Registry Operator’s Proposal

For the .union global Top Level Domain

 

Sponsor :

International Confederation of Trade Unions

 

Registry Operator :

Poptel Ltd

 

Volume 1 of 7

Heads of agreement

Signed application form

Signed confidentiality form


Registry Operator’s Proposal

For the .union global Top Level Domain

 

Sponsor :

International Confederation of Trade Unions

 

Registry Operator :

Poptel Ltd

 

Volume 2 of 7

Table of contents

List of appendices

Business capabilities and plan


Table of Contents

Executive Summary............................................................. 1

The Business Case....................................................................... 1

The Technical Case...................................................................... 2

1     General information (D1 to D11)............................ 3

2     Business Capabilities and Plan............................... 6

2.1      Current Capabilities.......................................................... 6

2.1.1       Who we are.................................................................. 6

2.1.1.1         Company information and Formal Alliances.............. 6

2.1.1.2         Background to Poptel............................................. 8

2.1.1.3         History.................................................................. 9

2.1.1.4         The mission.......................................................... 10

2.1.1.5         Ethical Policy....................................................... 10

2.1.1.6         Our customers...................................................... 10

2.1.1.7         Our services......................................................... 12

2.1.1.8         How we provide the services................................ 15

2.1.1.9         Our resources...................................................... 15

2.1.2       How we have achieved success.................................... 17

2.1.2.1         Our growth.......................................................... 17

2.1.2.2         Key achievements................................................ 17

2.1.2.3         Related experience............................................... 18

2.2      Business Plan................................................................... 18

2.2.1       The market.................................................................. 18

2.2.1.1         Profile of a target customer................................... 18

2.2.1.2         Services demanded by customer............................ 19

2.2.2       The services................................................................ 19

2.2.2.1         Core registry services........................................... 19

2.2.2.2         Registrar services................................................. 20

2.2.2.3         Value added services............................................ 20

2.2.3       Selling and marketing the services................................. 21

2.2.3.1         Proposed cost of services...................................... 21

2.2.3.2         Demand scenarios................................................ 22

2.2.3.3         Marketing Strategy............................................... 26

2.2.4       Building the business operation...................................... 28

2.2.4.1         Business processes............................................... 28

2.2.4.2         People................................................................. 33

2.2.4.3         Systems............................................................... 34

2.2.4.4         Facilities............................................................... 35

2.2.5       Investment appraisal..................................................... 35

2.2.5.1         Summary Illustrative Financial Forecasts................ 35

2.2.6       Risk management......................................................... 36

2.2.6.1         Risk analysis........................................................ 36

2.2.6.2         Provisions for registry failure................................. 39

3     Technical Capabilities and Plan........................... 40

3.1      Current Capabilities........................................................ 40

3.1.1       Current IT Architecture................................................ 40

3.1.1.1         Systems............................................................... 40

3.1.1.2         Network.............................................................. 41

3.1.2       Current Organisation.................................................... 45

3.1.2.1         Key IT teams....................................................... 45

3.1.2.2         Key skills and expertise......................................... 46

3.1.3       Tools........................................................................... 47

3.1.3.1         Systems management........................................... 47

3.1.3.2         Development........................................................ 49

3.1.4       Key technical achievements.......................................... 49

3.1.4.1         Poptel NOC......................................................... 49

3.1.4.2         GMING and the MIDAS project........................... 49

3.1.4.3         Manchester Community Information Network........ 50

3.1.4.4         Recent Customer Projects..................................... 50

3.2      Technical Plan.................................................................. 51

3.2.1       Underpinning the business processes with IT................. 51

3.2.1.1         Applications and information architecture............... 51

3.2.1.2         Infrastructure....................................................... 57

3.2.2       Managing the service................................................... 65

3.2.2.1         Data management................................................ 65

3.2.2.2         Capacity planning................................................. 65

3.2.2.3         Configuration management.................................... 65

3.2.2.4         Problem management........................................... 65

3.2.2.5         System recovery................................................... 66

3.2.3       Zone file management.................................................. 67

3.2.3.1         Generation........................................................... 67

3.2.3.2         Change control..................................................... 67

3.2.3.3         Distribution and publication.................................... 67

3.2.4       Interfacing to key partners............................................ 67

3.2.4.1         Sponsor................................................................ 67

3.2.4.2         Registrars............................................................ 67

3.2.5       IT security................................................................... 68

3.2.5.1         Network.............................................................. 68

3.2.5.2         User authentication............................................... 68

3.2.6       Required facilities......................................................... 68

 


Appendices

A.        How this proposal meets ICANN’s proposal criteria

B.       Poptel History

C.       Client References

D.       Management team profiles

E.        Key technical personnel profiles

F.     Pro-forma financial projections

G.        Organisational documents

H.       Annual report

I.     Proof of capital

J.    Proof of insurance

K.       Registry Operator’s Fitness Disclosure


Executive Summary

The Business Case

Poptel is a long-standing, UK based Internet company providing high quality services mainly to organisations in the social economy and social enterprise sectors. Trade unions and co-operatives form a large part of our existing markets.

We have an innovative, largely employee owned co-operative structure with venture capital participation. Currently we have 55 staff, and expect up to 80 by the end of this year. We are investing heavily in our technical infrastructure and were recently rated No. 1 ISP in the UK for quality of service over a six-month period. We are amongst the top 20 Internet companies in Britain by financial performance.

We are a domain registry agent and members of Nominet in the UK, and register TLDs through NSI. We are planning to become an ICANN accredited Registrar.

We were approached by two international organisations, the ICFTU and Cooperative League of the U.S.A. d/b/a National Co-operative Business Association (NCBA) supported by the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) the world body for the co-operative sector, to be the Registry Operator for new TLD applications for .union and .co-op, proposals which we have been happy to support. Both organisations represent substantial communities of interest on the Internet – hundreds of thousands of organisations and many millions of people. In each case the TLD proposed will be a sensible addition to the existing DNS hierarchy and will aid Internet users in locating the appropriate resources they seek.

The business case set out below represents our plan for providing a Registry Operator service for the .union/.co-op TLD. The plan is not dependent on the success of the .union/.co-op TLD application.

Assuming the application is successful, during the start up phase Poptel will act as both Registry Operator and Registrar for the TLD. Working with the TLD Sponsor our intention is to locate other downstream registrars to provide the direct client facing services, thus enhancing competition for registration services within the TLD.

Our business model is based on realistic demand scenarios calculated with confidence levels of 90%, 50% and 10%. We believe that the market is there to create a viable, sustainable business helping to prove the concept of new TLDs.

