ICANN New gTLD Application

Mission for new TLD .firmdale

Firmdale Holdings Ltd* is an award winning 5 star boutique hotel group rapidly expanding in US and UK (“Firmdale”). It was established by owners Tim and Kit Kemp with the Dorset Square Hotel in 1985. Over the past 27 years they have gone on to create a globally recognised hotel brand with 8 properties in London and New York. Firmdale has received many prestigious awards by internationally recognised publications such as Andrew Harper’s Hideaway Report, Conde Nast Traveller, The Good Hotel Guide, Vogue and many more. Kit Kemp as group Design Director has been named the Andrew Martin International Interior Designer of the Year, Homes and Gardens Interior Designer and House & Gardens Hotel Designer of the Year. Firmdale’s passion for outstanding service was recognised by winning the Excellence in Customer Service award in the Hotel Excellence Awards 2010.

As a market leader aiming to achieve the highest levels of guest satisfaction, Firmdale seeks to acquire the best internet address for its expanding businesses by a new TLD .firmdale. With TLD .firmdale, Firmdale can expand guests’ services online, meet all present and future internet address needs, promote the awarding winning brand .firmdale, benefit customers from new innovations online and maintain the hidden gem qualities of the individual hotels whilst promoting the umbrella brand .firmdale.

How TLD .Firmdale will achieve its mission

In the first round of gTLD process Firmdale will be able to set itself apart from the competition. This key market differentiation will boost Firmdale’s perception among its very discerning clientele. Firmdale does not expect all hotel chains will seek their own TLD and as such Firmdale self apart from the plethora of .com addressing.

Firmdale is known to be ground breaking in many ways. Firmdale demonstrated its ability to embrace new technology with its own App, use of QR codes, and the virtualisation of its network. Firmdale showcases contemporary art in each of the hotels interiors. World class artists such as Fernando Botero, Jaume Plensa, Tony Cragg and Anslem Keiffer are just a few examples. Firmdale has high environmental standards as part of its green mission. The Crosby Street Hotel is one of the most environmentally responsible hotel builds in the United States. It is certified gold LEED by the US Green Building Council making it one of the very first hotels in New York to do so. (LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). Firmdale expects its online strategy will compliment and promote their green mission.

Guest satisfaction is the key to Firmdale’s success. Firmdale plans to improve its online experience for its customers. This will enable potential customers to find, arrange and book the Firmdale product they desire whether that’s a hotel room or suite, apartment, bar, restaurant, screening room, spa, private event space or afternoon tea venue. Firmdale expects to be actively using under 100 domain names.

Social Marketing
At present Firmdale uses Twitter and Facebook as social marketing tools. Firmdale intends to further advance into new and progressive forms of communication and interaction with guests. It will explore new ways to enhance customer service and feedback. With a new TLD Firmdale aspires to engage with its clientele in ways which will personalise their experience and yet protect their privacy to the highest levels.

Branding Opportunities
Firmdale is associated with hotels, restaurants, bars and events. In the next three years Firmdale will open several new hotels, bars, restaurants, serviced apartments, retail stores, screening rooms, office accommodation, spas and gyms which will create future branding opportunities both online and offline. Other business activities undertaken by Firmdale include Palace Laundry, a collection of exclusive interior design fabric as well as a building and construction business. Firmdale currently produces bespoke gifts such as co-branded bath products and robes, umbrellas, pencils and stationery items. These provide new branding opportunities online or offline. With its own TLD Firmdale will be able to create short memorable domain names to enhance marketing efforts.

As a single registrant TLD, Firmdale will be able to prevent spam, viruses, and other illicit content under its domain space which will promote customer trust in the brand and internet space. A customer wishing to book a room will come to know that they can book in confidence though a dot .firmdale address.

*About Firmdale Hotels

Firmdale Hotels is a group of 9 companies held by, the Applicant, Firmdale Holdings Ltd of the UK, a company registered in England No:4648681. The company structure is set out on the attached, with the hotel operations running through Firmdale Hotels plc and its US Hotels owned by Firmdale Holdings USA Inc of Delaware.

As at March 2012 Firmdale Hotel includes the following Hotels: Haymarket Hotel, The Soho Hotel, Covent Garden Hotel, Charlotte Street Hotel, Knightsbridge Hotel, and Number Sixteen Hotel in London and The Crosby Street Hotel, in New York City. Firmdale Hotels also includes 5 bars & restaurants: Brumus, Refuel, Brasserie Max, Oscar and The Crosby Bar. Firmdale Hotels has a number of acquisitions under development including Ham Yard Hotel, serviced apartments and retail in London’s Soho as well as 56th Street Hotel in New York City. Dorset Square Hotel, which has been re-acquired by Firmdale is due to open in mid-June 2012.

i. What is the goal of your proposed gTLD in terms of areas of specialty, service
levels, or reputation?

The goal will be to enhance reputation of the Firmdale Hotel group, whilst maintaining the individuality of each hotel. It will permit targeted websites for each hotel, restaurant, bar and other facilities such as the screening rooms, meeting rooms, event spaces, etc. It will assist growth of the business into new ventures and provide for all its internet addressing needs. It will provide new avenues for marketing with key words associated with the brand, and build brand awareness.

ii. What do you anticipate your proposed gTLD will add to the current space, in terms of competition, differentiation, or
innovation?
The new .Firmdale domain space will provide better umbrella branding to the individual hotels which tend to be known by their unique names. For example our surveys show that guests know the “Covent Garden Hotel”; but they don’t necessarily associate it with “Firmdale” the corporate entity. Firmdale anticipates new innovative ways to enhance customer relations and increased personalisation of customer service. For example events could have their own dedicated website with specific information for a given conference, wedding or family event. There may be dedicated space under .firmdale for personalisation of customer preferences and customer feedback. Using its own domain extension will assist differentiation from other competing hotels and foster its innovative reputation.

iii. What goals does your proposed gTLD have in terms of user experience?

As stated above for the Firmdale Hotel group, it will provide for the business better branding, increased brand awareness and new marketing avenues. This is to benefit customers and guests, and potential new guests of the Firmdale Hotel group.

iv. Provide a complete description of the applicant’s intended registration policies in support of the goals listed above.

The registry will be a “single registrant registry” open only to the Applicant, its affiates*, future undertakings and its subsidiaries. All dot firmdale addresses will be for the benefit of the business and to better serve its customers. There will be no spam, illegal content or viruses with a .firmdale. Firmdale has an Anti-Abuse Policy. Firmdale upholds rights of trademark holders and all names will be subject to URS and UDRP in addition to ICANN consensus policies and rules. This will enhance customer trust with the brand.

Firmdaleʹs Rules for the Registration of Domain names includes:
1) All domain names in the TLD shall be registered to Firmdale Holdings Ltd, its subsidiaries, affiliates* or future undertakings. Registrations to third parties are prohibited.
2) Domain names must be 1-63 characters, the characters which may be used in a label are the 26 letters [ʺAʺ-ʺZʺ] of the Roman alphabet without regard to upper- or lower-case, the 10
digits [ʺ0ʺ-ʺ9ʺ] and the hyphen [ʺ-ʺ]. The hyphen may not be used as the initial or final character of a label.
3) Tagged Domain Names not permitted ie Names with ʺ-ʺ on the third and the fourth position may not be used(e.g., ʺbq—1h2n4j4cʺ).
4) Two letter and three letter names must not be used to represent countries or territories (as per draft Registry Agreement Specification 5 restricted names) and must be obviously associated with the business of Firmdale.
5) Firmdale permits IDNs .firmdale.
6) Domain Name abuse is strictly prohibited and includes but is not limited to its Domain Name Abuse Policy (see further answer question 28 amd 29).
7) All domain names shall be subject to Registry “Policies” means any rules, standards, procedures, requirements, practices and other policies of Firmdale Holdings Ltd, or any other competent entity or authority including any ICANN consensus policies and any other rules, standards, procedures, requirements, practices and other policies promulgated by ICANN or as determined by Firmdale.

* “Affiliate” means a person or entity that, directly or indirectly, through one or more intermediaries, controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with, the person or entity specified, and (ii) “control” (including the terms “controlled by” and “under common control with”) means the possession, directly or indirectly, of the power to direct or cause the direction of the management or policies of a person or entity, whether through the ownership of securities, as trustee or executor, by serving as an employee or a member of a board of directors or equivalent governing body, by contract, by credit arrangement or otherwise.

v. Will your proposed gTLD impose any measures for protecting the privacy or confidential information of registrants or users?

If so, please describe any such. All domain names.firmdale will be for the exclusive use of the Firmdale Hotel group. The whois record will be public and will show all domains as registered to Firmdale. In the event Firmdale registers domain names for certain uses of its customers such as a dedicated domain name and webpage for events hosted at the hotels, visitors and hotel guests will be protected under its privacy policy in addition to any data protection legislation in force. Firmdale is committed to ensuring online privacy of users and visitors. For example Firmdale does not track visitors to its websites. Information that is voluntarily provided while visiting a Firmdale web site is treated as restricted, sensitive information and Firmdale protects it using advanced technology.

The dot Firmdale Registry will operate in manner appropriate for a single registrant registry. Domain names can be registered, renewed and deleted. In the course of Firmdale Hotels business it will only authorised personnel from the IT Department under the Head of IT to permit any registrations, renewals and deletions of .firmdale domain names. It will be Firmdale who will ultimately control when, how and by whom names are registered in the course of its business and marketing functions subject always to the Registry Agreement with ICANN, ICANN policy, laws, regulations and Firmdale’s Registry Policy.

The availability of Internationalized domain names will be determined in accordance with Firmdale Business Policy in the event such domains are required for business purposes.

The Firmdale Registry will maintain a registry website for the purposes of providing a public whois search function and display contact information for law enforcement or other third parties who may which to report any domain name abuse, trademark claim or other legitimate purpose.

Whilst Firmdale will comply with the Applicant Guidebook terms requiring that the registry operate a non-discriminatory access to ICANN accredited registrars, the Registry’s policy prohibiting third party registrations will dissuade most if not all such accredited registrars from seeking registrar Accreditation by Firmdale.

Firmdale will be engaging Qinetics Solutions Berhad of Malaysia as the back-end registry service provider for its TLD operations.

Qinetics shall provide Registry Services as defined below:
(i) the receipt of data from registrars concerning registrations of domain names and name servers;
(ii) provision to registrars of status information relating to the zone servers for the TLD;
(iii) dissemination of TLD zone files;
(iv) operation of the Registry zone servers;
(v) dissemination of contact and other information concerning domain name server registrations in the TLD as required by the Registry Agreement;
(vi) Internationalized Domain Names (IDN);
(vii) DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC);
(viii) WHOIS Data Watch Service;
(ix) Searchable WHOIS Service and
(x) Other products or services that the Registry Operator is required to provide because of the establishment of a Consensus Policy

The system is based on RegistryASP SRS Application Suite that is deployed in ccTLD Registries, namely .sg (Singapore), .hk (Hong Kong, SAR), .cd (Congo, Democratic Republic) and .my (Malaysia).

RegistryASP utilizes a ‘thick’ registry model which is EPP (Extensible Provisioning Protocol) version 1.0 compliant, where registrant data is maintained on a central registry database as a contact set.

 Stealth DNS (Zone Generation)
The resolution of domain names is a crucial function in a registry system. The DNS system supports both IPv4 and IPv6. The stealth DNS stores the generated zone file from the database, which will undergo a complicated reconciliation process before the data is reloaded into the master zone. The Stealth DNS is hidden in the internal network and is only visible to the primary DNS server. The primary DNS server is hidden as well and is responsible for the zone transfer to external secondary DNS servers. RegistryASP has achieved 100% uptime for all country codes that they are supporting on DNS resolution. The DNS is in compliance to RFCs 1034, 1035, 1982, 2181, 2182, 2671, 3226, 3596, 3597, 4343, and 5966.

 External DNS (Zone Resolution)
The external DNS setup consists of the secondary DNS servers dedicated to resolution of the extension domain worldwide. The Secondary DNS are utilizing 2 of the main providers in the world that supports AnyCast DNS with more than 100 nodes all around the world. The provider is CommunityDNS. All zone transfer will be protected using TSIG. The DNS is in compliance to RFCs 1034, 1035, 1982, 2181, 2182, 2671, 3226, 3596, 3597, 4343, and 5966.

 DNSSEC
Registry shall provide DNSSEC services to registrars comply with RFCs 4033, 4034, 4035, 4509 and their successors, and follow the best practices described in RFC 4641 and its successors. The DNSSEC services shall include the publishing of Delegation Signature (DS) records and signed records to the root zones of the applied TLD.

 WHOIS Services
General public can check the information of a domain name through port 43. The daemon is proven of handling millions of WHOIS queries daily for some of the ccTLD reference for RegistryASP SRS. Web based searchable WHOIS will be provided for subscribed users. The WHOIS services are highly scalable, capable of handling higher query loads and comply with RFC 3912.

 Registry Web Interface
The control panel is used by the registry operational staff to administrate domain names, root name servers, registrars and other domain name data. Key features include multi-users function control, flexible product configurations, business process configurations and event-triggered alerts.

 Registrar Web Interface
A registrar can perform daily operations and transaction accounting via the web control panel. Major functions include domain, contact and host management for domain names registered under the registrar, account balance and account top-up.

