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IANA Stewardship Transition Planning Update (Volume 1)

27 April 2016
By Trang Nguyen

In addition to the U.N. six languages, this content is also available in

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This update marks the beginning of an initiative mentioned by Akram Atallah in his 12 April 2016 blog, aimed at keeping interested stakeholders up to date on the latest developments and progress relating to implementation planning for the IANA Stewardship Transition, the proposal for which is currently under review by NTIA.

These updates will detail what work has been identified based on the proposals of the IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group (ICG) and the Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability (CCWG-Accountability), and provide insight into what is happening on a week-to-week basis.

Our goal is to provide consistent, structured updates that give any interested party access to latest information, documents and announcements. We will also post direct links to the mailing lists where conversations are taking place on each of the planning elements.

ICANN has identified work that must be completed for the transition to occur successfully.

The planned work has been mapped across 14 projects and grouped into 3 tracks. You can find more information on the ICANN website here.

- Trang Nguyen, Senior Director of Strategic Programs

 

Root Zone Management


The Root Zone Management implementation planning track contains projects relating to changes to the Root Zone Management System (RZMS) to remove NTIA's authorization role, parallel testing of the production and parallel test RZMS systems; and the development, and execution of an agreement with Verisign as the root zone maintainer.

Root Zone Management System (RZMS) Parallel Testing

Status update:

In accordance with the plan submitted to NTIA, ICANN and Verisign completed system code changes and began a 90-day "parallel testing" period on Wednesday, 6 April 2016. This is a key planning step to ensure the continued security and stability of the Root Zone Management System (RZMS) operation after the successful completion of the IANA Stewardship Transition, currently projected for September 30, 2016.

It has been almost 3 weeks since the start of parallel testing and everything is going smoothly. Click here to view Verisign's daily Parallel Operations Root Zone Management System Comparisons reports of all the root zone files generated.

In the event that no unexplained differences in root zone files are identified between the production RZMS and the parallel test RZMS, the testing period will end successfully on 5 July 2016.

Documents/announcements posted:

Mailing list(s):

None.

Root Zone Maintainer Agreement (RZMA)

Status update:

ICANN and Verisign continue to engage in discussion to prepare for a RZMA. The current plan for completion of a draft RZMA is the end of this month.

Documents/announcements posted:

None.

Mailing list(s):

None.

 

Stewardship Transition


The Stewardship Transition planning track contains projects to prepare relationship documentation with the operational communities, creation of a Post-Transition IANA (PTI) entity, establishment of a Customer Standing Committee (CSC) and a Root Zone Evolution Review Committee (RZERC), operationalizing the IANA customer service escalation mechanisms and Service Level Agreements (SLAs).

Service Level Agreement (SLA) for the IANA Numbering Services

Status update:

On Wednesday, 20 April 2016, the Number Resource Organization (NRO) published an announcement regarding version 5.1 of the SLA document.

The SLA will be submitted to the ICANN Board for consideration and adoption when the NRO and ICANN establish a mutually agreed upon date.

Documents/announcements posted:

Mailing list(s):

Post-Transition IANA (PTI)

Status update:

ICANN continues to work on the plan for PTI implementation that the Implementation Oversight Task Force (IOTF) requested, as well as the ICANN-PTI contract.

What is the IOTF?

The IOTF was formed following ICANN55 in Marrakech. The IOTF offers a channel for ICANN to request insights or clarifications to ensure that ICANN and the community remain aligned on ICANN's implementation planning efforts of the ICG Proposal. The group was formed to include the co-Chairs and Design Team leads of the Cross Community Working Group to Develop an IANA Stewardship Transition Proposal on Naming Related Functions (CWG-Stewardship), and has since grown to also include representatives from the ICG, Numbering Resources community and Protocol Parameters community.

Documents/announcements posted this week:

None.

Mailing list:

Root Zone Evolution Review Committee (RZERC)

Status update:

ICANN continues to work with the IOTF to finalize the terms of the RZERC Charter. A revised charter was circulated to the IOTF on 25 April 2016. 

Documents/announcements:

Mailing list:

IANA Customer Service Escalation Mechanism

Status update:

ICANN received clarification from the IOTF regarding the IANA Customer Service Complaint Resolution Process for Naming Related Functions and IANA Problem Resolution Process (for IANA naming services only) referenced in Annex I and J of the CWG-Stewardship proposal.

As next step, ICANN will update relevant process documentations for these processes.

Documents/announcements:

None.

Mailing list:

 

Accountability Enhancements


The Accountability Enhancements track contains plans to implement enhancements to ICANN's Independent Review and Reconsideration Request processes, to update ICANN's governance documents, and to operationalize new community powers defined by the Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability (CCWG-Accountability).

ICANN's Bylaws

Status update:

ICANN has posted proposed draft new Bylaws for a 30-day public comment from 21 April - 21 May 2016 to allow any interested party to review and provide feedback.

The proposed draft of the new ICANN Bylaws was developed collaboratively by the ICANN legal team and the independent counsel hired to advise the CCWG-Accountability and the CWG-Stewardship.

In developing the draft new ICANN Bylaws, the attorneys consulted a Bylaws Coordination Group populated with both community and Board members, as well as with the CWG-Stewardship and the CCWG-Accountability.

Adoption of the new Bylaws by the ICANN Board is anticipated for on or around 27 May 2016. Once new ICANN Bylaws have been adopted, ICANN will notify NTIA. Once adopted, the Bylaws are expected to go into effect if NTIA approves of the IANA Stewardship Transition Proposal and the IANA Functions Contract expires.

Documents/announcements:

Mailing list(s):

Authors

Trang Nguyen