We have entered into an agreement with the Sponsor to use a proportion of the revenues generated to create a Digital Divide fund supporting Internet projects in the Sponsor’s constituency. We do not believe that the natural monopoly created by a Registry Operator should be exploited in any way.

The overarching aim of our technical plans as laid out below are to maintain the stability of the Internet.

In preparing this plan we have used the good offices of Nominet, the UK registrar and would like to acknowledge their help and support.

The Technical Case

Poptel has a demonstrable high level of capability in the provision of ISP services. Together our staff skill set is complementary for the provision of technical services including advanced network technologies, operating systems technologies, and systems development skills. We have already established highly available, scaleable systems architecture for providing ISP services utilising Open Source software and industry standard systems such as Windows NT.

We have assessed the business processes required for both the registry operator and registrar operations using our knowledge of the industry. We have developed an IT architecture that includes both core registry services and back office applications providing key functions such as billing, office automation, etc. The architecture utilises technology already proven in our ISP business, and which we know is highly scaleable, available and robust. The key criteria for the technology is to provide a continuous service to the Internet community and with this in mind our architecture has no single point of failure having been built with resilience as the major priority.

1         General information (D1 to D11)

D2.      Full legal name, principal address, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail address of the registry operator.

 

Poptel Limited.

Registered Office: Rutherford House, Manchester Science Park, Manchester, M15 6GG, UK.

Tel: +44 161 906 3800

Fax: +44 161 906 3801

E-Mail address: info@poptel.net

 

D2 Addresses etc. of all other business locations of the registry operator.

 

London Office: 21-25 Bruges Place, London NW1 0TF, UK

Tel: +44 20 7284 6900

Fax: +44 20 7284 6951

 

D4. The registry operator’s type of business entity.

 

Limited company (limited by shares) registered in England and Wales

 

D5. URL of the registry operator’s principle web site

 

http://www.poptel.net

 

D6. Dun & Bradstreet D-U-N-S number

 

238764331

 

D7. Number of employees.

55

 

D8. Registry operator’s total revenue (in US dollars) in the last ended fiscal year.

 

Poptel Limited was formed in October 1999 with business operations commencing on 1st December 1999. Prior to that the Poptel service was operated by Soft Solution Limited a company formed in 1985. Soft Solution Ltd received $2.25m of venture capital funding in December 1999 hence the creation of Poptel Ltd and the transfer of the business, assets and liabilities. Soft Solution Ltd remains in existence holding the majority shareholding of Poptel Ltd.

 

Soft Solution Ltd’s fiscal year runs from June to May. Revenue to 31st May 1999, the last set of audited accounts was $1,162,500.

 

Annualised revenue on current monthly income is $2,250,000.

 

Apologies for the complexity of this answer.

 

D9. Full names and positions of directors, officers, managers and persons or entities owning 5% or more of the registry operator

 

(i) Directors and (ii) Officers and (iii) Managers:

Shaun Fensom, Chair and Founder (of Soft Solution Ltd and Poptel Ltd)

Stuart Marsden, Managing Director

Yoram Amiga, Vice Chair, and Founder

Malcolm Corbett, Vice Chair, and Corporate Affairs Director

Gabrielle Kagan, Director

Roseni  Dearden, Director

Kenneth Holder, Chair of Soft Solution Employee Benefit Trust

Stephen Herman, Sales & Marketing Director

Jeff Roberts, acting Technical Director

Lucy Brotherston, Professional Services Manager

Cazz Ward, Technical Team Manager

Sheila Collins, Customer Services & Operations Manager

Dominic Search, Product Development Manager

John Corker, Helpdesk Manager

Paul Evans, acting Sales Manager

Tracy Tarrant, Personnel Manager

 

(iv) Persons or entities owning 5% or more of registry operator:

Poptel Worldwide Ltd.

 

D10. Contact person for this proposal

Malcolm Corbett.

Tel: +44 20 7284 6900,

Fax: +44 207 284 6951,

E-mail Malcolm.Corbett@poptel.net

2        Business Capabilities and Plan

2.1      Current Capabilities

2.1.1       Who we are

2.1.1.1          Company information and Formal Alliances

2.1.1.1.1          Company information

Poptel Limited was formed on 28th October 1999 for the transfer of assets and business operations from Soft Solution Limited the predecessor company. Soft Solution Limited continues in existence as the majority shareholder of Poptel Limited on behalf of the employees of the company. The reason for this transfer of business was an injection of £1.5m venture capital funding on 1st December 1999.

Poptel Limited is a company limited by shares registered in England and Wales.

Soft Solution Limited is a company limited by guarantee with no share capital registered in England and Wales. It was formed on 27th August 1985. Poptel was a trade mark of Soft Solution Ltd (now transferred to Poptel Ltd), and for many years its sole business activity.

There was complete continuity of business operations, management, staffing etc. between Soft Solution Ltd and Poptel Ltd.

Poptel has two locations:

·       Manchester Science Park – the network and technical operations centre, helpdesk, accounts and administration.

·       London, Bruges Place in Camden – professional services, sales and marketing.

Poptel currently has 55 staff.

2.1.1.1.2         Formal alliances and ownership structure

A minority stake Poptel is owned by Poptel Worldwide Ltd, set up as a holding company between Soft Solution Ltd and our venture capital partners Sum International. Poptel Worldwide now has stakes in other Internet companies with whom business alliances are being built. Companies involved in Poptel Worldwide include:

·       The Phone Co-op, a consumer co-operative offering low cost telephony services with whom we have developed a three-way joint venture with Sei Mitsu to develop a new industrial strength telecomms and Internet billing system – Eco Billing. Poptel are also developing a second joint venture with the Phone Co-op to offer both telephone and Internet services on a consumer co-op model.

·       Sei Mitsu Solutions, a company set up to exploit the development of a software management system developed to enable the company to charge for transactional services across the Internet, in particular wholesale trading and commodity clearance of telephone minutes.

·       Something4 a company that devises, develops and delivers new e-commerce and Internet businesses. Poptel have developed a joint venture with Something4 – 100lines.com a lifestyle portal aimed at membership organisations and their commercial service providers.

·       Earth Summit 2002 – a comprehensive lifestyle portal with an ethical and environmentally sound slant. The portal’s aim is to deliver “green” and ethical information services and e-commerce to both business and the consumer, linked to the process leading to the UN Earth Summit in 2002.

·       Click4Charity – a venture building an Internet community amongst a large group of charities based on an ASP model with a range of web tracking and branding services linke to Poptel’s automated donation service.

·       Membership ASP being developed between Poptel, Z/Yen and Miller Technology to provide membership tracking, online income collection, virtual community facilities, information services and commercial services.

