Q &A with John Kane of Afilias

John Kane is Vice President of Corporate Services at Afilias and a domain name industry veteran. John has previously served on the Afilias Board of Directors, he has played an integral role in Afilias’ bid for .INFO in 2001, and now oversees many Afilias product lines including the Managed DNS Services business and IDN email.

Q: What did you think of the .РФ launch, and how close are IDNs to “prime time”?

A: It was a very interesting launch. I was shocked at how many registrations there were in such a short time frame. There is obviously tons of interest in IDNs, but in order to have true success, you need usage.

Q: How and when do we get to that place where there is more usage?

A: Right now there is only half a solution. Personally, I spend more time drafting emails than on websites. Enabling local language IDN email is difficult given current mail client standards, but it is necessary.



Q: If we need IDN email for greater IDN adoption, how can Afilias provide a solution?

A: Our IDN email product works. It is now in a beta version and there is a great deal of testing in our sandbox. A lot of ccTLD Registries along with other companies and institutions are currently testing the solution.

Q: Hypothetically, if I am a registry operator for an IDN ccTLD and I call you and ask for IDN email support ASAP, when and how can you help me?

A: I could have your IDN email functionality enabled in 24 hours given that our service is operated in the cloud and can be implemented rapidly and cost-effectively.

Q: How much would this cost, when you say that it is cost-effective?

A: We would charge you a licensing fee based on the number of registrants we would be providing this service to.

Q: What other IDN related activities and services is Afilias engaged in?

A: As the Registry Services provider for many TLDs including .INFO, .ORG, .ASIA, .IN, and .ME we provide the technology enabling these registries to deploy second level IDNs.


Q: So if a registry has the rights to an ASCII TLD and an IDN equivalent TLD, they would come to you to request, and implement aliasing? What options could you foresee?

A: Right. I’ve been thinking a lot about this and there are many different options including, for example:
-If you own a domain under .INFO you would get the domain under the other language(s).
-If you buy a domain under .INFO-in-IDN and the ASCII version is not registered you would get the domain in .INFO.
-There could be aliasing and cross referencing between an ASCII TLD to an IDN TLD.
-They could be run separately.

Q: Do you see aliasing as being profitable for the registries, perhaps if they charge for each “unlocking” of a TLD into a local language?

A: Yes, it will definitely generate new revenue for registries and “unlocking” is one option.


Q: Going back to IDN email, how would you explain to a layman the technical email challenges that need to be overcome?

A: I use the concept of an island as an analogy. Mail services work today where you could communicate with people on your island. It becomes more complex when Hotmail interacts with Gmail for instance, and more so between ASCII email and IDN email. We provide a gateway which bridges ASCII and IDN emails. Technically, it provides you with two email addresses an ASCII and an IDN address. Think about it as a virtual post office which can select which email address to use knowing the correct one to use so that the mail will get to the correct recipient.


Q: Would you predict that IDN ccTLDs will become dominant or will IDNs under the .COM extension become more prevalent?

A: If I had a crystal ball I would say that I see either ccTLDs or regional gTLDs like .ASIA will see greater IDN adoption.

Q: Why? Is the success of the .РФ launch part of the basis for your answer?

A: Definitely, the .РФ launch was a good example.

Q: What were recent developments for Afilias in terms of IDNs?

A: Jordan’s الاردن IDN ccTLD registry is working with us and recently in Amman, Jordan we had a live demonstration of working IDN email. It was a big “wow” moment as many did not expect to send IDN email in a right-to-left language.



Q: What sold them on IDN email or do they just “get it”?

A: The government gets it and they didn’t need to be sold.


Q: In the case of a stubborn registry that has an IDN ccTLD but refuses to provide IDN email, do you think that ICANN or another regulatory body should require that an IDN ccTLD registry must provide IDN email?

A: No, I think that is outside their mandate. Market forces will ultimately force registries to adopt IDN email, and if they don’t registrants will go elsewhere.

Q: What else are you seeing in the IDN space?

A: We are also seeing the increased penetration of mobile devices versus PCs, and when using mobile devices IDN email is essential.


Q: As a summary regarding our discussion of IDN email, why is it so important for registries and for the success of IDNs?

A: Some registries think that email isn’t part of their core business, but you have to prime the pump with fully functional domains to really see usage and adoption, which will increase registrations and profits.

Q: Thank you for your time. Readers can also find additional information on the subject below:
http://www.afilias.info/idnemail