 EPP Services
A standard EPP server is used to provide flexibility for registrars to automate domain registration and management. The EPP server is configured with a SSL communications link that uses the EPP version 1.0 protocol comply with RFCs 5910, 5730, 5731, 5732, 5733, 5734, 3735.

 Reporting Services
Standard reports are provided to registry and registrar staff to perform secondary check on transactions made, payment received, domain renewal and balance enquiries.

 Operational Testing and Evaluation (OT&E)
All newly accredited registrars shall reserve a time slot to access OT&E server and perform a technical test. This is to ensure that the registrar’s system is capable of registering and managing domain names in the production environment without unnecessary problems. Once a registrar passes the OT&E Test, the registrar will receive an account to access the production system to register and manage domain names.

 Security and Monitoring
The system has been proven to adhere to ISO27001 standards by Hong Kong government and compliance with Singapore government security guidelines. User access will be controlled through 3 tiers of authentication: Registrar SSL Certificate, Registrar IP Addresses and Registrar User Name⁄Password Combination. The communication link with registrar will be SSL encrypted.
Multiple firewalls will be in place to ensure multiple levels of security together with IP filtering and Intrusion Detection with Prevention. Multiple security monitoring systems will be setup within and outside of the network of the Registry System to monitor the Registry Services. Host based intruder detection system will be in place on top of hardware based intruder protection system. Multi Router Traffic Grapher (MRTG) will be installed to monitor traffic utilization in the network and each server of the Registry System.

 Data Escrow
The data will be deposited into ICANN approved escrow agent based on escrow requirements to ensure business continuity and data recovery in the unlikely event of data loss.

 Call Centre
System support and maintenance to guarantee maximum uptime shall be provided through Email and Phone to registrars. 24⁄7 technical support hotline are available in multiple languages.

 Channel Management
Client Relation Management (CRM) software is in place to manage communications and contact with the registrars.

 Other Registry Services
The registry will provide IDN domain names to the Firmdale users. The IDN will be deployed according to the IDN RFCs (5890, 5891, 5892, 5893) and the languages supported will be based on registered language tables in IANA.

24. Shared Regisration System (SRS) Performance: describe the plan for operation of a robust and reliable Shared Registration System. SRS is a critical registry function for enabling multiple registrars to provide domain name registration services in the TLD.

The registry is compliant to Specification 6 and Specification 10 in the Registry Agreement. The compliance table for Specification 6 is as attached.

SRS System Description

1. System Architecture
RegistryASP SRS application is designed with multiple control interfaces to allow access by different parties via defined user roles and matrixes. All components have been designed to be deployed in a distributed environment. A diagram of the system architecture is attached.

Core Component of Registry SRS

The Registry SRS is split into multiple components to improve scalability. The Core SRS Component consists of presentation layer, application security framework, application layer and database layer. It supports HTTP, HTTPS and EPP protocols.

The application layer is used to handle the business flow, audits, messages, processes and the daily tasks in the system. It has a data logger, which stores the details of all requests and responses from the application. The database layer deals with raw data management and utilizes relational databases.

2. SRS Data Flow Diagram
The system architecture of the SRS is designed to allow the EPP, WHOIS, registry web panel and registrar web panel to share the same set of business logics. In other words, the processing of the request will be the same regardless the request comes from which interfaces. A diagram of the SRS data flow is attached.

3. SRS System Features
Business Process Configuration:
- Administration module to configure business rules, policies and practices
- Utilization of extensions in EPP to store additional information, e.g. language tag etc;
- Control panels to validate pending transactions and facilitate the submission of documents;
-Control panels for black and white list coupled with a pragmatic system to restrict sensitive names;
- Policy manager panels allow registry staff to control access to products and adjust policies;
- Feature access controller panels allow registry and registrar staff to customize functionalities available at various channels; and
-User access controller panel allows registry and registrar staff to customize access level of different users.

Channel Marketing (Registrar Support):
-Web-based multi-tier administrative control panel;
-Ability to brand email templates and extensive email tracking;
- Built-in marketing features such as volume discount and period discount tools;
-EPP connection Software Development Kit (SDK) and toolkits (in Java, PERL);
- Documentation, registrar technical training and change management.

Billing and Payment:
- Reminder notification with configurable alerts, content including other parameters; and
- Billing Manager to manage offline payments, fund alert, incentive rebate calculation and online invoice.

Report Management:
- Comprehensive statistical and transaction reporting system; and real-time reports for channel management (transaction, balance, renewal, announcements etc).
-Registrars detail and summary monthly statements; and
-Transaction tracking and action audit logs

Network Diagram
The attached diagram shows the network architecture and connectivity for all the components of the Registry SRS System. The Registry System infrastructure is located in 2 different data centers for redundancy and scalability purposes. The primary data center consists of the SRS, DNSSEC signing and Data Escrow. The secondary data center will be running the WHOIS services. The stealth and primary DNS are located in the primary data center. DNS Resolution Services are fully AnyCast enabled and dispersed geographically.

The primary data center has full redundancy up to the node level. The network is separated into 2 segments. The first network segment is IP restricted area for registrars to access the SRS which is the DMZ zone. The second segment is for internal access which consist of the database. All servers are protected by redundant firewall.

The Web and EPP services are load-balanced between multiple servers. This provides maximum reliability, and is highly extensible by adding more servers behind the load balancers. Each server has redundant components (Power supplies, hard disk RAID, fans, network interfaces). The presence of multiple servers, multiple facilities, and multiple network providers means that the services will be well protected against single points of failure.

All services are setup in the secondary data center for emergency recovery in case of melt down in the primary data center. The services in the secondary data center can be online within 2 hours from the activation. Each site has at least 2 different network connections to the Internet. Our data centre belongs to a tier 1 provider with has four backbones peering to other tier 1 provider.

The OTE server connects to the test database where the data resembles the production database. The Disaster Recovery Site (Secondary data center) is designed to replicate the primary site except the OTE environment. The OTE environment is not essential during a disaster. The DR site shall only be used to temporarily take over the registry operations while the primary site is being restored. A diagram of the network is attached.

Interconnectivity
The main components in the systems are SRS, Data Escrow, WHOIS, DNS, Reporting, Registrar Systems, Accounting System and System Monitoring. A diagram of the interconnectivity is attached which explains the interconnectivity between these components.

The system consists of a SRS system where the main database server resides. The interfaces in the SRS system are mainly web and EPP. The data are received from registrars through Web panel or automation from registrar system to the EPP server in real time. The central data will then be distributed to DNS, Accounting system and Data escrow agent through batch processing mode.

A secondary database cluster is configured using bidirectional geographical replication to replicate data from the main database in near real time. The secondary database will provide WHOIS query and data access for reports. The monitoring system will probe the services in the SRS in real time.

Synchronization Scheme
Interconnectivity between registry system components appear in 3 synchronization scheme:
1. Replication Synchronization (Only for database)
Source (SRS) to Destination (WHOIS)
- A secondary database cluster will be installed for providing the WHOIS response. The synchronisation is done using bidirectional database replication. The data are replicated to secondary database within mili seconds.

Source (SRS) to Destination (Reporting Services)
- A secondary database cluster will be installed for providing reports. The synchronisation is done using bidirectional database replication. The data are replicated to secondary database within mili seconds.

2. Batch Processing
Source (SRS) to Destination (Stealth DNS)
- A DNS reconciliation and generation program is in place to regenerate the zones in the interval of 2 hours.

Source (Stealth DNS) to Destination (Primary DNS)
- The zone is transfer to primary using notify = yes. Once records changed in stealth DNS, the primary will be notified to transfer the zone. The transfer takes less than 1 second.

Source (Primary DNS) to Destination (Secondary DNS)
- The zone is transfer to secondary using notify = yes. Once records changed in primary DNS, the secondary will be notified to transfer the zone. The transfer takes less than 1 second.

Source (SRS) to Destination (Data Escrow)
- A backend program will be running daily to deposit the data into Escrow agents SFTP server.

Source (SRS) to Destination (Accounting System)
- A backend program will be running daily to generate data file in the accounting system data import format.

3. Real Time Access
Source (Registrar System) to Destination (SRS)
- All transactions will be processed in real time and response will be returned immediately after processing.

Source (System Monitoring) to Destination (SRS)
- The monitoring software will be probing the services in near real time interval (every second).

Resource Plan
Qinetics will deploy the Registry Service of The registry using its existing system and infrastructure. During the implementation of The registry, new server hardware will be provisioned for SRS services. Our Data Center Engineer will perform the server provisioning and installation of OS. Once the hardware is provisioned, System Administrator shall continue to install the required software and perform security configurations. On the other hand, the Database Administrator will create the required schemas. The assigned Software Developer will configure the rules and policies into the SRS system. Once done, our Test Engineer will perform rigorous testing procedures to ensure the system performs according to specifications. Upon the testing is fully completed, the SRS system shall be hand-over to System Administrator to perform deployment to production environment. Throughout the process, a Project Manager is assigned to perform project management and overall control on the implementation. The Project Manager will conduct training to the registry users on the functionalities of the system. The SRS setup shall be completed within a month.

The system will be in maintenance mode after the SRS is deployed. The SRS will be supported by general helpdesk support for enquiries. Any support issue related to SRS will be escalated to the Application Support Engineer for trouble shooting. System Administrator is tasked to monitor the SRS availability. Whenever there is a support ticket, Application Support Engineer and System Administrator will further escalate the support request base on severity. The emergency response team will be triggered whenever there is a catastrophe scenario at the highest severity.

Once a remedy is identified, Test Engineer will perform testing on the fixes before deployment by System Administrator. During maintenance, the outsourcing party has committed 4 resources for the 24 x 7 helpdesk, 4 data center engineers, 2 application support engineers, 1 support manager, 1 test engineer and 2 system administrators. As part of on going policy changes, a team of software developer is available for any standards upgrade to the SRS and the changes will trigger the change request procedure in accordance to CMMI standards.

Service Level Agreement (SLA)
The registry is committed to provide SLA according to the parameters below in accordance to Specification 10:
DNS
- DNS service availability: 0 min downtime = 100% availability
- DNS name server availability: â‰¤ 432 min of downtime (â‰ˆ99%)
- TCP DNS resolution RTT: â‰¤ 1500 ms, for at least 95% of the queries
- UDP DNS resolution RTT: â‰¤ 500 ms, for at least 95% of the queries
- DNS update time: â‰¤ 60 min, for at least 95% of the probes

RDDS (WHOIS)
- RDDS availability: â‰¤ 864 min of downtime (â‰ˆ98%)
- RDDS query RTT: â‰¤ 2000 ms, for at least 95% of the queries
- RDDS update time: â‰¤ 60 min, for at least 95% of the probes

EPP
- EPP service availability: â‰¤ 864 min of downtime (â‰ˆ98%)
- EPP session-command RTT: â‰¤ 4000 ms, for at least 90% of the commands
- EPP query-command RTT: â‰¤ 2000 ms, for at least 90% of the commands
- EPP transform-command RTT: â‰¤ 4000 ms, for at least 90% of the commands

25. Extensible Provisioning Protocol (EPP): provide a detailed description of the interface with registrars, including how the applicant will comply with Extensible Provisioning Protocol in the relevant RFCs, including but not limited to: RFCs 3735, and 5730-5734. Provide the EPP templates and schemas that will be used. Include resourcing plans (number and description of personnel roles allocated to this area).

Qinetics deploys real time Interface between registry and registrar based on EPP implementation. EPP implements a thick model registry where WHOIS information is stored in registry main database as contact set. Every registration requires a set of contacts to be submitted to registry system. The EPP commands and responses are compliance to RFC 5730 to RFC 5734. The EPP supports all Login Commands (login, logout), Query Commands (check, info, poll, transfer) and Object Transform Commands (create, delete, renew, transfer, update). The supported commands in the system are:

Greeting, Hello, Login, Logout, Poll, Domain Check, Domain Info, Domain Create, Domain Update, Domain Delete, Domain Renew, Domain Transfer, Contact Check, Contact Info, Contact Create, Contact Update, Contact Delete, Contact Transfer, Host Check, Host Info, Host Create, Host Update, Host Delete 

The full set of commands and responses syntax are in a 30 pages document which can be furnished on demand. 

The system utilizes EPP statuses stated in the RFC as follows: 
Domain Action Statuses:
- clientDeleteProhibited: Requests to delete the object must be rejected. 
- serverDeleteProhibited: Requests to delete the object must be rejected. 
- clientHold: Delegation information must be withheld from publication in the objectʹs nominal zone. 
- serverHold: Delegation information must be withheld from publication in the objectʹs nominal zone. 
- clientRenewProhibited: Requests to renew the object must be rejected. 
- serverRenewProhibited: Requests to renew the object must be rejected. 
- clientTransferProhibited: Requests to transfer the object must be rejected. 
- serverTransferProhibited: Requests to transfer the object must be rejected. 
- clientUpdateProhibited: Requests to update the object (other than to remove this status) must be rejected. 
- serverUpdateProhibited: Requests to update the object (other than to remove this status) must be rejected.  

Domain State Statuses:
- ok: This is the nominal status value for a domain object at all times, whether or not the domain has prohibition of operation statuses. 
- Expired: This is the domain status when the domain fall into auto renew grace period
- RedemptionPeriod:  The domain has fall out of renewal grace period into redemption grace period
- pendingRestore: A restore request has been received for the object, and completion of the request is pending. 
- pendingDelete: A delete request has been received for the object, but the object has not yet been purged from the server database. 
- pendingTransfer: A transfer request has been received for the object, and completion of the request is pending. 