Trade References

TNS Distribution Ltd, Mile Oak Industrial Estate, Oswestry, Shropshire, SY10 8NS

Contact: Matthew Cartwright

Turnover: £186316

 

A L Digital Ltd, Voysey House, Barlow Mow Passage, London, W4 4GB

Contact: Claire Chaplow

Turnover: £106034

 

Easynet Ltd, 44 Whitfield Street, London, W1P 5RF

Contact: Chris George

Turnover: £38775

 

Mayflower Business Systems Ltd 2000, Unit 3, Heathgate Place, 75-87 Agincourt Road, London, NW3 2NU

Contact: Paul Rocks

Turnover: £170821

2.1.1.1.3         Insurance

Poptel has insurance cover in respect of Employers’, Public and Producsts Liability. Our Products Liability insurance has a limit of indemnity of £5,000,000 for any one occurrence bu in aggregate during the period of insurance. The geographical limit is anywhere in the world. A copy of the certificate is appended below.

2.1.1.2         Background to Poptel

Poptel is an innovator, on at least three counts. Established in 1986, Poptel was one of the first Internet services providers (ISPs) in the UK (and certainly one of the first in the world to advocate the use of these technologies for the non-commercial sectors). It remains one of the largest and recently was rated best for service quality. Second, Poptel is a co-operative and the only employee-owned ISP. Third, Poptel recently obtained substantial venture capital funding - and succeeded in retaining its co-operative ethos and a recognisably co-operative structure.

Poptel operates in an innovative industry where employee participation, relationship marketing and financial innovation are all part of the business culture.

Building value in an Internet company means creating ‘knowledge’ and retaining that knowledge within the company. Motivating employees to create new knowledge is essential to building a company. Keeping employees is another key to retaining knowledge. Many Internet companies use a degree of employee ownership in an effort to retain and motivate employees. CMG, one of the fastest growing software companies in the UK is 30% owned by employees. Yahoo and Abode operate employee share plans. Over 80% employees of Network Solutions Inc., the world's leading Registrar of Web addresses, participate in its employee ownership plan. (Its major outside shareholder SAIC is the largest employee-owned research and engineering company in the United States.)

In Internet companies the management tends to flat structures, with direct informal relationships and use of teams. The management and ownership approach results in employees regarding the business as a collective adventure, generating enthusiasm and dynamism. Poptel addresses these issues by involving all employees within a co-operative structure.

In the emerging Internet market place, customers are mobile as never before. Building customer loyalty requires building relationships, often based on shared values, and creating a sense of membership and identity. Web sites say hello to users by name, and track their preferences. Some e-commerce sites sign up ‘members’ who become ‘co-buyers’.  This relationship marketing fits well with a co-operative approach, in fact in builds on ideas first pioneered by co-operatives. Poptel, as a membership organisation itself, understands membership and provides services for many membership organisations: co-operatives, trade unions and the voluntary sector.

2.1.1.3         History

Poptel’s founders saw the potential of a niche for an 'alternative' service aimed at organisations and individuals working and campaigning in areas such as the labour movement, human rights and development.

The 1985 ‘Poptel Report’ saw scope for the development of on-line database and electronic mail services in particular. Key to the whole project was the idea that 'telematics' technology would become critical to organisations working in those fields where access to information and the exchange of ideas can make the difference between success and failure. Poptel saw its role as an enabler, encouraging organisations to take up the technology and providing appropriate services.

Since those early days Poptel has developed on-line services to support a variety of initiatives from trade unions creating international on-line networks, to local authorities developing services to support economic and community development, to helping co-operatives develop e-commerce and charities raise money on-line.

Poptel’s story is appended. It is a story of endeavour helping organisations with a social purpose to make effective use of on-line technologies.

Today, fifteen years after the Poptel Report, we are entering the next phase of fulfilling those early ambitions. Our support for the creation of new TLDs is a reflection of our concern that communities working for social progress should be recognised on the Internet with a specific identity. How we can provide the technical support to that process is what the rest of this document sets out to demonstrate.

2.1.1.4         The mission

Poptel is a unique company with a unique history. We are first and foremost a business, but a business with strong beliefs and an innovative co-operative ownership structure.

Being a co-operative which is majority owned by its employees makes Poptel a strong company with a sense of purpose, a committed workforce and a loyal customer base

Poptel has four principle aims:

·       To provide high quality and professional on-line information and communications services.

·       To develop and promote services which help its customers working for progressive social and economic change.

·       To provide secure, well-paid and meaningful employment, and to involve its members in the democratic formulation of company policy and objectives.

·       To invest in the continuation of the business and to grow the capital value of its stakeholders.

Poptel further seeks to prove that a co-operative business can achieve these aims while adhering to the core principles of the co-operative movement. The outward facing components of Poptel’s mission are summarised in our slogan - ‘Connect, Inform & Empower’.

The provision of registry services meets all of these principle aims. It is a logical step for a company with our history and the trust invested in Poptel by organisations in our key market sectors.

2.1.1.5         Ethical Policy

Poptel is run as a socially responsible business. The management and directors take proper account of the interests of all Poptel’s shareholders (both employee and external owners). They also take account of the welfare of Poptel’s workers; the maintenance of professional standards and ethical business practices in the provision of services; and the effect of its business activities on the community at large.

In this context Poptel considers the following as unethical: the sale and manufacture of arms, the supply of tobacco, oppressive regimes, exploitative pornography, discrimination on grounds of race, religion, gender or sexual orientation.

2.1.1.6         Our customers

Poptel serves a number of market sectors broadly in the ‘social economy’. These include:

·       Social enterprises – co-operatives, fair trade organisations, community businesses, new public sector mutuals. Examples include the portal site for the UK Co-operative Union - umbrella organisation for the retail co-operative sector; Social Enterprise London,  a leading agency promoting co-operative solutions; Oxford Swindon & Gloucester Co-op, one of the major regional retail co-ops in the UK; Greenwich Leisure a leading new mutual in the public sector. Services include website development and hosting, Internet connectivity, business development consultancy.

·       Trade Unions – Many trade unions had their first e-mail and Internet services with Poptel. In the 1980s and early 90s they used Poptel to connect up international networks of affiliates. Today Poptel provides a full range of services to trade unions supporting membership development, communications, research and policy. Clients include most of the major UK unions and a number of International Trade Secretariats plus the ICFTU.

·       Charitable and voluntary sector organisations – Poptel is one of the UK’s leading providers of services to the charitable and voluntary organisations having worked with the sector for many years. Recent projects include a partnership with the Co-operative Bank and a group of large charities to develop a new Charity Donation portal site. In addition to the direct provision of services to charities, Poptel helps the sector innovate with consultancy and presentations at major charity conferences.

