At this year's Domain pulse specialist conference – a joint event staged by the registries for Germany (DENIC), Austria (nic.at) and Switzerland (SWITCH) – more than 200 Internet experts from Switzerland and abroad are meeting up in Davos on 18 and 19 February 2013. Domain pulse is the most important event on the subject of domain names in the German-speaking world and the annual industry get-together for domain experts. The conference provides an optimum opportunity for keeping up-to-date with social, political and economic topics from the world of domain names.
Focus on: new generic Top Level Domains (new gTLD)
What do we gain from the new endings in the Internet, such as .swiss, .zuerich, .wien or .app? How will the Internet change, if at all? At Domain pulse, today's speakers included representatives of the Swiss Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM), Canton Zurich's Office of Economic Affairs and Employment, punktwien GmbH and Afilias. In their presentations, the speakers explained how they came to apply for a new gTLD, the reasons that prompted them to do this and who will be able to register a .swiss, .zuerich or .wien address in future.
Thomas Schneider from OFCOM stressed that "Swissness" is of key importance for business and tourism in Switzerland. ".swiss is to be made available to the Swiss community, and especially to Swiss institutions and companies", explained Schneider.
Who governs the Internet?
This question comes up time and again at the international conferences of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which are held several times a year all over the world. Nigel Hickson, Vice-President Europe at ICANN, will be explaining on Monday afternoon what, from ICANN's point of view, will be happening following the failed negotiations at the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT).
An analysis of the Top Level Domain landscape and cybercrime, and also Switzerland as a secure internet location, are further focal points of the event. Video recordings of the individual speeches will be available afterwards at www.domainpulse.ch.
Background: new generic Top Level Domains (new gTLD)
ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) which is responsible for the international coordination of the Internet addressing system, took the decision in June 2011 to introduce new generic top-level Internet domains (new gTLD). From January 2012 to May 2012, it was possible to submit applications for any other generic domain names. ICANN regards the new gTLD as a further development of the domain name market, serving to make content and brands more visible in the Internet. The introduction of the new gTLD is planned for the end of 2013.
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