When the requested action has been completed, the pendingDelete, pendingTransfer, or pendingRestore status value are removed.  All clients involved in the transaction will  be notified using a service message (Poll Command) that the action has been completed and that the status of the object has changed.

Below are conditions where domain statuses cannot co exist:
-  ʺokʺ status cannot be combined with any other status.
- ʺpendingDeleteʺ status is cannot be combined with either ʺclientDeleteProhibitedʺ or ʺserverDeleteProhibitedʺ status.
-  ʺpendingTransferʺ status is cannot be combined with either ʺclientTransferProhibitedʺ or ʺserverTransferProhibitedʺ status.

The pendingDelete, pendingTransfer, and pendingRestore status values cannot be combined with each other.

All Client statuses can be performed by registry or registrar, all server statuses can only be performed by registry.

Domain Transfer State Statuses:
Pending - The domain transfer request is initiated
clientApproved - Domain Transfer is approved by losing registrar
clientCancelled - Gaining registrar cancel domain transfer request
clientRejected - Losing registrar rejected the domain trainsfer request
serverApproved  - Domain Transfer is approved by system after transfer grace
serverCancelled - Domain transfer is cancelled by registry system

Registrar will be required to download the EPP SDK (bundled with documentation) to establish connection to EPP Server. Procedure of TCP connection:
a. Post SSL request
b. SSL Handshaking
c. SSL session established
d. Send Greeting command
e. Greeting acknowledgment
f. Send login information
g. Authentication process
h. TCP over SSL connection established
i. Send command for operation such as Domain check command
j. Send Poll command to keep connection alive
k. Session will be closed automatically after 20 minutes if Poll command is not issued
l. Send logout command
m. Session closed

XML parser will be used against request and response to ensure integrity of the data and detect corruption of data. Once data is found to be loss or corrupted, EPP command fail response will be sent to the requestor.

SSL
The EPP handshake requires exchange of certificates between the client and the server. Qinetics implementation accepts any certificates issued by authorized Certificate Authority (CA). The authorized CA list supported: Verisign, Thawte, GeoTrust, EnTrust, Comodo, GlobalTrust, DigiCert, USERTrust, CyberTrust, Microsoft

Qinetics provides a self signed certificate as optional to the registrar for better security. Registrars can file in a request through email for Qinetics generated certificate. 

Once SSL handshake is established, registrar shall send in a Login command with username and password to access the EPP services. The EPP services implements IP address check before responding to the client. 2 Tier IP check are implemented in firewall and the EPP services respectively to provide double protection.

Operation and Test Environment (OTE)
As part of the standard procedure, registrar will be given access to the OTE environment only. Registrar will have to download the OTE guideline and program according to the documentation.

Registrar will then send a request to start OTE test at a predefined time slot. Once the registrar pass the test, the production username and password will be sent to the registrar technical contact. 
 
Registration Tools
â€¢ EPP 1.0 client SDK and documentation; and
â€¢ Tools are downloadable from registrar interface.

EPP Extensions Schemas
The EPP shall not implement and extension except for DNSSEC according to RFC 5910 and IDN according to RFC 3735. The extensions are applied to the following commands only:
â€¢ Domain Info
â€¢ Domain Create
â€¢ Domain Update

The table detailing the XML for the EPP commands and responses are as follows:

Domain Info
- Request
〈?xml version=â€œ1.0â€ encoding=â€œUTF-8â€?〉
〈epp xmlns=ʺurn:ietf:params:xml:ns:epp-1.0ʺ xmlns:xsi=ʺhttp:⁄⁄www.w3.org⁄2001⁄XMLSchema-instance  xsi:schemaLocation=ʺurn:ietf:params:xml:ns:epp-1.0 epp-1.0.xsdʺ〉
  〈command〉
    〈info〉
      〈domain:info xmlns:domain=ʺurn:ietf:params:xml:ns:domain-1.0ʺ
 xsi:schemaLocation=ʺurn:ietf:params:xml:ns:domain-1.0 domain-1.0.xsdʺ〉
        〈domain:name hosts=ʺallʺ〉example.com〈⁄domain:name〉
      〈⁄domain:info〉
    〈⁄info〉
    〈clTRID〉ABC-12345〈⁄clTRID〉
  〈⁄command〉
〈⁄epp〉

- Response
〈?xml version=â€œ1.0â€ encoding=â€œUTF-8â€?〉
〈epp xmlns=â€œurn:ietf:params:xml:ns:epp-1.0â€ xmlns:xsi=â€œhttp:⁄⁄www.w3.org⁄2001⁄XMLSchema-instanceâ€     xsi:schemaLocation=â€œurn:ietf:params:xml:ns:epp-1.0 epp-1.0.xsdʺ〉
     〈response〉
       〈result code=ʺ1000ʺ〉
         〈msg〉Command completed successfully〈⁄msg〉
       〈⁄result〉
       〈resData〉
         〈domain:infData
 Xmlns:domain=ʺurn:ietf:params:xml:ns:domain-1.0ʺ xsi:schemaLocation=ʺurn:ietf:params:xml:ns:domain-1.0 domain-1.0.xsdʺ〉
〈domain:name〉example.com〈⁄domain:name〉
           〈domain:roid〉EXAMPLE1-EP〈⁄domain:roid〉
           〈domain:status s=ʺokʺ⁄〉
           〈domain:registrant〉jd1234〈⁄domain:registrant〉
           〈domain:contact type=ʺadminʺ〉sh8013〈⁄domain:contact〉
           〈domain:contact type=ʺtechʺ〉sh8013〈⁄domain:contact〉
           〈domain:ns〉
〈domain:hostObj〉ns1.example.com〈⁄domain:hostObj〉
〈domain:hostObj〉ns1.example.net〈⁄domain:hostObj〉
           〈⁄domain:ns〉
           〈domain:host〉ns1.example.com〈⁄domain:host〉
           〈domain:host〉ns2.example.com〈⁄domain:host〉
           〈domain:clID〉ClientX〈⁄domain:clID〉
           〈domain:crID〉ClientY〈⁄domain:crID〉
           〈domain:crDate〉1999-04-03T22:00:00.0Z〈⁄domain:crDate〉
           〈domain:upID〉ClientX〈⁄domain:upID〉
           〈domain:upDate〉1999-12-03T09:00:00.0Z〈⁄domain:upDate〉
           〈domain:exDate〉2005-04-03T22:00:00.0Z〈⁄domain:exDate〉
           〈domain:trDate〉2000-04-08T09:00:00.0Z〈⁄domain:trDate〉
           〈domain:authInfo〉
             〈domain:pw〉2fooBAR〈⁄domain:pw〉
           〈⁄domain:authInfo〉
         〈⁄domain:infData〉
       〈⁄resData〉
〈extension〉
     〈secDNS:infData xmlns:secDNS=ʺurn:ietf:params:xml:ns:secDNS-1.1ʺ〉
〈secDNS:dsData〉
   〈secDNS:keyTag〉12345〈⁄secDNS:keyTag〉
   〈secDNS:alg〉3〈⁄secDNS:alg〉
   〈secDNS:digestType〉1〈⁄secDNS:digestType〉
   〈secDNS:digest〉49FD46E6C4B45C55D4AC〈⁄secDNS:digest〉

(Below are optional)
                   〈secDNS:keyData〉
               〈secDNS:flags〉257〈⁄secDNS:flags〉
               〈secDNS:protocol〉3〈⁄secDNS:protocol〉
               〈secDNS:alg〉1〈⁄secDNS:alg〉
              〈secDNS:pubKey〉AQPJ⁄⁄⁄⁄4Q==〈⁄secDNS:pubKey〉
                   〈⁄secDNS:keyData〉
〈⁄secDNS:dsData〉
     〈⁄secDNS:infData〉
 〈⁄extension〉
       〈trID〉
         〈clTRID〉ABC-12345〈⁄clTRID〉
         〈svTRID〉54322-XYZ〈⁄svTRID〉
       〈⁄trID〉
     〈⁄response〉
〈⁄epp〉

Domain Create (IDN)
- Request
   〈?xml version=â€œ1.0â€ encoding=â€œUTF-8â€?〉
   〈epp xmlns=â€œurn:ietf:params:xml:ns:epp-1.0â€ xmlns:xsi=â€œhttp:⁄⁄www.w3.org⁄2001⁄XMLSchema-instanceâ€        xsi:schemaLocation=â€œurn:ietf:params:xml:ns:epp-1.0 epp-1.0.xsdʺ〉
     〈command〉
       〈create〉
         〈domain:create  xmlns:domain=â€œurn:ietf:params:xml:ns:domain-1.0â€
xsi:schemaLocation=â€œurn:ietf:params:xml:ns:domain-1.0
 domain-1.0.xsdʺ〉
           〈domain:name〉xn--asjeiu3h34jhew.com〈⁄domain:name〉
           〈domain:period unit=ʺyʺ〉2〈⁄domain:period〉
           〈domain:ns〉
〈domain:hostObj〉ns1.example.com〈⁄domain:hostObj〉
〈domain:hostObj〉ns1.example.net〈⁄domain:hostObj〉
           〈⁄domain:ns〉
           〈domain:registrant〉jd1234〈⁄domain:registrant〉
           〈domain:contact type=ʺadminʺ〉sh8013〈⁄domain:contact〉
           〈domain:contact type=ʺtechʺ〉sh8013〈⁄domain:contact〉
           〈domain:authInfo〉
             〈domain:pw〉2fooBAR〈⁄domain:pw〉
           〈⁄domain:authInfo〉
         〈⁄domain:create〉
       〈⁄create〉
〈extension〉 
〈ext:extension xmlns:ext=ʺurn:ietf:params:xml:ns:ext-1.0ʺ xsi:schemaLocation=ʺurn:ietf:params:xml:ns:ext-1.0 ext-1.0.xsdʺ〉 
      〈langtag〉CHI〈⁄langtag〉 
〈⁄ext:extension〉 
〈⁄extension〉 
       〈clTRID〉ABC-12345〈⁄clTRID〉
     〈⁄command〉
   〈⁄epp〉

- Response
 〈?xml version=â€œ1.0â€ encoding=â€œUTF-8â€?〉
   〈epp xmlns=â€œurn:ietf:params:xml:ns:epp-1.0â€ xmlns:xsi=â€œhttp:⁄⁄www.w3.org⁄2001⁄XMLSchema-instanceâ€ xsi:schemaLocation=â€œurn:ietf:params:xml:ns:epp-1.0
epp-1.0.xsdʺ〉
     〈response〉
       〈result code=ʺ1000ʺ〉
         〈msg〉Command completed successfully〈⁄msg〉
       〈⁄result〉
       〈resData〉
         〈domain:creData
 xmlns:domain=â€œurn:ietf:params:xml:ns:domain-1.0â€
xsi:schemaLocation=â€œurn:ietf:params:xml:ns:domain-1.0
 domain-1.0.xsdʺ〉
           〈domain:name〉 xn--asjeiu3h34jhew.com 〈⁄domain:name〉
           〈domain:crDate〉1999-04-03T22:00:00.0Z〈⁄domain:crDate〉
           〈domain:exDate〉2001-04-03T22:00:00.0Z〈⁄domain:exDate〉
         〈⁄domain:creData〉
       〈⁄resData〉
       〈trID〉
         〈clTRID〉ABC-12345〈⁄clTRID〉
         〈svTRID〉54321-XYZ〈⁄svTRID〉
       〈⁄trID〉
     〈⁄response〉
   〈⁄epp〉

Domain Create (DNSSEC)
-Request
   〈?xml version=â€œ1.0â€ encoding=â€œUTF-8â€?〉
   〈epp xmlns=â€œurn:ietf:params:xml:ns:epp-1.0â€ xmlns:xsi=â€œhttp:⁄⁄www.w3.org⁄2001⁄XMLSchema-instanceâ€        xsi:schemaLocation=â€œurn:ietf:params:xml:ns:epp-1.0 epp-1.0.xsdʺ〉
     〈command〉
       〈create〉
         〈domain:create  xmlns:domain=â€œurn:ietf:params:xml:ns:domain-1.0â€
xsi:schemaLocation=â€œurn:ietf:params:xml:ns:domain-1.0
 domain-1.0.xsdʺ〉
           〈domain:name〉example.com〈⁄domain:name〉
           〈domain:period unit=ʺyʺ〉2〈⁄domain:period〉
           〈domain:ns〉
〈domain:hostObj〉ns1.example.com〈⁄domain:hostObj〉
〈domain:hostObj〉ns1.example.net〈⁄domain:hostObj〉
           〈⁄domain:ns〉
           〈domain:registrant〉jd1234〈⁄domain:registrant〉
           〈domain:contact type=ʺadminʺ〉sh8013〈⁄domain:contact〉
           〈domain:contact type=ʺtechʺ〉sh8013〈⁄domain:contact〉
           〈domain:authInfo〉
             〈domain:pw〉2fooBAR〈⁄domain:pw〉
           〈⁄domain:authInfo〉
         〈⁄domain:create〉
       〈⁄create〉
〈extension〉
〈secDNS:create xmlns:secDNS=ʺurn:ietf:params:xml:ns:secDNS-1.1ʺ〉
   〈secDNS:maxSigLife〉604800〈⁄secDNS:maxSigLife〉
   〈secDNS:dsData〉
〈secDNS:keyTag〉12345〈⁄secDNS:keyTag〉
〈secDNS:alg〉3〈⁄secDNS:alg〉
〈secDNS:digestType〉1〈⁄secDNS:digestType〉
〈secDNS:digest〉49FD46E6C4B45C55D4AC〈⁄secDNS:digest〉

