[registrars] The .ORG Question

["Michael D. Palage" <michael@palage.com>]

Hello All:

As Rick mentioned to the Registrar list yesterday evening, ICANN has
announced that the decision on .ORG is not likely to be announced until the
end of September. One of the principle reasons that this meeting was being
convened was to provide the new registry operator the unique opportunity to
met in person with those registrars that control well 90% of the .org market
share to discuss technical and legal issues (i.e. contracts, bonds, etc.) .
The Executive Committee viewed this as critical in guaranteeing a smooth
seamless transition between registry operators. Particularly in light of the
fact that some potential bidders have no existing relationship with ICANN
accredited registrars.

The Registrar meeting is tentatively scheduled for the weekend of September
21-22. Although a decision on .org is possible by then, there is no
guarantee from ICANN that this will happen. Pushing the meeting back one
week is complicated by the fact that Afilias is having a shareholder meeting
and a number of registrars will be attending that meeting in Dublin.
Therefore in order to maximize registrar participation, the meeting would
have to be pushed back till October 5-6. This date is only three weeks
before the Shanghai meeting.

Therefore as the Executive Committee begins its search to find a suitable
meeting location (accessible to major airport hub and reasonable hotel
accommodations), we need to have feedback ASAP as to whether to shift the
date to guarantee that the .org winner will be able to address the
constituency and enhance the likelihood of a smooth seamless transition.

Best regards,

Mike