InternetNZ and ICANN in Exchange of Letters

Media Release — 31 October, 2007

InternetNZ (the Internet Society of New Zealand Inc) is pleased to announce that it has formalised its relationship with ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) through the signing of an exchange of letters.

ICANN is the US-based organisation responsible for managing the global assignment of domain names and IP addresses. The exchange of letters means that InternetNZ now officially recognises ICANN's role in coordinating the root services of the Internet, and ICANN officially recognises InternetNZ's role as the ccTLD (Country Code Top Level Domain) manager for .nz.

The letters state the intentions of InternetNZ and ICANN to continue working together to maintain the Domain Name System (DNS) for the .nz address space for the benefit of the local and global Internet community. They also set out a range of administrative undertakings.

The signing ceremony took place yesterday at a meeting of the ICANN board in Los Angeles, California. It was attended by InternetNZ and ICANN representatives including current ICANN Chair Vint Cerf, ICANN President Dr Paul Twomey, InternetNZ President Peter Macaulay, InternetNZ Executive Director Keith Davidson and Domain Name Commissioner Debbie Monahan.

InternetNZ Executive Director Keith Davidson says the exchange of letters formalises a longstanding and mutually beneficial relationship InternetNZ has enjoyed with ICANN since its inception in 1998. Dr Frank March, who is representing the New Zealand Government on the Government Advisory Committee of ICANN in Los Angeles, has welcomed the move saying it provides a useful step forward in providing additional security and stability for the Internet in New Zealand.

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