(below are optional)
〈secDNS:keyData〉
       〈secDNS:flags〉257〈⁄secDNS:flags〉
       〈secDNS:protocol〉3〈⁄secDNS:protocol〉
       〈secDNS:alg〉1〈⁄secDNS:alg〉
       〈secDNS:pubKey〉AQPJ⁄⁄⁄⁄4Q==〈⁄secDNS:pubKey〉
〈⁄secDNS:keyData〉
〈⁄secDNS:dsData〉
〈⁄secDNS:create〉
〈⁄extension〉
       〈clTRID〉ABC-12345〈⁄clTRID〉
     〈⁄command〉
   〈⁄epp〉   

- Response
〈?xml version=â€œ1.0â€ encoding=â€œUTF-8â€?〉
   〈epp xmlns=â€œurn:ietf:params:xml:ns:epp-1.0â€ xmlns:xsi=â€œhttp:⁄⁄www.w3.org⁄2001⁄XMLSchema-instanceâ€ xsi:schemaLocation=â€œurn:ietf:params:xml:ns:epp-1.0
epp-1.0.xsdʺ〉
     〈response〉
       〈result code=ʺ1000ʺ〉
         〈msg〉Command completed successfully〈⁄msg〉
       〈⁄result〉
       〈resData〉
         〈domain:creData
 xmlns:domain=â€œurn:ietf:params:xml:ns:domain-1.0â€
xsi:schemaLocation=â€œurn:ietf:params:xml:ns:domain-1.0
 domain-1.0.xsdʺ〉
           〈domain:name〉example.com〈⁄domain:name〉
           〈domain:crDate〉1999-04-03T22:00:00.0Z〈⁄domain:crDate〉
           〈domain:exDate〉2001-04-03T22:00:00.0Z〈⁄domain:exDate〉
         〈⁄domain:creData〉
       〈⁄resData〉
       〈trID〉
         〈clTRID〉ABC-12345〈⁄clTRID〉
         〈svTRID〉54321-XYZ〈⁄svTRID〉
       〈⁄trID〉
     〈⁄response〉
   〈⁄epp〉

Domain Update
-Request
 〈?xml version=â€œ1.0â€ encoding=â€œUTF-8â€?〉
   〈epp xmlns=â€œurn:ietf:params:xml:ns:epp-1.0â€
 xmlns:xsi=â€œhttp:⁄⁄www.w3.org⁄2001⁄XMLSchema-instanceâ€
 xsi:schemaLocation=â€œurn:ietf:params:xml:ns:epp-1.0
epp-1.0.xsdʺ〉
     〈command〉
       〈update〉
         〈domain:update
 xmlns:domain=â€œurn:ietf:params:xml:ns:domain-1.0â€
xsi:schemaLocation=â€œurn:ietf:params:xml:ns:domain-1.0
domain-1.0.xsdʺ〉
           〈domain:name〉example.com〈⁄domain:name〉
           〈domain:add〉
             〈domain:ns〉
〈domain:hostObj〉ns2.example.com〈⁄domain:hostObj〉
             〈⁄domain:ns〉
             〈domain:contact type=ʺtechʺ〉mak21〈⁄domain:contact〉
             〈domain:status s=ʺclientHoldʺ
              lang=ʺenʺ〉Payment overdue.〈⁄domain:status〉
           〈⁄domain:add〉
           〈domain:rem〉
             〈domain:ns〉
〈domain:hostObj〉ns1.example.com〈⁄domain:hostObj〉
             〈⁄domain:ns〉
             〈domain:contact type=ʺtechʺ〉sh8013〈⁄domain:contact〉
             〈domain:status s=ʺclientUpdateProhibitedʺ⁄〉
           〈⁄domain:rem〉
           〈domain:chg〉
〈domain:registrant〉sh8013〈⁄domain:registrant〉
             〈domain:authInfo〉
               〈domain:pw〉2BARfoo〈⁄domain:pw〉
             〈⁄domain:authInfo〉
           〈⁄domain:chg〉
           〈domain:add〉
                〈domain:status s=ʺclientHoldʺ⁄〉
            〈⁄domain:add〉
         〈⁄domain:update〉
       〈⁄update〉
    〈extension〉
〈secDNS:update xmlns:secDNS=ʺurn:ietf:params:xml:ns:secDNS-1.1ʺ〉
     〈secDNS:rem〉
         〈secDNS:dsData〉
              〈secDNS:keyTag〉12345〈⁄secDNS:keyTag〉
              〈secDNS:alg〉3〈⁄secDNS:alg〉
              〈secDNS:digestType〉1〈⁄secDNS:digestType〉
              〈secDNS:digest〉38EC35D5B3A34B33C99B〈⁄secDNS:digest〉
         〈⁄secDNS:dsData〉
     〈⁄secDNS:rem〉
     〈secDNS:add〉
         〈secDNS:dsData〉
              〈secDNS:keyTag〉12346〈⁄secDNS:keyTag〉
              〈secDNS:alg〉3〈⁄secDNS:alg〉
              〈secDNS:digestType〉1〈⁄secDNS:digestType〉
              〈secDNS:digest〉38EC35D5B3A34B44C39B〈⁄secDNS:digest〉

(below are optional)
〈secDNS:keyData〉
       〈secDNS:flags〉257〈⁄secDNS:flags〉
       〈secDNS:protocol〉3〈⁄secDNS:protocol〉
       〈secDNS:alg〉1〈⁄secDNS:alg〉
       〈secDNS:pubKey〉AQPJ⁄⁄⁄⁄4Q==〈⁄secDNS:pubKey〉
                〈⁄secDNS:keyData〉
         〈⁄secDNS:dsData〉
      〈⁄secDNS:add〉
〈⁄secDNS:update〉
    〈⁄extension〉
    〈clTRID〉ABC-12345〈⁄clTRID〉
    〈⁄command〉
   〈⁄epp〉

-Response

〈?xml version=â€œ1.0â€ encoding=â€œUTF-8â€?〉
   〈epp xmlns=â€œurn:ietf:params:xml:ns:epp-1.0â€
xmlns:xsi=â€œhttp:⁄⁄www.w3.org⁄2001⁄XMLSchema-instanceâ€
 xsi:schemaLocation=â€œurn:ietf:params:xml:ns:epp-1.0
epp-1.0.xsdʺ〉
     〈response〉
       〈result code=ʺ1000ʺ〉
         〈msg〉Command completed successfully〈⁄msg〉
       〈⁄result〉
       〈trID〉
         〈clTRID〉ABC-12345〈⁄clTRID〉
         〈svTRID〉54321-XYZ〈⁄svTRID〉
       〈⁄trID〉
     〈⁄response〉
   〈⁄epp〉

Resource and Operation Plan
Qinetics will deploy the Registry Service of The registry using its existing system and infrastructure. During the implementation of The registry, new server hardware will be provisioned for EPP services. Our Data Center Engineer will perform the server provisioning and installation of OS. Once the hardware is provisioned, System Administrator shall continue to install the required software and perform security configurations. The assigned Software Developer will configure the rules and policies into the EPP system. Once done, our Test Engineer will perform rigorous testing procedures to ensure the system performs according to specifications. Upon the testing is fully completed, the EPP system shall be hand-over to System Administrator to perform deployment to production environment. Throughout the process, a Project Manager is assigned to perform project management and overall control on the implementation. The Project Manager will conduct training to the registry users on the functionalities of the system. The EPP setup shall be completed within a month.

The system will be in maintenance mode after the System is deployed. The EPP will be supported by general helpdesk support for enquiries. Any support issue related to EPP will be escalated to the Application Support Engineer for trouble shooting. System Administrator is tasked to monitor the EPP availability. Whenever there is a support ticket, Application Support Engineer and System Administrator will further escalate the support request base on severity. The emergency response team will be triggered whenever there is a catastrophe scenario at the highest severity. 

Once a remedy is identified, Test Engineer will perform testing on the fixes before deployment by System Administrator. During maintenance, the out sourcing party has committed 4 resources for the 24 x 7 helpdesk, 4 data center engineers, 2 application support engineers, 1 support manager, 1 test engineer and 2 system administrators. As part of on going policy changes, a team of software developer is available for any standards upgrade to the EPP and the changes will trigger the change request procedure in accordance to CMMI standards.

EPP Server Capacity Plan
System performance depends heavily on the application server capability and the processes required for completing a transaction.  As the transaction load increases, the system performance can be increased by tuning the application server, upgrade the hardware of the server or increase the number of servers and utilizing load balancers. A test has been carried out using the below hardware for the capacity planning:

- 1 x Dual Core CPU 1.6GHz
- 2G RAM

The test results recorded with a database of 180,000 names and 100 concurrent EPP connections for each commands (in parallel 1500 commands posting) in our test environment are as follows:

EPP Queries
- Average 1.5 seconds response time for query transactions
- Average 4 seconds response time after 90% line

EPP transactions
- Average 1.5 seconds response time for transactional commands
- Average 5 seconds response time after 90% line

The results are shown in the screen shot below. According to the result, more than 90% of online transactions take less than 2 seconds in average to response and the remaining of 10% (more time-consuming) transactions can also be completed in 5 seconds as per expectation.

Based on the proposed 2 EPP server hardware which is 4 times more powerful than the test server, the system can handle up to 500 concurrent connections easily. The number of servers will be increased based on the growth of number of registrars or change in the maximum number of connections allocated.

Shall the number of registrars increase, new servers will be provisioned into shared pool. Each registrar will have equal access to the shared pool of connections. The shared pool will serve registrars on First Come First Serve basis.

26. Whois: describe how the applicant will comply with ICANNʹs Registry Publicly Available Registration Data (Whois) specifications for data objects, bulk access, and lookups as defined in Specifications 4 and 6 to the registry agreement. Describe how the Applicantʹs Registry Publicly Available Registration Data (Whois) service will comply with RFC 3912. Describe resourcing plans (number and description of personnel roles allocated to this area).

WHOIS System Architecture
The WHOIS service contains data submitted by registrars during the domain name registration process. Any changes made to the data will be reflected in real-time, thus providing all interested parties with up-to-date information.
The WHOIS services to be provisioned include:
a. Port 43 command prompt WHOIS;
b. Searchable Port 80 web based WHOIS;
c. Configurable Port 43 rate limiter to prevent excessive request from the same IP;
d. Penalty for violation of query limit (e.g. barring access for the next 24 hours);
e. Ability to exclude certain IPs from normal rate limiting facilities;
f. Support multilingual WHOIS display;
g. Easy, scalable and reliable WHOIS service;
h. Ensure accuracy in the display of WHOIS data; and
i. Conforms to RFC 3912.

WHOIS Access Method
WHOIS service shall be accessed via:
Command line (port 43)
The command line WHOIS allow queries by domain name in compliance to RFC 3912. The information will be displayed in a standard format. The WHOIS client makes a text request to the WHOIS server, then the WHOIS server replies with text content. All requests are terminated with ASCII CR and then ASCII LF. The response might contain more than one line of text, so the presence of ASCII CR or ASCII LF characters does not indicate the end of the response. The WHOIS server closes its connection as soon as the output is finished. The closed TCP connection is the indication to the client that the response has been received.

Registry Public Web Site (port 80)
The web based WHOIS is a searchable WHOIS by domain name. The corresponding information will be displayed if a match is found.

Both web and command prompt WHOIS will be accessing a standard database connection pool before connecting to the database as shown below. The secondary database is configured to replicate the data from production database in real time. A interconnectivity diagram between the SRS and WHOIS service is attached.

DB Connection Thread Controller
The WHOIS system will connect directly to replicate secondary database using a connection pool which will limit the number of maximum connections that can be connected to the database at any given time. Once the maximum is reached, the remaining requests are queued until the current connections are released. If the connection(s) could not be released on time (until database timeout hits), the system will throw an error out stating that the system is currently busy.

Searchable WHOIS Service
The registry will offer searchable web-based WHOIS service on a subscription basis and reserves the rights to impose a fee. The searchable WHOIS will have partial match capabilities on the following fields:
â€¢ domain name
â€¢ registrantâ€™s name
â€¢ registrantâ€™s postal address
â€¢ all the sub-fields described in EPP (e.g., street, city, state or province, etc.).

The WHOIS will offer exact-match capabilities on the following fields:
â€¢ registrar id
â€¢ name server name
â€¢ name serverâ€™s IP address (only applies to glue records).

The searchable WHOIS will allow Boolean search capabilities supporting logical operators to join a set of search criteria: AND, OR, NOT. The search results will include domain names matching the search criteria.

A potential form of abuse for this feature is data-mining, which is already commonly seen in the domain name industry with many domain name registries implementing reviewing their public WHOIS display policies to mitigate the problem. For example, SGNIC (.SG Registry) has recently revamped their WHOIS display to remove the mailing address of the registrant and administrative contact, the mailing address and telephone number of the technical contact and all of the information of the billing contact. The formal announcement from SGNIC can be found at http:⁄⁄sgnic.sg⁄news⁄sgnic-sg-whois-changes-2-may-2012.

