i-DNS.net, backed by US-based General Atlantic Partners LLC, has developed a flexible Unicode-based technology that supports Row-based ASCII Compatible Encoding (RACE), UTF-5, UTF-8 and all common local encoding. The Internationalized Domain Name System (i-DNS) is fully compatible with commonly used Internet browsers and interoperable with the current Domain Name System (DNS).
This core DNS technology can be leveraged as a robust technology platform to develop other multilingual Internet DNS-based applications such as messaging solutions, Internet keywords and directory searches. Because of its broad-based implications, i-DNS.net agrees to abide by and comply with any and all technical requirements promulgated by the Internationalized Domain Names Working Group (www.i-d-n.net) at the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).
Fred Baker, Chair of IETF said, "The Internet is approaching thirty years in age and its phenomenal success can be attributed to the open culture and in particular, the open standards promulgated within the IETF.”
“We are pleased to note the adherence, participation, and support of this proven process by i-DNS.net," he added.
Dr Tan Tin Wee, Interim CEO and Founding Member of the newly formed Multilingual Internet Names Consortium (MINC) said, "The DNS is a fundamental service on the Internet used by practically all key Internet applications, and any attempt to change or improve it must ensure backward compatibility and open standards and should be as future-proof as possible. I am pleased to see that as an industry first mover, i-DNS.net has taken a responsible course of action which we have been advocating in MINC.”
The company acknowledges and supports IETF as the rightful authority and forum for the development of any technical standards for IDN. As such, i-DNS.net resolves to continue:
1) Supporting and participating in the working group by sharing its experience and expertise with all its participants without bias;2) Ensuring that all of its products and services offerings come in-built with migratory features, allowing easy migration to new standards with minimal disruption to its services and users; and
3) Participating actively at the Unicode Consortium and seeking to work with other technical bodies (such as World Wide Web Consortium and Internet Mail Consortium, etc) as IDN has wide implications in many applications.
"Internationalization of the Internet DNS is a natural process which is part of the global assimilation of the Internet. The IDN is part of the transformation that makes the Internet linguistically user-friendly. One day, all Internet applications and services will support all the languages of the world. Only then will it become truly the global information infrastructure," said Dr Tan, whose efforts in 1998 as Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Networking Group (APNG) has catalyzed this process of the Internationalization of the DNS.
Mr. Baker stated, "It is very important that internationalized Domain Names adhere to standards that respect the global nature of the Internet so that we minimize the risk of unintentional fragmentation."
“At i-DNS.net, we are focused on a single ultimate objective to ensure openness and interoperability of the multilingual DNS technology,” said Michael Ng, CEO of i-DNS.net.
“We strive to ensure backward compatibility with current DNS protocols and adopt a global view to ensure full adherence to international standards rather than to develop piece-meal stand-alone local language solutions. We would like to share and contribute to this evolving technology to eventual international standardization.”
i-DNS.net actively participates at the IETF Working Group on IDN (Internationalized Domain Names) to facilitate the exchange of information and experience of operating and administration of multilingual domain name registries with all parties.
i-DNS.net is a member of the Joint Engineering Taskforce (JET), working together with participating NICs (Network Information Centers) of Korea, China and Taiwan to jointly share technical and engineering experiences with the development and enhancement of mDNKit (Multilingual Domain Name Kit) with JPNIC (Japan Network Information Center). i-DNS.net further commits to ensure interoperability and seamless integration between various IDN technical approaches and solutions.
i-DNS.net believes that it is this very spirit of consensus building and technological conformity that will be key to a progressive Multilingual Internet globally available to one and all. It looks forward to working with any and all individuals, organizations and companies interested and intrigued with the potential of multilingual domain names.
The full Technology Position Paper can be viewed at: http://www.i-DNS.net/tech/techposition.html
About Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is a large open international community of network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers concerned with the evolution of the Internet architecture and the smooth operation of the Internet. It functions as the protocol engineering and development arm of the Internet. For more information, please visit www.ietf.org.
About Multilingual Internet Names Consortium (MINC)
MINC is a non-profit, non-governmental, international organization focused on promoting the multilingualization of Internet names, including Internet domain names and keywords, internationalization of Internet names standards and protocols, technical coordination and liaison with other international bodies. It has more than 40 organizational and individual members from all continents of the world, from industry, academia, research, government, investors and international organizations. For more information, please visit www.minc.org.