·       International Development Agencies – Many International aid and development agencies had their first e-mail and on-line services with Poptel – often with the aim of connecting up remote offices around the world. Today Poptel is a major sponsor of the NGO process for the next UN Earth Summit (2002), hosts major co-location projects for organisations like Oxfam, and provides VISP services for agencies like Christian Aid.

·       Local Government & economic development – Poptel was in the forefront of developing on-line services for community and economic development working with Manchester and Kirklees councils and the European Telecities project. Innovations included the Manchester Community Information Network; an online network of citizen’s advice bureaux; the establishment of a group of local training centres known as ‘Electronic Village Halls’; the Idea Project which provided free Internet connections and on-line services for nearly 1500 small arts, culture and music businesses.

·       Think Tanks and political parties – Poptel has worked with the UK Labour Party since 1993 providing a secure email network for local constituency parties, on-line bulletin boards and mailing lists, web hosting etc. Tony Blair was the second MP to get a Poptel e-mail address in 1993. Poptel also provides services for the Party of European Socialists. At this year’s Labour Party Conference (September 2000) we launched a new service - PolicyBrief.org – with a number of leading think tanks.

2.1.1.7         Our services

Poptel has offered on-line services since 1986 originally operating the GeoNet e-mail and bulletin board hosting service, connected through the X.25 packet switched networks. In 1994 Poptel started offering full Internet services including dial-up accounts, then leased line and ISDN access services, domain name registration, web and database hosting and latterly design services.

Today our services fall into three broad categories: Technical Services, Content Services and Organisational Services.

2.1.1.7.1         Technical Services

Poptel provides fast, professional, technical Internet Services to organisations and individuals. From a variety of Internet Account packages to hosting databases, from leased lines to co-locating servers in our Network Operations Centre, we offer a comprehensive range of reliable Internet Access solutions.

At the heart of our technical operations is our Network Operations Centre (NOC) in Manchester. The core network uses 100 Mb/s Ethernet throughout and has full UPS and generator backup and 24 hour staffing. Our bandwidth is flexible and can be wound up according to need. With load balancing switches behind all our servers and full redundancy we support both Unix and NT environments, while firewalls ensure maximum security for out network.

There is no single point of failure in our network.

The quality of our Technical Services is matched with a wide range of in-house skills. From our network and system administrators to the highly motivated client support staff, our teams monitor and maintain our operations constantly and are ready to provide assistance when required.

Our Technical Services include:

·       Domain Name Registration

·       Web Hosting

·       Database Hosting

·       Internet Access Packages 

·       Global Roaming 

·       Leased Lines 

·       ADSL 

·       BT Surftime 

·       Server Co-Location 

·       Network Consultancy 

·       Onsite Installation Service

2.1.1.7.2        Content Services

Poptel’s customers benefit from our unrivalled experience of designing and maintaining websites for organisations with a social purpose in the public, voluntary, community and membership sectors.

Our clients place a premium on high-value, up to date content delivered in a professional, well-structured manner. Designed with this in mind Poptel’s range of dynamic database-driven content management tools ensures that clients can add new information to their websites without the need for web design skills.

Our suite of add-on web modules including a documents database, press office and our online newsroom, allow clients to easily add complex additional functionality, interactivity and real content control to their websites.

For additional support clients can rely on our consultancy services, “website-health-checks” and a special range of maintenance contracts. We can also help with  site traffic analysis, membership tracking, personalisation, virtual community management and bespoke e-commerce applications.

Clients can also take advantage of our ethical e-commerce payments system to combine lower transaction charges with peace of mind for themselves and their users.

Our Content Services include:

·       Web-site Design

·       WAP design

·       Database design

·       Bespoke Programming

·       Online Newsroom Module

·       Online Press Office Module

·       Documents Database Module

·       E-commerce Module

·       Discussion Forums

·       Mailing Lists

·       CD ROM design

·       Consultancy

·       Website Health-Checks 

·       Maintenance Contracts

2.1.1.7.3        Organisational Services

Poptel is the UK’s leading specialist in providing Internet and Application Services to charities, membership organisations, campaigning and policy based groups and co-operatives. We work closely with our clients to ensure that our proven membership and e-commerce solutions and services match their exact requirements and enhance their organisational strengths.

With our unique experience, Poptel is the partner of choice in marrying membership databases with secure online id verification systems to provide true personalisation and member tracking. Poptel also operates various affinity schemes including branded free Internet offerings – so-called ‘Virtual ISP’ services.

For larger e-commerce projects Poptel provides a full integration programme, coupling bespoke shopping baskets with back-end database design and our own ethical payment facilities.

We aim to help our clients to make the most of their relationship with members and supporters and to fully embrace the Internet’s potential for their organisation.

We register domain names on behalf of clients enabling them to promote their identity, services and specific projects on the Internet.

To support our clients’ organisational systems we offer guaranteed dedicated bandwidth and flexible co-location facilities with a range of advanced options such as load balancing and hourly backups.

Poptel’s expert technical teams also provide a range of consultancy advice, as well as onsite services for organisations including installation and maintenance contracts.

Our Organisational Services include:

·       Domain Registration

·       Group accounts

·       Free Internet schemes

·       ID Verifications Systems

·       Member Tracking

·       Bespoke e-commerce solutions

·       Leased Lines and Firewall solutions

·       Server Co-location

·       Intranet solutions

·       Network client services

·       Systems Integration

·       Anti-virus strategies

·       Security Consultancy

2.1.1.8         How we provide the services

We aim at all times to maintain a professional relationship with our clients with account managers looking after key sectors and organisations. In many cases we help clients to work out how best to develop their use of the Internet in relation to their own operations, their members, customers and supporters.

Our customer services operation is highly effective with 24x7 cover for key technical services like co-location projects, leased lines etc. Telephone and e-mail support for individual clients operates from 0800 to 2200 Monday to Friday and 1000 to 2200 at weekends.

We provide service level agreements for all core services guaranteeing availability, load balancing, bandwidth levels etc.

In the trade union, non-profit and co-operative sectors we are well known for providing high level strategic input through keynote speeches at conferences and articles in sector-specific journals.

Poptel sells its services both directly and through reseller channels. We work with two types of reseller: umbrella organisations within a market sector e.g. National Housing Federation for the social housing sector; and businesses with a presence in particular sectors who wish to add Poptel services to their range of offerings. Currently channel programmes tend to be based on direct one-on-one relationships between Poptel and the reseller, however this is under review by the Marketing Department.

2.1.1.9         Our resources

2.1.1.9.1         Poptel Management

Poptel has a highly qualified and experienced management team. Summary biographies are appended.

·       Managing Director, Stuart Marsden, has a strong background in the development of Internet applications in the financial services industry.