The subscribers can access the searchable WHOIS feature from The registry website. To access this feature, the subscriber would have to apply for access to the feature and sign an agreement with The registry. The registry reserves the right not to approve the application. Upon approval, the subscriber would be given an unique login to ensure non-abusive use of this feature. The search is also protected by Image Verification Check (IVC). The access to this service will be monitored by The registry. Any abuse detected by The registry will be severely dealt with and the access of the offending subscriber will be revoked immediately.

All subscribers will agree to abide by all applicable privacy laws and policies as stated in the Searchable WHOIS Subscription Agreement.

WHOIS Data Watch Service
The registry will provide a service for alerts on WHOIS information change. Any changes on the WHOIS data will be alerted to the previous and the new email address of the registrant contact. The registry shall provide the services for free but reserves the right to impose a fee on the service. This feature provides extra security to ensure accuracy of the WHOIS information.

WHOIS Query Control
The WHOIS service has the capability to perform query limit to avoid bulk access. The registry has the flexibility to amend the rate limit any time. To avoid further access to the registrant information, the search do not allow query on the registrant name. The search will return exact match results to avoid harvesting of related matching records.

WHOIS and Privacy
The registry shall provide access to registrant information to the extent compatible with applicable privacy laws and policies. The registry shall not use the WHOIS data to send any unsolicited email to registrants, to solicit registrants by telephone or to otherwise engage in unauthorized uses of their data. The registry shall not sell any WHOIS data to third party under any circumstances.

Registrars will agree to abide by all applicable privacy laws and policies as stated in the Registry Registrar Agreement. Registrars shall require customers to enter into an agreement prohibiting the customer from using the WHOIS database to send email, contact by phone or use it for other commercial purposes.

Registrars are required to post privacy policies that provide clear and complete notice to registrants of the type of data that will be collected, the use of such data in operating the registry service and correct data maintained by The registry. Such data are required for submission of domain registration.

System Network and Hardware:
For optimum effect of WHOIS server, minimum 2 WHOIS servers will be provisioned. 2 database servers are provisioned as replicated secondary database cluster from the production site. A backup WHOIS server is setup for disaster recovery purposes in the primary data center. The network diagram is attached.

Interconnectivity and Synchronization
A replicated secondary database cluster is configured to replicate data from the main database in the SRS system. The secondary database will provide WHOIS query and data access for reports. The replication will be done using MySQL bidirectional geographical replication feature which is near real time and providing active-active hot site. The monitoring system will probe the services in the SRS in real time.

Source (SRS) to Destination (WHOIS)
- A secondary database cluster will be installed for providing the WHOIS response. The synchronisation is done using bidirectional database replication. The data are replicated to secondary database within mili seconds.

WHOIS Output
The WHOIS server is based on a template system for both web interface and command line based WHOIS. The templates can be configured and changed in real time. The standard WHOIS output format is as below:

Sample WHOIS Output (Search By Domain):
Domain Name:EXAMPLE〈New gTLD String〉
Created On:18-Feb-1996 05:00:00 UTC
Last Updated On:26-Mar-2010 16:53:27 UTC
Expiration Date:19-Feb-2015 05:00:00 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:GoDaddy.com, Inc. (R91-VIP)
Status:DELETE PROHIBITED
Status:TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Status:UPDATE PROHIBITED
Registrant ID:VIP-0000012
Registrant Name:Registration Department
Registrant Organization:Domain Company.
Registrant Street1: 1511 Hayden Rd.
Registrant Street2:Ste 160, PMB 353
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:Scottsdale
Registrant State⁄Province:Arizona
Registrant Postal Code:85260
Registrant Country:US
Registrant Phone:+1.4806242599
Registrant Phone Ext.:
Registrant FAX:+1.4806242598
Registrant FAX Ext.:
Registrant Email:admin@example.com
Admin ID:VIP-22131674
Admin Name:Registration Department
Admin Organization:Domain Company.
Admin Street1:1511 Hayden Rd.
Admin Street2:Ste 160, PMB 353
Admin Street3:
Admin City:Scottsdale
Admin State⁄Province:Arizona
Admin Postal Code:85260
Admin Country:US
Admin Phone:+1.4806242599
Admin Phone Ext.:
Admin FAX:+1.4806242598
Admin FAX Ext.:
Admin Email:admin@example.com
Tech ID:VIP-12131674
Tech Name:Registration Department
Tech Organization:Domain Company
Tech Street1:1511 Hayden Rd.
Tech Street2:Ste 160, PMB 353
Tech Street3:
Tech City:Scottsdale
Tech State⁄Province:Arizona
Tech Postal Code:85260
Tech Country:US
Tech Phone:+1.4806242599
Tech Phone Ext.:
Tech FAX:+1.4806242598
Tech FAX Ext.:
Tech Email:admin@example.com
Name Server:NS1.EXAMPLE〈New gTLD String〉
Name Server:NS2.EXAMPLE〈New gTLD String〉
DNSSEC:Signed
DS Created 1:26-Mar-2010 16:52:50 UTC
DS Maximum Signature Life 1:3456000 seconds
DS Key Tag 1:54135
Algorithm 1:5
Digest Type 1:1
Digest 1:225F055ACB65C8B60AD18B3640062E8C23A5FD89
DS Created 2:26-Mar-2010 16:53:27 UTC
DS Maximum Signature Life 2:3456000 seconds
DS Key Tag 2:54135
Algorithm 2:5
Digest Type 2:2
Digest 2:6CDE2DE97F1D07B23134440F19682E7519ADDAE180E20B1B1EC52E7F58B2831D

If the information does not exist, WHOIS will display a message e.g. â€œNo Record Foundâ€.
Sample WHOIS Output (Search By Host or Host IP: For Searchable WHOIS Subscribers Only):

Hostname: ns1.fivio.vip
Created On:18-Feb-1996 05:00:00 UTC
Last Updated On:26-Mar-2010 16:53:27 UTC
Expiration Date:19-Feb-2015 05:00:00 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:GoDaddy.com, Inc. (R91-VIP)
IP address: 202.11.11.90
IP address: 202.11.11.91

Sample WHOIS Output (Search By Registrar Name, Address, Phone etc: For Searchable WHOIS Subscribers Only):
Registrar Name: Example Registrar, Inc.
Street: 1234 Admiralty Way
City: Marina del Rey
State⁄Province: CA
Postal Code: 90292
Country: US
Phone Number: +1.3105551212
Fax Number: +1.3105551213
NEW GTLD AGREEMENT SPECIFICATIONS
Email: registrar@example.tld
WHOIS Server: whois.example-registrar.tld
Referral URL: http:⁄⁄www. example-registrar.tld
Admin Contact: Joe Registrar
Phone Number: +1.3105551213
Fax Number: +1.3105551213
Email: joeregistrar@example-registrar.tld
Admin Contact: Jane Registrar
Phone Number: +1.3105551214
Fax Number: +1.3105551213
Email: janeregistrar@example-registrar.tld
Technical Contact: John Geek
Phone Number: +1.3105551215
Fax Number: +1.3105551216
Email: johngeek@example-registrar.tld

Sample WHOIS Output (Search By Registrant ID: For Searchable WHOIS Subscribers Only):
Registrant ID:VIP-0000012
Created On:18-Feb-1996 05:00:00 UTC
Last Updated On:26-Mar-2010 16:53:27 UTC
Expiration Date:19-Feb-2015 05:00:00 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:GoDaddy.com, Inc. (R91-VIP)
Registrant Name:Registration Department
Registrant Organization:Domain Company.
Registrant Street1: 1511 Hayden Rd.
Registrant Street2:Ste 160, PMB 353
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:Scottsdale
Registrant State⁄Province:Arizona
Registrant Postal Code:85260
Registrant Country:US
Registrant Phone:+1.4806242599
Registrant Phone Ext.:
Registrant FAX:+1.4806242598
Registrant FAX Ext.:
Registrant Email:admin@example.com

Internationalized Domain Name (IDN)
The same templates that are used for the English version will be used for IDN display. Users will have to convert the domain name to xnâ€”before executing the query.

IPv6 Address
Any hostname submitted with IPv6 AAAA record will be displayed.

Resource and Operation Plan
Qinetics will deploy the Registry Service of The registry using its existing system and infrastructure. During the implementation of The registry, new server hardware will be provisioned for WHOIS services. Our Data Center Engineer will perform the server provisioning and installation of OS. Once the hardware is provisioned, System Administrator shall continue to install the required software and perform security configurations. On the other hand, the Database Administrator will ensure the database cluster work fine across geographically different data centers. The assigned Software Developer will configure the WHOIS display template into the WHOIS system. Once done, our Test Engineer will perform rigorous testing procedures to ensure the system performs according to specifications. Upon the testing is fully completed, the WHOIS system shall be hand-over to System Administrator to perform deployment to production environment. Throughout the process, a Project Manager is assigned to perform project management and overall control on the implementation. The Project Manager will conduct training to the registry users on the functionalities of the system. The WHOIS setup shall be completed within 2 weeks.

The system will be in maintenance mode after the System is deployed. The WHOIS will be supported by general helpdesk support for enquiries. Any support issue related to WHOIS will be escalated to the Application Support Engineer for trouble shooting. System Administrator is tasked to monitor the EPP availability. Whenever there is a support ticket, Application Support Engineer and System Administrator will further escalate the support request base on severity. The emergency response team will be triggered whenever there is a catastrophe scenario at the highest severity.

Once a remedy is identified, Test Engineer will perform testing on the fixes before deployment by System Administrator. During maintenance, the out sourcing party has committed 4 resources for the 24 x 7 helpdesk, 4 data center engineers, 2 application support engineers, 1 support manager, 1 test engineer and 2 system administrators. As part of on going policy changes, a team of software developer is available for any standards upgrade to the WHOIS and the changes will trigger the change request procedure in accordance to CMMI standards.

Compliance Table (Specification 4)
The table showing our compliance to specification 4 is attached.

27. Registration Life Cycle: provide a detailed description of the proposed registration lifecycle for domain names in the proposed gTLD. The description must explain the various registration states as well as the criteria and procedures that are used to change state. It must describe the typical registration lifecycle of create⁄update⁄delete and all intervening steps such as pending, locked, expired, and transferred that may apply. Any time elements that are involved - for instance details of add-grace or redemption grace periods, or notice periods for renewals or transfers - must also be clearly explained. Describe resourcing plans (number and description of personnel roles allocated to this area).

Registration (1 to 10 years)
A 〈New gTLD String〉 domain name can be registered for a span of 1 to 10 years.
1. Active Period
A 〈New gTLD String〉 domain name becomes ACTIVE immediately upon being registered, meaning that it is no longer available for registration. The WHOIS record of the newly registered domain is created upon registration. A 〈New gTLD String〉 domain name can be active for 1-10 years depending on the duration of the registration term selected by the registrant. A 〈New gTLD String〉 domain name can be transferred from one registrar to another while it is in ACTIVE state. The domain will have OK status.

2. Registry-Lock
This condition can only be set by the registry. A 〈New gTLD String〉 domain name with this status cannot be transferred, modified or deleted by its registrar. The domain can however be renewed. The domain will be resolvable as it is included in the registry zone files if the domain has been delegated to at least one name server. The domain will have serverTransferProhibited, serverUpdateProhibited, serverDeleteProhibited statuses.

3. Registry-Hold
This condition can only be set by the registry. A 〈New gTLD String〉 domain with this status cannot be transferred, modified or deleted by its registrar. The domain can however be renewed. The domain will not be resolvable as it is not included in the registry zone files. The domain will have serverHold Status.

Renewal
A 〈New gTLD String〉 domain name can be renewed up to a maximum period of 10 years. The following are the rules that govern the renewal of a domain name:
â€¢ The request to renew a domain name should contain the Period parameter to identify the number of years to be added to the registration. If not provided, the system provides a default one year renewal.
â€¢ The request to renew a domain name must contain the current expiration date. This is required to ensure that repeated attempts to retry this command do not result in multiple successful renewals.
â€¢ The system renews the domain name for the period specified by the registrar. If the domain name renewal is completed successfully, the system returns the new registration expiration date in the response.
The number of years requested plus the time of the remaining registration period cannot exceed 10 years. Registration periods are capped at 10 years per the agreements between The registry and ICANN. Any attempt to create a registration period longer than 10 years will be rejected with an error response code. For example, if a registration has 18 months remaining until expiration and 9 years are requested for the renewal, the request would be rejected. The resulting period would be 10 years and 6 months - this is not allowed because it is greater than 10 years.

The state diagram of the 〈New gTLD String〉 domain life cycle is attached.

Grace periods are available for billable EPP commands to account for errors and support the auto-renewal model. The applicable grace period information is returned in the domain info EPP XML response.

Add Grace Period
The Add Grace Period is a specified number of calendar days following the initial registration of the domain. The proposed Add Grace Period is 5 calendar days. The domain could be in OK or prohibited statuses.

If a Delete, Renew, or Transfer operation occurs within the 5 calendar days, the following rules shall apply:
Delete. If a domain name is deleted within the Add Grace Period, the sponsoring registrar will be refunded the amount of the registration fee. The domain name is immediately deleted from the registry database and available for registration by any registrar. If a domain name is deleted after the 5 calendar day grace period expires, it will be placed in the Redemption Period Status for 30 calendar days and then deleted via the system after going through a 5 calendar day Pending Delete Period.
Renew. If a domain name is renewed within the Add Grace Period, there will be no grace period credit for the registration fee. In addition to the initial registration charge, the sponsoring registrar will be charged for the number of years the domain name is renewed up to a maximum resulting registration period of not more than 10 years.
Transfer. A domain name may not be transferred within the Add Grace Period. Registrants are prohibited from changing registrars within the first 60 days of the initial registration of the domain name.

