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<body class='hmmessage'><div dir='ltr'><a href="http://www.itnewsafrica.com/2013/05/africa-domain-name-system-forum-to-be-held-in-durban-south-africa-12-13-july-2013/" target="_blank">Source : http://www.itnewsafrica.com/2013/05/africa-domain-name-system-forum-to-be-held-in-durban-south-africa-12-13-july-2013/</a><BR><br><BR><br><BR> DURBAN, South-Africa, May 13, 2013/African Press Organization (APO)/
— <br><BR><br><BR>The Africa Domain Name System (DNS) Forum will be held on 12 – 13
July 2013 in Durban, South Africa. The event 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.
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Logo: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/plog-content/images/apo/logos/internet_society.jpg
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Over the years, the Internet Society
(http://www.internetsociety.org), AfTLD, and ICANN have supported the
continued development and growth of Country Code Top Level Domains
(ccTLDs) in Africa through capacity building and technical support.
Despite the support, the growth and sustainability of African ccTLDs and
adoption of new technologies remains very low as compared to other
regions of the world. To identify the bottlenecks that are keeping the
industry from growing and the actions that can catalyze its growth, the
three organizations determined the need for a forum to discuss these
regional DNS issues.
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The DNS Forum will foster cross-border collaboration between
registries, registrars, registrants, DNS experts, Government
representatives, and policy makers. Topics covered during the 1 ½ day
event include trends, opportunities, and challenges of the DNS industry;
strategies for registries and registrars; legal issues with
cross-border domain registrations; ways Governments can support domain
name growth; and benefits of standardizing accreditation to attract more
cross-border registrars and registrations.
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“The Internet Society’s African Regional Bureau has been working to
strengthen the ccTLDs in Africa by improving sustainability, encouraging
the implementation of automation solutions at ccTLDs, and promoting the
use of technology such as DNSSEC at registries,” said Dawit Bekele,
Internet Society Regional Bureau Director for Africa. “We are pleased to
join together with AfTLD and ICANN to host this multi-stakeholder forum
where participants can share experiences, gain new insights, and
establish new business relationships with organizations from within and
outside the continent. Such a forum is important to bring growth in the
African domain name industry.”
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Pierre S. Dandjinou, ICANN Vice President of Stakeholder Engagement
for Africa, commented, “ICANN is partnering with other players in the
region to implement its Africa strategy, which was developed in 2012 by
the African community. Thus, this DNS Forum in Durban, as a partnership
between AfTLD and the Internet Society and as a pre-conference event to
the ICANN meeting, is another milestone that builds on the MIGworks
event in Addis in March 2013, which sought to pave the way for the
development of the DNS industry in Africa and to empower the African
community for an increased accreditation of registrars from the
continent. I believe the new gTLD program will help grow this industry
on a global and regional level, and we hope that African business
players can be part of this growing industry as much as they can. ICANN
will present in this event several programs to support and incubate new
business players in Africa to benefit out of the growing potential in
this continent.”
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“By working with and building on our partnerships in running the DNS
Forum, AfTLD’s objective is to build on our thriving capacity building
activities for ccTLDs in Africa so as to improve the DNS in Africa and
the sustainability of ccTLDs,” said Dr. Paulos Nyirenda, President of
AfTLD. “The DNS Forum will present a great opportunity for players in
the domain industry to learn and to foster new and established
relationships, including those among ccTLDs, registries, registrars,
operators, policy makers and end users.”
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For more information and to register for the Africa DNS Forum, visit: http://aftld.org/afdnsforum
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Distributed by the African Press Organization on behalf of the Internet Society.
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About the Internet Society
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The Internet Society (http://www.internetsociety.org) is the trusted
independent source for Internet information and thought leadership from
around the world. With its principled vision and substantial
technological foundation, the Internet Society promotes open dialogue on
Internet policy, technology, and future development among users,
companies, governments, and other organizations. Working with its
members and Chapters around the world, the Internet Society enables the
continued evolution and growth of the Internet for everyone. For more
information, visit http://www.internetsociety.org
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Media Contact: Wende Cover, cover@isoc.org, +1-703-439-2773
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