·       Sales & Marketing Director, Stephen Herman, was previously a board level director of one of the largest technical outsourcing companies in the UK.

·       Acting Technical Director, Jeff Roberts (co-ordinator of this proposal), was previously IT director of the largest independent travel/tour operator in Europe.

·       Founder and chair, Shaun Fensom, is recognised as a major figure in the Internet Service Providers industry in the UK.

·       Corporate Affairs Director, Malcolm Corbett, is one of the leading Internet figures in the trade union, co-operative and social enterprise sectors in Europe.

·       Customer Services Manager, Sheila Collins, has a strong systems background with many years’ experience in industry and the public sector.

·       Professional Services Manager, Lucy Brotherston has over ten years experience delivering community and business information projects, and is a founding member of the Manchester Community Information Network.

·       Product Development Manager, Dominic Search has a strong technical background in networking and the Internet. Currently he is responsible for the planning and introduction of new products and services.

·       Technical Team Manager, Cazz Ward, has a strong technical background coupled with the ability to effectively manage the technical team responsible for Poptel’s network infrastructure and services.

2.1.1.9.2        Poptel Staff

Poptel currently has a rapidly growing and dedicated staff complement of 55 people. This is nearly a threefold growth in the past nine months. By the end of 2000 we expect to be employing 80 people. Following a six month probationary period all staff are invited to join the co-operative and become co-owners of the business.

Poptel hires staff through open recruitment and operates an equal opportunities policy. As an employee owned company staff benefits and career development are important issues for us. All staff are encouraged to undertake training relevant to their career aspirations at company expense. Poptel’s employment policies are subject to UK employment legislation.

Poptel operates two offices in London and Manchester. London is the location of our sales, marketing, customer services and professional services departments. Manchester is the location of our Network Operation Centre in the Manchester Telecity Internet Exchange in which major ISPs and Telcos operate co-location and peering services. Manchester also houses our Technical Department, Accounts and Helpdesk. In both London and Manchester Poptel has reserved additional space to accommodate extra staffing.

2.1.2      How we have achieved success

2.1.2.1         Our growth

Poptel has grown from a four-person company in the mid-1980s to a company, which is projected to employ 80 people by the end of this year. Our early development was achieved using small-scale loan capital, retained profits and project based grant income. At the end of 1999 we successfully raised £1.5m from venture capital sources and a further £1m in September 2000. Remarkably, this was achieved without compromising our co-operative business status. Details of the approach we took form the basis of a submission to the UK Co-operative Commission and can be found on Poptel’s website.

Poptel’s turnover in the year to May-99 was £700,000. Our accounting year has changed to December. In the period since December 1999 we have achieved our revenue targets aiming for growth to £1.3m, and to be in profit by the end of the first quarter of 2001.

With the injection of capital Poptel has been able to develop a whole range of new services, particularly web and database development, membership services and e-commerce needed by our client base. As they invest more in their Internet presence, they now have the confidence in Poptel to invest it with us. And we have been able to revamp our customer services operations and strengthen management.

We believe that they key to our success is our co-operative ownership structure and the participatory yet professional style of management that we have developed.

2.1.2.2        Key achievements

There have been many milestones in the development of Poptel. Our history is appended. However since the injection of capital we have had our most exciting period ever.

·       Over the past nine months we have nearly trebled the size of Poptel’s staff complement – and we have not lost a single person in the process

·       We are consistently meeting tough revenue targets set at the start of this year.

·       We were nominated No. 1 ISP in the UK for the quality of our services over a six-month period by PCPlus magazine (one of the UK’s main PC magazines).

·       We are winning some of the largest contracts awarded in our market sectors – e.g. hosting all of Oxfam’s Internet services.

·       We have the resources to sponsor important and socially valuable services – like the website for NGOs participating in the process to create the next UN Earth Summit in 2002.

2.1.2.3        Related experience

All of the forgoing information demonstrates Poptel’s longstanding experience in running Internet services including domain registration and database development and operation. We provide services to many of the most significant organisations in our market sectors in the UK and internationally. We have the technical capability, the human and financial resources, and the business partnerships to be highly competent at running a TLD Registry Operation.

2.2     Business Plan

2.2.1      The market

2.2.1.1         Profile of a target customer

A target customer for the .union TLD is an independent  trade union organisation as defined by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) Sponsor’s Application. Trade unions may wish to register multiple names in the TLD taking account of particular projects. For instance the British public sector union Unison holds the domains unison.org.uk and troubleatwork.org.uk – their latest campaign.

The ICFTU estimate that there are approximately 200,000 trade unions who would potentially want to register in the .union TLD. The ICFTU itself is an international trade union organisation, which represents “the free and democratic trade unions of the world”. ICFTU has 216 affiliated organisations in 145 countries and territories, and represents 123 million workers. Most ICFTU affiliates are national trade union centres with their own affiliated member unions.

The proposal for a .union TLD is being made by the apex organisation for the sector with the political support of the membership. Although many unions in developing countries have limited Internet access, those in the developed world are making increasing use of the Internet to support their organisational activities (often helped by Poptel). It would be a reasonable assumption to predict substantial take up of the .union TLD over time with a migration of web site and e-mail addresses to the new TLD.

One of the purposes of the .union TLD would be to use a proportion of the income derived to support projects tacking digital divide issues in the constituency.

2.2.1.1.1         Downstream Registrars

Poptel will act as both Registry Operator and Registrar in the first instance. However it is intended to locate downstream registrars who are likely to be ISPs and other Internet related organisations, or possibly organisations working in the sector who add registration activities to their core competencies. The actual selection of downstream registrars will be in the competence of the Sponsoring Organisation with advice from Poptel.

At this stage it is difficult to gauge how many downstream registrars there will be. At least one potential registrar has been identified in the United States – the National Rural Telecommunications Co-operatives, a substantial organisation offering ISP and telecomms services. Other registrars will be sought during the start up phase of TLD operations.

Our plans assume that Poptel’s share of the Registrar market will decline from 100% to 10% from the start of the third year of operation.

2.2.1.2        Services demanded by customer

The key services demanded by registrants will be for an efficient and reliable service to hold their domain in the TLD. With agreement from the Sponsoring Organisation other value added services can be offered by registrars, for instance web site development, e-commerce, membership services etc.

Additionally Poptel acting as Registry Operator will seek to develop value added services such as building a public LDAP compliant directory service that can be used to locate the domain name of any organisation in the Registry.

2.2.2      The services

2.2.2.1        Core registry services

·       Operation of the TLD technical services (see below).

·       Provision of SLDs in agreement with sponsors.

·       Provision of domain names in the TLD through registrars.

·       Whois lookup service.

·       Verification of uniqueness of requested domain names.

·       A system to move domain names between registrars when requested.