Add Grace Period Consensus Policy
If a domain is deleted within the Add Grace Period, the sponsoring registrar is credited for the amount of the registration fee. However, the Add Grace Period Consensus Policy limits the number of deletes within the grace period that are allowed per registrar. It is the intention of this Policy is to limit the behavior known as â€œdomain tastingâ€ through modifications to the Add Grace Period (AGP) process.

The Add Grace Period Consensus Policy can be found on the ICANN website at http:⁄⁄www.icann.org⁄en⁄tlds⁄agp-policy-17dec08-en.htm

The registry will not offer any refund to an ICANN accredited registrar for any domain names deleted during the AGP that exceed (i) 10% of that registrarʹs net new registrations (calculated as the total number of domain name registrations of one-year through ten-year registrations) in that month, or (ii) fifty (50) domain names, whichever is greater, unless an exemption has been granted by the registry. The calculation will be done automatically by the system.

A registrar may seek an exemption from the registry from the application of such restrictions in a specific month under special circumstances. A report would have to be presented to the registry by the registrar requesting for the exemption stating the circumstances and that the registrar was unable to prevent the deletions from taking place. The acceptance of any exemption will be at the sole and reasonable discretion of the registry, however special circumstances which reoccur regularly for the same registrar will not be deemed acceptable and will be rejected as a reason.

Example:
If a registrar has 1,000 net new registrations, had its account with the registry auto-debited for US$5,000 (based on a price of US$5 per domain name registration), and had 250 AGP deletes, the Registrar would be entitled to a refund of US$500 for 100 AGP deletes (10% of 1,000 net new registrations at US$5 per domain name registration). The registrar would not be eligible for a refund of US$750 for the additional 150 deletes made.

Renew Grace Period
The Renew Grace Period is a specified number of calendar days following the renewal⁄extension of a domain name registration period. The proposed Renew Grace Period is 5 calendar days. The domain could be in OK or prohibited statuses.

If a Delete, Renew, or Transfer occurs within that 5 calendar days, the following rules apply:
- Delete: If a domain name is deleted within the Renew Grace Period, the sponsoring registrar will be refunded the renewal fee. The domain then enters the Redemption Grace Period unless the deletion occurs during the 5 day Add Grace Period.
- Renew A domain name can be renewed up to a total of 10 years. If a domain name is renewed within the Renew Grace Period, there will be no grace period credit for the renewal fee. The sponsoring registrar will be charged the renewal fee for each of the additional number of years the domain name is renewed.
- Transfer: If a domain name is transferred within the Renew Grace Period, the number of years that was renewed for the domain name will still be valid.

If a domain name is deleted and then restored or if a domain name transfer is approved or auto-approved [within the grace period], then the domain name is no longer considered to be in the renew grace period.

Transfer Grace Period
The Transfer Grace Period is a specified number of calendar days following the completion of a domain name transfer, The proposed Transfer Grace Period is 5 calendar days. The domain could be in OK or prohibited statuses.

If a Delete, Renew, or Transfer operation occurs within the 5 calendar days, the following rules apply:
- Delete. If a domain is deleted within the Transfer Grace Period, the sponsoring registrar will be refunded the registration fee.
- Renew. If a domain is renewed within the Transfer Grace Period, there will be no grace period credit for the transfer fee. In addition to the transfer fee, the registrar will be charged for the number of years the registration is renewed resulting in a registration period of not more than 10 years.
-Transfer. A domain can be transferred to another registrar within the Transfer Grace Period. There will be no refund for the transfer fees. The gaining registrar will be charged for the transfer fee.

If a domain is deleted and then restored or if a domain transfer is approved or auto-approved [within the grace period], then it is considered no longer to be in the transfer grace period.

Auto-renew Grace Period
The Auto-Renew Grace Period is a specified number of calendar days following the completion of the auto-renewal (via batch process) of the domain name. The proposed Auto-Renew Grace Period is 45 calendar days. The domain will be in Expired status.

If the sponsoring registrar does not renew the domain name prior to its expiration date, the registry automatically renews the domain for 1 year. The renewal of the domain name is executed by the registry system the day prior to the expiration date via a batch process. The sponsoring registrar has 45 calendar days to delete the domain and receive a refund for the domain name renewal fee.

If a Delete, Renew, or Transfer operation occurs within the 45 calendar days, the following rules apply:
- Delete. If a domain name is deleted within the Auto-Renew Grace Period, the sponsoring registrar will be refunded the renewal fees.
- Renew. A domain name can be renewed up to a total of 10 years. If a domain name is renewed within the Auto-Renew Grace Period, there will be no grace period credit for the renewal fee.
- Transfer. If a domain name transfer is approved or auto-approved within the Auto-renewal Grace Period, the losing registrar is refunded the renewal fees..

Overlapping Grace Periods
If an operation is performed that falls into more than one grace period, the actions appropriate for each grace period apply as follows:
- If a domain is deleted within the Add Grace Period and the renew Grace Period, then the registrar is credited the registration and renew amounts, taking into account the number of years for which the registration and renewal were done.
- If several billable operations, including transfers, are performed on a domain and the domain is deleted within the grace periods of each of those operations, only those operations that were performed after the latest successful transfer, including the latest transfer, are credited to the current registrar.
- If a domain is deleted within one or several transfer Grace Periods, then only the current sponsoring registrar is credited for the last transfer amount. For example, if a domain is transferred from Registrar A to Registrar B, and then to Registrar C and finally deleted by Registrar C within the Transfer Grace Period of the first, second, and third transfers, then only the last transfer is credited to Registrar C.

NOTE: There is no special logic for renewals within any grace period. For example, if a domain is renewed within the Transfer Grace Period, then the current registrarʹs account is debited for the number of years the registration is renewed.

5. Pending Period
Pending Periods are defined as a specified number of calendar days following a specific operation during which certain operations are prohibited. The following subsections define the length of each pending period and the operations that are allowed within each pending period.

Types of Pending Periods
There are three Pending Periods - Redemption Period, Pending Restore, and Pending Delete.
NOTE: These three periods correspond to the following statuses in EPPʹ redemption Period, pending Restore, and pending Delete.

When a delete domain request is successful, the domain is placed on redemption Period status for 30 days. During this 30-day Redemption Period, the domain can be restored if the registrar submits a successful Restore request and Restore Report.

The successful restore request changes the domain to pending Restore status and subsequently, the successful Restore Report replaces the pending Restore status with the ok status

If a domain in pending Restore status does not have a Restore Report successfully submitted within the 7 day pending period Pending Restore Period, then the domain is moved to the beginning of a new 30 day Redemption Period.

If the domain is not successfully restored within the 30 day Redemption Period, then the domain is changed to pending Delete status. The domain remains in the Pending Delete Period for 5 days before it is purged and made immediately available for registration.

Redemption Period
The proposed Redemption Period is 30 calendar days. When a domain name is deleted outside of the Add Grace period, it is placed on redemption Period status for 30 days.

The Redemption Period status does NOT apply to domain names deleted within the 5 day Add Grace Period. If a domain name is deleted within the 5 day Add Grace Period, it is immediately purged from the registry, and immediately made available for registration.

The Redemption Period is designed to help registrars defend against inadvertent deletions. By placing the domain name on Redemption Period status for 30 days, the registrar has a sufficient time to realise the deletion and restore it, and not worry about the domain name being purged from the registry.

Pending Restore Period
The proposed Pending Restore Period is 7 calendar days. A domain stays in the redemptionPeriod status for 30 days OR until a successful RESTORE command places the domain on pendingRestore status.

The domain name stays in pendingRestore status for 7 calendar days or until a Restore Report is received from the Registrar and verified to be complete.

If a domain in pendingRestore status does not have a Restore Report successfully submitted within the 7 day pending period, then the domain is moved to the beginning of a new 30 day Redemption Period.

Pending Delete Period
The proposed Pending Delete Period is 5 calendar days. A domain name that is deleted outside of the Add Grace Period, and does not have a RESTORE command issued during the 30 day Redemption Period is placed into the Pending Delete Period.

Once a domain enters the Pending Delete Period, it cannot be restored. The domain stays in pendingDelete status for 5 days and then it is purged from the system at the end of the 5 days. It should be noted that no EPP operations can be performed on domains with the pendingDelete status.

Pending Transfer Period
The proposed Pending Transfer Period is 5 calendar days. A successful TRANSFER REQUEST command will place the domain on pendingTransfer status for 5 days or until the transfer is explicitly approved, rejected, cancelled, or auto-approved.

The sponsoring registrar (also referred to as the losing registrar) has 5 calendar days to approve or reject the request. If the potential winning registrar receives an approve response, then the domain is automatically transferred. If the potential gaining registrar receives a reject response, then the pendingTransfer status is removed. If the potential gaining registrar does not receive any response by the end of 5 calendar days, then the request is automatically approved.

Resource and Operations Plan
Qinetics will deploy the Registry Service of The registry using its existing system and infrastructure. The assigned Software Developer will configure the domain life cycle into the system. Once done, our Test Engineer will perform rigorous testing procedures to ensure the system performs according to specifications. Upon the testing is fully completed, the configurations shall be hand-over to System Administrator to perform deployment to production environment. Throughout the process, a Project Manager is assigned to perform project management and overall control on the implementation. The Project Manager will conduct training to the registry users on the domain life cycle of the system. The domain life cycle setup shall be completed within 2 weeks.
The system will be in maintenance mode after the System is deployed. The domain life cycle will be supported by general helpdesk support for enquiries. Any support issue related to domain life cycle will be escalated to the Application Support Engineer for trouble shooting. Whenever there is a support ticket, Application Support Engineer will further escalate the support request base on severity. The emergency response team will be triggered whenever there is a catastrophe scenario at the highest severity.

Once a remedy is identified, Test Engineer will perform testing on the fixes before deployment by System Administrator. During maintenance, the out sourcing party has committed 4 resources for the 24 x 7 helpdesk, 2 application support engineers, 1 support manager, 1 test engineer and 2 system administrators. As part of on going policy changes, a team of software developer is available for any standards upgrade to the domain life cycle and the changes will trigger the change request procedure in accordance to CMMI standards.

The registry shall allocate resources from its Operation team to the following finance and billing activities:
- Refund and billing activities with the registrars;
- Discrepancies on billing with the registrars;
- Reconcile the billing on the accounts and the systems

The registry relies on the automated system for calculation of billing and refund activities based on the logics of the Registration Life Cycle as described in this section. Operation Manager will lead the management and administration for the finance and billing function.

28. Abuse Prevention and Mitigation

28. The .firmdale TLD will be a single registrant registry with only the Applicant, as registrant with and its affiliates and subsidiaries using domains for its Hotel, Restaurant, Bars and other ancillary businesses such as the hotel property development company and laundry business. The Whois record will show Firmdale Holdings Ltd, as the Registrant, with named contact personnel, ie the Head of IT Mr Mark Rupert Read, and other personal named for the technical contacts and administrative contacts, with complete and correct address, telephone numbers and email. This is in line with current practice. Firmdale operates in transparency with all its key directors and managers publicly named and displayed on its main website with email and telephone numbers.

1) Implementation Plan
Single Abuse Point of Contact

In the setting up of its registry Firmdale will also set up a registry website with a contact form to report abuse, a searchable whois function and provide a single point of contact emails for third parties and or for law enforcement to contact Firmdale in respect of any abuse of domain names. A uniform naming convention will be utilized to facilitate discovery of the website. In addition any third parties will be able to contact Firmdale whether to report trademark infringement or abuse. Firmdale will publish its registry policies and anti-abuse policies. Any request submitted by verified law enforcement agencies will receive an acknowledgement of receipt from Firmdale within 24 hours and with the authority to take such action as firmdale determines in its sole discretion including acting in accordance with law enforcement recommendations or requests.

For the registration of domain names in TLD, these will be under the control of the Head of IT of Firmdale, Mr Mark R Read. Together with his deputy they will be responsible for the registration of domains strictly for the company use in its business. The Registry Service provider will provide multi-factor identification, strong passwords and other secure facilities for the process of domain registration, renewal, deletion and setting of name servers. Internal controls and adequate supervision in line with company security policy guidelines will ensure these functions are managed in a secure manner.

In summary, as a single registrant registry, Firmdale can set accurate whois records and control uses of its domain names on the Internet to prevent abuse from occurring in the first place. Secondly with a well equipped internal controls and by using experienced third party service providers (Qinetics⁄Registry ASP) for the back-end registry functions, Firmdale fully expects to prevent abuse and be well positioned to act quickly to mitigate any abuse should it occur.

2) Anti-Abuse Policy

The Applicant is a well established an award winning 5 star hotel and has no place for abusive practices in its business. Therefore its abuse policy will be strictly applied and enforced. The Anti-Abuse Policy will be incorporated into any Registry Registrar Agreement (RRA). Any failure by a registrar to comply with Firmdale’s Anti-Abuse Policy shall constitute a material breach of the RRA and shall give rights and remedies available to Firmdale under the RRA.

