the Enhanced Service Node (ESN) platform and the Personal Assistant (PA) application. ASAC was subsequently selected by Ericsson Sweden to build a commercial version of Personal Assistant on an industrialized service node.
  • Development and Deployment of an Internet Gateway Platform—ASAC developed an Internet Gateway (ING) product that allows web-based control of network intelligence applications. This product currently supports the operation of a number of Telstra’s IN services.
  • Development and Delivery of IN Services to Regional Telephone Companies—ASAC has successfully developed and delivered fully integrated IN and IT applications to Ericsson customers globally and within the Asia Pacific region.
  • Joint Development of a Standard Infoserver Product—ASAC has worked with Ericsson Germany to develop the Web-on-Air Infoserver core platform and recently has been responsible for the successful development of the meta-service ‘Channel Studio’ that will allow the development of simple information style services.
Incubator Program

Since 1996, Melbourne IT has operated an Incubator program to support and develop new enterprises seeking to commercially develop information and communication technologies, particularly in relation to e-commerce. The Incubator program seeks to support new enterprises by providing them with access to low cost facilities, mentoring, and business networks.