·       Provide assistance in the resolution of domain name disputes in collaboration with registrars and sponsors.

·       Maintain a separation between the registry and registrar operations.

·       Ensure that the services do not adversely affect the quality or integrity of the domain name system and the Internet in general.

2.2.2.2       Registrar services

Poptel will provide the following services as a Registrar:

·       Register domains on behalf of customers.

·       Transfer domains on behalf of customers.

·       Maintain a separation between the registry and registrar operations.

·       Advise on appropriate names, names that are not available, general policies of the TLD.

·       Advise customers on how to migrate from existing domain names to the new names.

·       Advise on issues such as aliasing to web sites and mail servers, domain multi parking etc.

·       Advise customers on how to transfer their domain names to Poptel or other registrars.

·       Maintain the customer relationship including informing customers about developments in the TLD.

·       Charge the customer for domain registration and collect debt.

·       Advise customers on renewal of their domain names.

2.2.2.3       Value added services

Development of a directory service to enable Internet users to locate organisations and their domain names (as opposed to a whois service in which the user needs to know the domain name to find the organisation).

Poptel, acting as a Registrar will offer its range of technical, content and organisational services as value added services. See above for details.

2.2.3      Selling and marketing the services

2.2.3.1        Proposed cost of services

2.2.3.1.1        Pricing Policy

A variable pricing policy has been adopted for both registry operator and prices recommended to registrars which conforms to ICFTU’s policy of variable pricing for affiliations based on a banding system which works according to country GNP. Band A contains the richest 50 countries, Band B contains fifteen countries, Band C, 50 countries and Band D the 70 poorest countries.

The proposed annual charges for each band are as follows:

Table 1: Banded Annual Charges

 

Band A

Band B

Band C

Band D

Registry Operator Fee ($)

53

30

23

17

Recommended Registrar Fee ($)

88

50

38

28

 

These prices have been chosen to meet the following criteria agreed with ICFTU:

·       The .union TLD proposal should be viable and sustainable by itself.

·       The Registry Operator alone should be viable and sustainable on the 90% confidence level projections – i.e. the lowest projected take-up – but should not abuse its monopoly position.

·       The business of being a registrar should be attractive enough for us to be able to recruit them. Registrar prices are recommended but not mandatory.

·       The ICFTU banding principles should be followed.

·       Price discounts for domain multi parking and other facilities have not been considered at this time.

The Registry Operator will need to:

·       Re-coup the initial investment of approx $450k over three years

·       Have further annual income of $300k to cover its running costs

The Registrars will need a reasonable margin - we have assumed around $20 average.

2.2.3.1.2       Profit from registry services

It is accepted and agreed between ICFTU and Poptel that it is in the best interests of the community served by the TLD and of the Internet community as a whole that the registry operation is effective, efficient and sustainable.

It is therefore agreed that the revenue generated by the registry operation should be deployed to the following purposes in the order shown:

·       Firstly to cover the reasonable costs incurred by Poptel in the setting up and operation of the registry.

·       Secondly to cover the reasonable costs incurred by ICFTU in performing its duties according to the agreement.

·       Thirdly to provide Poptel with funds to invest in the efficient, effective and sustainable operation of the registry.

·       Fourthly to refund the costs incurred by ICFTU and Poptel in making the application.

·       Fifthly to provide a fair and reasonable return on investment to Poptel for the costs in setting up the registry operation, the rate of return to be agreed between the parties.

Any surplus remaining after these priorities have been satisfied shall be shared (in a proportion to be agreed) between Poptel (as a further return on its investment in the registry operation) and a Digital Divide Fund (to be established and administered by ICFTU the purpose of which shall be to assist trade unions to make effective use of the Internet).

Poptel and ICFTU shall take such reasonable steps as are necessary to be able to provide a fair and reasonably accurate account of revenues and expenditures pertaining to the operation of the registry.

The Registry Operator will need to:

·       Re-coup the initial investment of $800 plus over three years

·       Have sufficient annual income to cover its running costs

The Registrars will need a reasonable margin for business viability.

2.2.3.2       Demand scenarios

The demand profile has been calculated taking into account the following factors:

·       ICFTU estimate that the total market for the .union TLD is around 200,000 organisations. These include national, regional and local union organisations.

·       ICFTU banding following GNP statistics in the World Development Indicators published by the World Bank. Band A corresponds to the richest group of countries, Band D the poorest.

·       Band A – most of the first world unions, clearly defined number according to ICFTU statistics. Smaller number of larger and more consolidated unions than in developing countries. Demand could be significantly boosted if locals register at the top level rather and second or third. There is current evidence that this would be the case, but it not taken into account in the demand scenarios.

·       Band B is the smallest group of countries with a total of 15.

·       Band C and Band D have the largest groups of countries, and the largest number of unions. However these are the least connected countries and will be the slowest in take-up of the .union TLD.

·       The possibility of registrations in reserved second level domains has been discussed with ICFTU but does not form part of the demand calculations.

Table 2: Market Penetration

 

Market Penetration

Scenario

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Total Penetration

1 – 10% confidence

3%

20%

40%

46%

109%

2 – 50% confidence

1%

10%

20%

23%

54%

3 – 90% confidence

1%

4%

8%

9%

22%

 

Demand has been estimated at three confidence levels:

·       Scenario 1 - 10% - demand is nine times less likely to be exceeded as not met, (i.e. the highest market penetration). In this scenario multiple registrations by a small proportion of the market been taken into account, leading to a demand level of 109% of the total market size (i.e. number of organisations). The overall rate of growth in this scenario approximates to that experienced by Nominet for .uk domain registrations.

·       Scenario 2 - 50% - demand at this level is as likely to be exceeded as not met;

·       Scenario 3 - 90% - demand is nine times as likely to be exceeded as not met, take up is nine times more likely at this level (i.e. lowest market penetration),

Demand estimates have been made for four years, the term of the TLD sponsor’s agreement with Poptel acting as Registry Operator.

 


 

Figure 2 : TLD Demand by Band

 

 


2.2.3.3       Marketing Strategy

2.2.3.3.1       Key Marketing Objectives

·       To work with and through the Sponsors to communicate the benefits of the new restricted TLD to the target audience – organisations within the sponsor’s constituency.

·       To manage a planned uptake of the new TLD.

·       To establish relationships with downstream registrars accredited by the TLD sponsor.

The broad Communications Strategy is a combination of Internet ‘viral’ marketing, working with the Sponsors to inform key parts of their constituencies, coupled with a territory focused media campaign aimed at both key newspapers and IT publications most likely to be read by IT and communications staff in target organisations.

2.2.3.3.2      Communicating the Message

The centrepiece of the Communications Strategy for the start up period is joint activity with the TLD sponsor, ICFTU to communicate the benefits of the new TLD to key opinion formers within the constituency.

2.2.3.3.3      Start Up Period

The ICFTU is an affiliate organisation with over 200 national trade union centres in membership. ICFTU collaborates closely with the International Trade Secretariats which in turn have an affiliate structure of unions operating in the same trade sector. This initial group of around 2500 organisations forms the core group for the start up period of the TLD operation. Many of these organisations are expected to register at the TLD level both their organisational names and specific campaigns and projects.

Key officers in the affiliate organisations have relationships with the ICFTU and the relevant ITS’s. Poptel, as Registry Operator and initial Registrar already has longstanding relationships with ITS’s and many of their members.

For this core initial group promotion of the benefits will take place through:

·       specific briefings at international and national events;

·       direct communications with IT and Communications departments;

·       FAQs explaining the benefits and how to migrate from existing .org and .cc addresses etc.

·       Capturing the major unions, mainly in the developed world, will establish credibility for the .union TLD.

During this start up period relationships with downstream registrars will be established to promote the new TLD to the wider group of smaller unions, estimated to total nearly 200,000. They will act as the main channel to market in their geographic areas.

 

2.2.3.3.4      Media

During the start up period PR will be undertaken with key media in the sector internationally and regionally to explain the benefits of the new TLD. Media used will include both paper-based journals, web sites and Internet mailing lists.

The PR campaign will be rolled out by geographic territory concentrating on those with the most significant target audiences. The PR campaign will work together with, and in support of, the activities of downstream registrars as they become accredited.

 

2.2.3.3.5      Poptel Acting as Registrar

In the Start up period Poptel will act as the sole registrar for the .union TLD. The start up period will restrict the number of registrations to around 2500 unions with a direct association with ICFTU either as affiliates, or affiliated to other international trade union bodies.

Poptel will market registration services to this audience in collaboration with the ICFTU.

Following the start up period Poptel will continue to act as a Registrar aiming to operate in defined geographic markets – principally the UK and Europe. In the UK Poptel is the major supplier of Internet services (including domain registration) to the union sector. Additionally we have longstanding relationships with many European trade unions and national trade union centres.

The benefits of registering in the .union TLD will be marketed through the following channels:

·       PR in trade press and through appropriate Internet channels and communities of interest (e.g. the Labournet and Labourstart services).

·       Direct marketing to union communications and IT departments.

 

2.2.3.3.6      Downstream Registrars

During the start up period a detailed programme for locating and accrediting downstream registrars will be established in collaboration with the ICFTU. It is expected that these will mainly be existing Internet companies, and likely that they will already have (or be developing) relationships with the .union TLD constituency in their regions. Since they essentially act as a reseller channel for the TLD, an appropriate channel programme will be developed.

Downstream Registrars will be provided with web based materials to support their marketing efforts alongside guidance on Dispute Resolution procedures and web forms for the registration fulfilment procedure. Effectively this will become part of the accreditation mechanism for the registrars in the TLD.

The strategy will provide opportunities for Registrars to communicate the benefits of value added services (web design, e-commerce etc.) to their target markets.

2.2.4      Building the business operation

2.2.4.1        Business processes

2.2.4.1.1        High-level processes

The following diagram shows the high-level business processes that are key to a Registry Operator and Registrar business (as Poptel will establish both operations and there are synergies between the processes, both sets have been shown together).  Several processes concern the lifecycle of services, from concept through to delivery, which underpin the service-orientated nature of the business.  In addition to developing and supplying services, the business needs to fulfil its obligations to the Internet community, including implementing the Sponsor’s policies, maintaining service levels, guaranteeing availability and ensuring the integrity of the systems and data. In common with all businesses, there are processes to set and review the strategy, and co-ordinate activities across the business.

Text Box: Set and review strategyText Box: Co-ordinate and manage
Text Box: Figure 3: High-level business processes

 


2.2.4.1.2       Sub-processes

In order to understand how the high-level processes will be resourced by people and supported by systems, the following table describes each process in more detail.  Against each process are the objectives, information and systems that are critical to the successful execution of the process.  The information and systems that are deemed critical form part of the applications and database architecture described in the Technical Plan.

Notes on the table:

Frequently a system or database is shown as critical to more than one business process.  However, there will not be more than one logical version of the same system / database within the Registry Operator / Registrar business.

Not all of the processes in the diagram are relevant to both the Registry Operator and Registrar business operations.  The ‘Registry Op or Registrar’ column shows to which business the process refers.

Table 3: Description of business processes

High-level process title

Sub-process title

Registry Op (RO) or Registrar (R)?

Business process description

Critical objectives and information / systems that are key to the process

Market registry / registrar services

Identify service opportunities

RO

Working with the Sponsor, the Registry Operator (RO) will identify new services that have the potential to enhance the RO service to its customers (e.g. Registrars)

Understanding the requirements of the domain members.

Understanding the possible impact on the Sponsor’s domain, RO ‘s business and the RO’s customers who are Registrars.

Communications between RO and Sponsor.

 

 

R

Working with its selected partners, the Registrar will identify new services to enhance its commercial standing.  If necessary the Registrar will request additional services from the RO that will facilitate the implementation of the new services.

Understanding the requirements of its customer base.

Assessing the possible impact on the Registrar‘s business.

 

 

 

Determine how each service will be sold and the pricing structure

RO / R

Working with key partners the RO / Registrar will determine the value of services to its customers and the commercially driven price.

Understanding the requirements of its customer base.

Access to competitive market information.

 

Identify potential customers

RO

Working with the Sponsor, the RO will identify new customers to approach to join the domain (e.g. Registrars).

Knowledge of organizations that are eligible to join the domain.

Understanding the requirements of potential domain members.

Communications between RO and Sponsor.

A database of current domain members.

 

 

R

Working with its selected partners, the Registrar will identify new customers to approach.

Knowledge of organizations that are eligible to join the domain.

Understanding the requirements of potential domain members.

A customer database that is able to handle up to 950,000 customers and marketing tools to build profiles of target customers.

 

Exploit customer and domain name information to market services

R

The Registrar will utilise its customer information to offer value added services, etc.

A customer database that is able to handle 950,000 customers and marketing tools to build targeted campaigns.

Separation of RO information from Registrar information to avoid unfair competition and misuse of data.

 

Identify and prompt existing customers to renew domain names

RO / R

The RO / Registrar will proactively monitor the expiry date of domain names and contact customers to renew.

A domain name database to know when the RO / Registrar customers’ domain names expire.

Separation of RO information from Registrar information to avoid unfair competition and misuse of data.

Develop registry / registrar services

Systems development lifecycle processes

RO / R

The RO / Registrar will design, build and implement systems to provide the services.

Systems development tools and lifecycle methodology

Sell registry / registrar services

Display services appropriately

RO / R

The RO / Registrar will determine the most appropriate medium and style for offering services to the customer.

A Web server and web tools (e.g. authoring, content management and deployment).

An e-commerce system that uses industry standard functionality (e.g. shopping basket) to offer products.

 

Advise customers on services at Point of Sale (POS)

RO / R

The RO / R will provide advice on the optimum way to acquire and utilise domain names.  Primarily, the RO’s customers will be Registrars and the Registrar’s customers will be ISPs and end users.

Knowledge of the domain’s restrictions.

Knowledge of legal issues.

A database to look-up potential domain names against known trademarks

A system to record the details of the customer, their request and the outcome.

 

Identify additional services to customers at POS

R

At the point a customer purchases or uses a specific service or combination of services, the Registrar will offer complementary services to the customer.

Context sensitive personalisation tools that determine the services offered to a customer from their previous and current purchases.

A database of service offerings.

 

Capture information about the customers at POS

RO / R

At the point of sale, the preferences of the customer will be recorded by the RO / Registrar and the customer might be asked to provide additional information. Primarily, the RO’s customers will be Registrars and the Registrar’s customers will be ISPs and end users.

A database to record customers’ purchases, preferences and information that is able to handle 950,000 customers.

 

Determine cost of services purchased / used

RO / R

At the point of sale, the services purchased by the customer will be calculated.  Different services and combinations of services will be sold at a price determined by the market.  There will be no flat charge.

A database of service offerings and prices.

 

Execute sales transaction

RO / R

The payment method and schedule are determined for each customer transaction, based on the standing of the customer with the RO / Registrar and  the services they are purchasing.  Both direct credit card and invoice-based payments are handled.

Secure and scalable e-commerce payment system.

Links to a mainstream credit card authorisation service.

Scalable accounts and billing systems.

Deliver registry / registrar services

Advise customers on purchased services post sale

RO / R

Part of the fulfilment of a service is providing after sales support.  This will be provided on-line through emails and by telephone through a helpdesk.

A system to record the details of the customer, their request and the outcome.

Scalable accounts and billing systems.

A database to record customers’ purchases, preferences and information.

Call handling system.

 

Educate customers about domain names

RO / R

A key service customers will seek is advice on the most appropriate usage of domain names, restrictions on names within the domain, and so forth.  This service will be delivered in the form of a Frequently Asked Questions on-line document, on-line utilities and telephone support.

Knowledge of the domain’s restrictions.

Knowledge of legal issues.

A database to look-up potential domain names against known trademarks.

A system to record the details of the customer, their request and the outcome.

 

Verify the format and uniqueness of requested domain names

RO / R

A key service ROs and Registrars are obliged to provide is the verification of domain names.   This will be implemented prior to the registration of domain names against a particular customer.

A record of all registered domain names within the domains managed by the RO / Registrar.

Knowledge of the domain’s restrictions.

Knowledge of legal issues.

A database to look-up potential domain names against known trademarks.

 

 

Assign domain names to customers

RO / R

If the transaction has been completed and the domain name verified, then register the requested domain names to the customer.  In some instances this will include second level domains.  Primarily, the RO’s customers will be Registrars and the Registrar’s customers will be ISPs and end users.

A domain name registration system.

Shared registry system.

 

Move accounts to other Registrars, ISPs, etc. on request

R

A key service Registrars will have to provide in a competitive domain space is the movement of domain name registrations from one Registrar to another.  Additionally end-users may change ISPs necessitating a change to the domain’s name-servers.

A domain name registration system.

Standard interfaces to other Registrars etc.

 

Modify domain name information

RO / R

The RO and Registrar must be able to alter the domain name information for their customers (and only their customers).  Primarily, the RO’s customers will be Registrars and the Registrar’s customers will be ISPs and end users.

Domain name database.

A scalable domain name registration system.

 

Respond to Whois queries

RO / R

Provision of a standard Whois service.  RO’s will return details about name-servers and responsible Registrars.  R’s will return details about end-users.

A scalable Whois system that is able to handle 0.5M queries per day.

 

Implement other services for customers

RO / R

In addition to the key services described above the RO / Registrar will deliver other services to the customer.

 

Operate and administer services

Manage the quality and integrity of the domain name system

RO / R

 

Capacity planning procedures.

System and network management tools including configuration, performance and problem management.

Security policy and secure systems.

 

Provide assistance in the resolution of domain name disputes

RO / R

 

A domain name registration system.

Interfaces to Registrars.

 

Support the Sponsor in the development of the domain name space

RO

 

Produce metrics and key performance indicators for the domain name market and system.

2.2.4.2       People

A review of the business processes above and of the operations of similar existing organisations shows that the functions described below will be required to run the Registry Operator and Registrar businesses.  To determine the headcount of each business function, we have used as benchmarks the levels of transactions per month (including new registrations and renewals) and the total number of registrations within the year.  The number of staff per transaction is, we believe, in line with industry standards.

The headcount for each the three demand scenarios (i.e. 10%, 50% and 90% confidence) are shown through year 1 to year 4.

Table 4: Staff for 10% confidence scenario

Year

Reg Op / Registrar

Business Manager

Legal

Marketing

Reg Admin

Customer Support

Technical

Finance

Total

Year 1

Registry Operator

0.25

 

0

0.25

 

0.25

0.25

1

 

Registrar

0.25

 

0.25

0.25

 

0.5

0.25

1.5

Year 2

Registry Operator

0.25

0.25

0.25

0.25

0.25

0.75

0.25

2.25

 

Registrar

0.25

0.25

1

0.75

0.5

1.25

0.5

4.5

Year 3

Registry Operator

0.25

0.25

0.5

1

0.5

1

0.5

4

 

Registrar

0.25

0.25

1

1.5

1

1.5

0.5

6

Year 4

Registry Operator

0.25

0.25

1

1

1

1

0.5

5

 

Registrar

0.25

0.25

1

2

2

2

0.5

8

Year

Reg Op / Registrar

Business Manager

Legal

Marketing

Reg Admin

Customer Support

Technical

Finance

Total

Year 1

Registry Operator

0.25

 

 

0.25

 

0.25

0.25

1

 

Registrar

0.25

 

0.25

0.25

 

0.5

0.25

1.5

Year 2

Registry Operator

0.25

0.25

0.25

0.25

 

0.5

0.25

1.75

 

Registrar

0.25

0.25

0.25

0.75

 

1

0.25

2.75

Year 3

Registry Operator

0.25

0.25

0.5

0.5

0.5

0.5

0.5