FIRMDALE DOMAIN NAME ANTI-ABUSE POLICY

Firmdale may in its sole discretion take such action including cancelling, suspension, locking or freezing domain names to comply with this Anti-Abuse Policy.
Domain Name abuse is strictly prohibited and includes:

Illegal or fraudulent actions or uses including;

Spam: The use of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages. The term applies to email spam and similar abuses such as instant messaging spam, mobile messaging spam, and the spamming of websites and Internet forums. Includes conduct such as the use of email in denial-of-service attacks; Spamming activities including the development of tools used to spam ; or any software or resources to be used for illegal activities, including viruses and hacking tools;

Wilful distribution of malware: The dissemination of software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the ownerʹs informed consent.
Examples include, without limitation, computer viruses, worms, keyloggers, and trojan horses;

Phishing: The use of fake websites that are designed to trick the unsuspecting publicinto divulging sensitive data such as usernames, passwords, or financial data;
Abuse attacks such as using domains as a destination address for mail bombs, Internet packet flooding, packet corruption, or other abusive attack. Server hacking or other perpetration of security breaches is prohibited.

Pharming: A hacker’s attack that results in the redirecting of unsuspecting users to fraudulent sites or services, typically through DNS hijacking or poisoning;

Fast flux techniques: Use of fast-flux techniques to disguise the location of websites or other Internet services, or to avoid detection and mitigation efforts, or to host illegal activities. Fast-flux techniques use DNS to frequently change the location on the Internet to which the domain name of an Internet host or name server resolves for hiding phishing and malware delivery sites.
Botnet command and control: Services run on a domain name that are used to control a collection of compromised computers or ʺzombies,ʺ or to distribute denial-of-service attacks (DDoS attacks);

Morally objectionable activities which include but not limited to: activities which are designed to defame, embarrass, harm, abuse, threaten, slander or harass third parties; activities which are designed to encourage unlawful behaviour by others , such as hate crimes or terrorism; activities which are tortuous , vulgar, obscene, invasive of the privacy of a third party, racially, ethnically or are otherwise objectionable; and activities designed to impersonate the identity of a third party.

Illegal child abuse content or distribution of child abuse

Illegal Access to Other Computers or Networks: Illegally accessing computers, accounts, or networks belonging to another party, or attempting to penetrate security measures of another individualʹs system (often known as ʺhackingʺ). In addition any activity that might be used as a precursor to an attempted system penetration (e.g., port scan, stealth scan, or other information gathering activity).

Any other activity which is illegal in the jurisdictions in which Firmdale has its business: United States and United Kingdom.

Firmdale prohibits its domain names used for infringement or misappropriation of any copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret, music, image, or other proprietary or property right, false advertising, unfair competition, defamation, invasion of privacy or rights of celebrity, violation of any anti-discrimination law or regulations.

Firmdale reserves the right at its sole discretion to place upon registry lock, hold or similar status a domain name during resolution of a dispute. Abusive uses, as defined above, undertaken with respect to .firmdale domain names shall give rise to the right of Firmdale to take such actions including cancelling and suspension as it determines in its sole discretion.

Firmdale may cancel registration, renewal or transfer or suspend registrations:
a) if ordered to do so by a court of competent jurisdiction;
b) to comply with government rules or requirements, to comply with requests of law enforcement or any applicable laws;
c) to comply with any dispute resolution process;
d) if there is breach of its terms and conditions including its privacy policy;
e) if the continued use of a domain name could cause technical problems on the Internet, or the integrity or stability of the registry or Internet
f) if the website the name has been judged to infringe the trademark or other intellectual property of a third party
g) if inaccurate or false contact details are provided; or
h) if to avoid any liability, civil or criminal on the part of Firmdale, as well as its affiliates, subsidiaries and subcontractors, employees, and stockholders or each of them.

3) Proposed measures for removal of Glue Records

The Registry does not allow orphan glue records. Glue records are removed when (or required to be removed before) the delegation point NS record is removed. Other domain names that need the glue record for correct DNS operation may become unreachable or less reachable depending on their settings of DNS service.

4) Resourcing plans for the initial implementation

The IT Department of Firmdale operates 24⁄7 to support the business, provide internet access to guests, and website availability across all time zones. Being a hotel operation, it is a business that never closes. Mr Mark R Read Group IT Manager will be managing the security his staff of the following 5 persons: Deputy IT Manager, Project Manager, Senior Systems Technician, Junior Systems Technician and a Systems Trainer and Implementation Manager to deal with any complaints, intrusions or other breaches of its policies. As such Firmdale is well equipped to deal with complaints of abuse, maintain coverage and take action on matters in a timely manner.

With Firmdale’s restrictive registration policy, the whois records will be accurate and domain name misuse should never occur, unless an illegal intrusion into its networks (hacker), or some other criminal activity, in which it would be in Firmdale’s best interests to deal with quickly and efficiently. Firmdale has won numerous awards for its Operation and Employment Practices and has every intention to continue to maintain its high standards.

Firmdale, as a merchant processing credit cards, has instituted tight controls and complies with Payment Card Industry (PCI) security standards at level 4. The full details of its security are confidential as to release them would compromise security itself. For further details https:⁄⁄www.pcisecuritystandards.org⁄ ) It is in this environment that registry access for domain registration will be handled. Other measures for internal security include the following:
a. Firmdale uses firewalls (Sonicwalls) to protect its systems. Reports are reviewed daily.
b. All staff are full vetted before hiring and are bound by practices set out in the Firmdale Company Handbook
c. Firmdale maintains physical security to a high standards including: Doors to IT Rooms are on electronic locking systems, and CCTV is in place in and outside the IT rooms
d. The Hotel also has security personnel to prevent intrusions.
e. Firmdale maintains disaster recovery systems in two 2 Disaster Recovery sites.

5) Measures to promote Whois accuracy

Firmdale will operate a under a non-discriminatory registrar policy. Any ICANN accredited registrar may apply for accreditation by entering into a Registrar Accreditation Agreement with Firmdale for TLD .firmdale domains. However, there will be little if any interest by Registrars to apply for such accreditation, when the only permitted registrant will be: Firmdale Holdings Ltd. Thus in practice as a single registrant registry, Firmdale will be the only entity registering domains. Firmdale will eliminate the most of the risks associated with inaccurate whois records by prohibiting third party registrations, maintaining its whois data and Firmdale will be able to prevent rogue or fraudulent activities associated with .Firmdale domains. The Registry intends to incorporate the WHOIS Accuracy policy into the RRA where Registrars are required to regularly monitor registration data for accuracy and completeness.

In prohibiting third party registrations, Firmdale can set its brand name apart from other domains which may be more susceptible to spam and other abusive practices.

6) A description of policies and procedures –

Please see above full Firmdale Anti-Abuse policy which will apply to all names in the registry. Firmdale will lock, suspend or cancel registrations in its sole discretion.

Regular Monitoring of Registration Data for Accuracy and Completeness
The Registry will rely on the WHOIS Data Reminder Policy (WDRP) set down by ICANN for the accredited registrars to ensure the WHOIS data of all domain names are at least reviewed once a year for accuracy.

7) Adequate controls to ensure proper access to domain functions

Firstly there will be controls at the Registry level managed by Registry ASP⁄Qinetics of Malaysia. Firmdale has engaged the services of outside specialist registry service provider experienced in managing all the security and infrastructure required for maintaining a single registrant registry. The Registry will maintain strict control for proper access to domain function. Firmdale Registry will provide the strict measures to promote access control to domain functions by the registrars. The measures to be outlined in the RRA shall include:
1) requiring strong passwords from registrants to process update, transfers and deletion requests;
2) requiring the notification of multiple, unique points of contact when a domain has been updated, transferred or deleted.

Secondly as Firmdale TLD will be a single registrant TLD, Firmdale will control access to the registry in its secured IT environment as described above. Firmdale will operate to ensure accurate whois and prevent abusive registrations. Every registration, renewal notice or deletion will be reported to the Head of IT and the Deputy IT Manager on an ongoing basis, to monitor and prevent unauthorised access and unauthorised uses of .firmdale domains. There will always be two contact points for regular monitoring of registry transactions and checking completeness of entries on the whois. Any reporting of abuse, whether by law enforcement or third parties will be reported directly to Firmdale compliance officers. Firmdale has adequate resources in place with a Head of IT Dept and 5 other personnel to oversee the registrations of less than 100 domain names anticipated in the next 3-5 years.

Third Party Dispute Resolution Procedures
URS
The Registry will cooperate with ICANN for the implementation of URS, shall the policies and procedures are finalized. The involvement of the registry for the scope of URS shall include the followings:
• Upon completion of the Administrative Review, the URS Provider will immediately notify the registry (via email) (“Notice of Compliant”) after the Compliant has deemed compliant with the filing requirements. Within 24 hours of receipt of the Notice of Complaint from the URS Provider, the registry shall “lock” the domain name, meaning the registry shall restrict all changes to the registration data, including transfer and deletion of the domain names, but the name will continue to resolve. The registry will notify the URS provider immediately upon locking the domain name (“Notice of Lock”).
• If after the Examination in Default case, the Examiner rules in favor of the Registrant, the URS provider shall notify the registry. Upon receiving the official notice from the URS provider, the registry will unblock the name and return full control of the domain name registration to the Registrant.
• If the Determination is in favor of the Complainant, upon receiving the official decision from the URS provider, the registry will suspend the domain name, which shall remain suspended for the balance of the registration period and would not resolve to the original web site. The nameservers shall be re-directed to an informational web page provided by the USR Provider.
• The Registry will incorporate URS into the Registration policies, as a takedown measures and procedures to minimize abusive registration.

Alternative use of Rapid Takedown Dispute Resolution Policies

Firmdale reserves its rights to provide a Rapid Takedown process 48 hours of receipt of a short and simple claim of involving a well-known mark or otherwise inherently distinctive mark and a domain name where no conceivable good faith basis exists. The results may result in an immediate termination of the domain name, but will not prejudice either party’s election to pursue other dispute mechanisms.

UDRP
The Firmdale Registry will also subscribe to the Uniform Dispute Resolution Process (UDRP) UDRP as a means for dispute resolution for issues of trademark infringement

Law enforcement requests

In responding to law enforcement requests, the Registry will use the provision within the Anti-Abuse Domain Use policy to act quickly to take down sites that are harboring malware, launching phishing attacks, or otherwise being used to launch attacks across the Internet.

Conclusion

Internet users will come to recognise dot.Firmdale as an extension of the awarding winning hotel business and free from spam, worms, viruses, and other illegal activities.

Q29. The .firmdale TLD will be a single registrant registry with only the Applicant, as registrant with its affiliates (other entities under common control) and subsidiaries using domains for its hotels, restaurants, bars and other ancillary businesses including its property development business and laundry business.  The Applicant Firmdale Holdings Ltd (“Firmdale”) prohibits third party registrations; and will not offer for general public registrations domains under TLD .firmdale.  This policy will prevent most if not all opportunities for activities which would affect the rights of others including potential abusive activities. 

Trademark Clearinghouse

Firmdale would offer a 90 days sunrise and intellectual property claims services using the facilities of the Trademark Clearinghouse for the protection of trademarks, if the registry were to go ever permit public registrations.  It is not in the interest or intention of the Applicant for this to ever occur.  The purpose for the Firmdale TLD is for the use by the Applicant, its affiliates, subsidiaries and future undertakings.  With no names being offered to the public or to other trademark owners, there will be no need for trademark holders to register their trademark or word marks to prevent unauthorised use in the Firmdale domain space. In addition there will be no need to resolve conflicting rights or claims over trademarks and work marks under the .firmdale space as none of these names shall be made available to the public or to potentially conflicting trademark holders.  

Firmdale agrees to adhere to the Clause 6 ‘Mandatory Rights Protection Mechanisms’ and Clause 7 ‘Protection for Marks in Clearinghouse’ of the Trademark Clearinghouse attachment to the Draft Applicant Guidebook in the event the registry permits public registrations. Firmdale shall also take reference to the Trademark Notice as attached in the same document.

The Applicants basic registration rules include the following:
1)	All domain names in the TLD shall be registered to Firmdale Holdings Ltd, its subsidiaries, affiliates* or future undertakings.  Registrations to third parties are prohibited. 
2)	Domain names must be 1-63 characters, the characters which may be used in a label are the 26 letters [ʺAʺ-ʺZʺ] of the Roman alphabet without regard to upper- or lower-case, the 10 digits [ʺ0ʺ-ʺ9ʺ] and the hyphen [ʺ-ʺ]. The hyphen may not be used as the initial or final character of a label. 
3)	Tagged Domain Names not permitted ie  Names with ʺ-ʺ on the third and the fourth position may not be used(e.g., ʺbq—1h2n4j4cʺ).
4)	Two letter and three letter names must not be used to represent countries or territories (as per draft Registry Agreement Specification 5 restricted names) and if used must be obviously associated with the business of Firmdale. 
5)	Firmdale permits IDNs .firmdale.
6)	Domain Name abuse is strictly prohibited and includes but is not limited to its Domain Name Anti-Abuse Policy.
7)	All domain names shall be subject to Registry “Policies” means any rules, standards, procedures, requirements, practices and other policies of Firmdale Holdings Ltd, or any other competent entity or authority including any ICANN consensus policies and any other rules, standards, procedures, requirements, practices and other policies promulgated by ICANN or as determined by Firmdale.
8)	Disputes will be under the ICANN UDRP (Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy) 
9)	Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URS) will be available offer trademark owners a quick and low-cost procedure to take down infringing websites.
10)	 The Registry will comply with ICANN’s PDDRP Post-Delegation Dispute Resolution Procedures whether at the top level or second level. 
In addition to the above rules for registrations, Firmdale policy includes the following provisions.
Firmdale prohibits its domain names used for infringement or misappropriation of any copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret, music, image, or other proprietary or property right, false advertising, unfair competition, defamation, invasion of privacy or rights of celebrity, violation of any anti-discrimination law or regulations. 

Firmdale reserves the right at its sole discretion to place upon registry lock, hold or similar status a domain name during resolution of a dispute. Abusive uses, as defined above, undertaken with respect to .firmdale domain names shall give rise to the right of Firmdale to take such actions including cancelling and suspension as it determines in its sole discretion.

Firmdale may cancel registration or suspend registrations:
a)	 if ordered to do so by a court of competent jurisdiction; 
b)	to comply with government rules or requirements, to comply with requests of law enforcement or any applicable laws; 
c)	if there is breach of its terms and conditions including its privacy policy;
d)	if the continued use of a domain name could cause technical problems on the Internet, or the integrity or stability of the registry
e)	if the website the name has been judged to infringe the trademark or other intellectual property of a third party
f)	if inaccurate or false contact details are provided; or
g)	if to avoid any liability, civil or criminal on the part of Firmdale, as well as its affiliates, subsidiaries and subcontractors, employees, and stockholders or each of them

Firmdale prohibits its domain names used for infringement or misappropriation of any copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret, music, image, or other proprietary or property right, false advertising, unfair competition, defamation, invasion of privacy or rights of celebrity, violation of any anti-discrimination law or regulations. 

Firmdale reserves the right at its sole discretion to place upon registry lock, hold or similar status a domain name during resolution of a dispute. Abusive uses, as defined above, undertaken with respect to .firmdale domain names shall give rise to the right of Firmdale to take such actions including cancelling and suspension as it determines in its sole discretion.

Firmdale may cancel registration or suspend registrations:
a)	 if ordered to do so by a court of competent jurisdiction; 
b)	to comply with government rules or requirements, to comply with requests of law enforcement or any applicable laws; 
c)	if there is breach of its terms and conditions including its privacy policy;
d)	if the continued use of a domain name could cause technical problems on the Internet, or the integrity or stability of the registry
e)	if the website the name has been judged to infringe the trademark or other intellectual property of a third party
f)	if inaccurate or false contact details are provided; or
g)	if to avoid any liability, civil or criminal on the part of Firmdale, as well as its affiliates, subsidiaries and subcontractors, employees, and stockholders or each of them

The procedure recommended in the event a claimant believes there has been a breach of the above rules or policy guidelines, the claimant should first contact Mr Mark Rupert Read, as displayed on the Registry website with email, postal address, telephone means available to raise such a claim.  If in Firmdale’s discretion it believes that there has been a breach of the above policy, then Firmdale will cancel the registration,  lock the domain, removing the offending website or content as Firmdale deems appropriate.  If such a claimant is not happy with the action taken by Firmdale, then the Claimant can use URS, or UDRP procedures. 

Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP)
Firmdale will adopt UDRP within the Registration Agreement and also be adopted by any firmdale authorized and accredited registrars. The UDRP will provide any trademark claims a dispute resolution process.  

Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URS)
The Registry will cooperate with ICANN for the implementation of URS, shall the policies and procedures are finalized. The involvement of the registry for the scope of URS shall include the followings:
•	Upon completion of the Administrative Review, the URS Provider will immediately notify the registry (via email) (“Notice of Compliant”) after the Compliant has deemed compliant with the filing requirements. Within 24 hours of receipt of the Notice of Complaint from the URS Provider, the registry shall “lock” the domain name, meaning the registry shall restrict all changes to the registration data, including transfer and deletion of the domain names, but the name will continue to resolve. The registry will notify the URS provider immediately upon locking the domain name (“Notice of Lock”).
•	If after the Examination in Default case, the Examiner rules in favor of the Registrant, the URS provider shall notify the registry. Upon receiving the official notice from the URS provider, the registry will unblock the name and return full control of the domain name registration to the Registrant.
•	If the Determination is in favor of the Complainant, upon receiving the official decision from the URS provider, the registry will suspend the domain name, which shall remain suspended for the balance of the registration period and would not resolve to the original web site. The nameservers shall be re-directed to an informational web page provided by the USR Provider. 
•	The Registry will incorporate URS into the Registration policies, as a takedown measures and procedures to minimize abusive registration.  

Resource Plan

All registrations will be reported to the Head of IT, Mr Mark Rupert Read, on a daily basis so that anything untoward will be dealt within 48 hours. In his absence, Mr Read has a team of 5 others in his IT department to deal with any matters. Initial responses time will be within 48 hours. The risk is more from unauthorised access rather than in the course of the registry business which prohibits third party registrations. 

Firmdale expects to have no more than 100 names registered for its own uses during the first three years of operations. Firmdale prohibits the use of its domain names by third parties. Rights of trademark holders will be protected by not allowing third parties, whether trademark holders or other persons to register domain names in the TLD Firmdale registry.

30(a). Security Policy: provide summary of the security policy for the proposed registry, including but not limited to:

* indication of any independent assessment reports demonstrating secuirty capabilities;
* description of any augemented secuirty levels or capabilities commensurate with the nature of the applied for gTLD string;
* lists of commitments made to registrants concerning security levels;

Summary of Security Policies
The registry adopts standard registration policies without any specific services related to e.g. financial services. As such Criterion 5 is not applicable to The registry. The registry outsource the technical backend registry service to Qinetics. The registry will deploy Security Policy and Security Measures as adopted by Qinetics.

The policies established provides a comprehensive approach as highlight below, to identify and prevent unauthorized access, intrusion, loss of information and software error. Qinetics has wide experience on security implementation with successful implementation of ISO27001 in .HK registry system.

Physical Security
Physical security is provided by data center. Only authorized personnel are allowed to enter the premises of the data center. Below are standard policies set:
o Data Center Access Policy
o Equipment Policy
o Site Visits Policy

Network Security
This layer protects all equipment in the network from hacker or malicious attack. Another layer of sniffer (IPS) is put in place as second layer of screening. Security alarm will be triggered if there are abnormal activities in the network. Standard policies applied:
o Firewall Policy
o Denial of Services Policy
o System Monitoring Policy

Host Security
At the server level, governance policy is required to establish control over access to the servers and movement of servers. Below are the standard policies to achieve control over these parameters:
o Server Access Policy

Application Security
Security is built within the applications running on the servers. The applications are built using the well known Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) security policy

General
Other that the above policies, general policies below applied across the network, server, application and data center to ensure system and registrants are well protected:
o Password Policy
o Data Integrity Policy
o System audit Policy
o Security Patch Policy
o Security Response Policy
o Acceptable Use Policy

Security Assessment
Qinetics has engaged independent 3rd party auditor to perform product assessment which is inclusive of security assessment as 1 of the core assessment. The Malaysia MSC Product Assessment & Rating Standard was developed by TUV Rheinland Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., in collaboration with Macrofirm Technology Sdn. Bhd., under the commissioning of the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC). TUV Rheinland Malaysia is a member of TÃœV Rheinland Group, a global leader in independent testing and assessment services. The TÃœV Rheinland Group was established in 1872, and has offices located in over 490 locations in 61 countries on all five continents.

Existing software quality evaluation standards were used as the basis for the development and endorsement of the software quality criteria and sub-criteria to be assessed in MSC Malaysia Software Product Assessment and Rating Standard. This is also referred to as the â€œAs-is Situationâ€. The standards used as the basis for development of this assessment standard are as follows:
*CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration) Ver. 1.3 Dev
*ISO⁄IEC 9126 (Software Engineering â€“ Product Quality)
* ISO⁄IEC 14598 (Information technology - Software product evaluation)
* Common Criteria (CC)

In the product assessment, a total of 13 main requirements or criteria, divided into 6 process-related criteria (criteria in which the process of development of the software product is assessed) and 7 product-related criteria (criteria in which the developerâ€™s methods to manage and ensure the actual performance of their software product is assessed), were identified for inclusion in the Standard. These criteria in turn were divided into a further 44 process-related sub-criteria and 32 product-related sub-criteria to make a total of 76 sub-criteria.

Evaluation Report
This evaluation report is based on the findings of the MSC Malaysia Product Assessment & Rating on-site product evaluation. As a supplement to the awarded rating, this report provides recommendations to improve the companyâ€™s methods of ensuring product quality.

The MSC Malaysia Product Assessment & Rating rates the product on 13 main criteria which are divided into:
1) Six (6) Process-related criteria, ie. criteria in which the process of development of the software product is assessed.
2) Seven (7) Product-related criteria, ie. criteria in which the developerâ€™s methods to manage and ensure the actual performance of their software product itself is assessed.

Results of the evaluation are as below:
Overall % Compliance 97%
Process-Related Requirements:
- Requirements Management 95%
- Technical Solution 100%
- Product Integration 100%
- Validation 98%
- Verification 100%
- Support 100%

Product-Related Requirements:
- Functionality 100%
- Reliability 100%
- Security 91%
- Usability 92%
- Maintainability 100%
- Portability 96%
- Architectural Principles 97%

A copy of the Product Assessment Evaluation and Rating Report and Product Assessment Certificate is attached.

Marinosan SA	Not Applicable
Midina SA	Not Applicable
Timothy John Reginald Kemp	Director

Christopher KB Brotchie	Director
Claude Markus Aberle	Director
John Paul Gray	Director
Timothy John Reginald Kemp	Director

New gTLD Application Submitted to ICANN by: Firmdale Holdings Limited

String: Firmdale

Originally Posted: 13 June 2012

Application ID: 1-1818-23087

Applicant Information

1. Full legal name

2. Address of the principal place of business

3. Phone number

4. Fax number

5. If applicable, website or URL

Primary Contact

6(a). Name

6(b). Title

6(c). Address

6(d). Phone Number

6(e). Fax Number

6(f). Email Address

Secondary Contact

7(a). Name

7(b). Title

7(c). Address

7(d). Phone Number

7(e). Fax Number

7(f). Email Address

Proof of Legal Establishment

8(a). Legal form of the Applicant

8(b). State the specific national or other jursidiction that defines the type of entity identified in 8(a).

8(c). Attach evidence of the applicant's establishment.

9(a). If applying company is publicly traded, provide the exchange and symbol.

9(b). If the applying entity is a subsidiary, provide the parent company.

9(c). If the applying entity is a joint venture, list all joint venture partners.

Applicant Background

11(a). Name(s) and position(s) of all directors

11(b). Name(s) and position(s) of all officers and partners

11(c). Name(s) and position(s) of all shareholders holding at least 15% of shares

11(d). For an applying entity that does not have directors, officers, partners, or shareholders: Name(s) and position(s) of all individuals having legal or executive responsibility

Applied-for gTLD string

13. Provide the applied-for gTLD string. If an IDN, provide the U-label.

14(a). If an IDN, provide the A-label (beginning with "xn--").

14(b). If an IDN, provide the meaning or restatement of the string in English, that is, a description of the literal meaning of the string in the opinion of the applicant.

14(c). If an IDN, provide the language of the label (in English).

14(c). If an IDN, provide the language of the label (as referenced by ISO-639-1).

14(d). If an IDN, provide the script of the label (in English).

14(d). If an IDN, provide the script of the label (as referenced by ISO 15924).

14(e). If an IDN, list all code points contained in the U-label according to Unicode form.

15(a). If an IDN, Attach IDN Tables for the proposed registry.

15(b). Describe the process used for development of the IDN tables submitted, including consultations and sources used.

15(c). List any variant strings to the applied-for gTLD string according to the relevant IDN tables.

16. Describe the applicant's efforts to ensure that there are no known operational or rendering problems concerning the applied-for gTLD string. If such issues are known, describe steps that will be taken to mitigate these issues in software and other applications.

17. (OPTIONAL) Provide a representation of the label according to the International Phonetic Alphabet (http://www.langsci.ucl.ac.uk/ipa/).

Mission/Purpose

18(a). Describe the mission/purpose of your proposed gTLD.

18(b). How do you expect that your proposed gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users, and others?

18(c). What operating rules will you adopt to eliminate or minimize social costs?

Community-based Designation

19. Is the application for a community-based TLD?

20(a). Provide the name and full description of the community that the applicant is committing to serve.

20(b). Explain the applicant's relationship to the community identified in 20(a).

20(c). Provide a description of the community-based purpose of the applied-for gTLD.

20(d). Explain the relationship between the applied-for gTLD string and the community identified in 20(a).

20(e). Provide a description of the applicant's intended registration policies in support of the community-based purpose of the applied-for gTLD.

20(f). Attach any written endorsements from institutions/groups representative of the community identified in 20(a).

Geographic Names

21(a). Is the application for a geographic name?

Protection of Geographic Names

22. Describe proposed measures for protection of geographic names at the second and other levels in the applied-for gTLD.

Registry Services

23. Provide name and full description of all the Registry Services to be provided.

Demonstration of Technical & Operational Capability

24. Shared Registration System (SRS) Performance

25. Extensible Provisioning Protocol (EPP)

26. Whois

27. Registration Life Cycle

28. Abuse Prevention and Mitigation

29. Rights Protection Mechanisms

30(a). Security Policy: Summary of the security policy for the proposed registry

© Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers.