5-1 Internet Week 99 Report

(JPNIC Secretariat)

Internet Week 99 was held at Pacifico Yokohama, from Tuesday, December 14, to Saturday, December 18, 1999. This section reports the event, particularly the seminars and the off-line meetings hosted by JPNIC.

5-1-1 Internet Week 99 Overview

As was introduced in the previous issue, Internet Week is an event that is made up of various types of intensive conferences, providing lectures on leading-edge technologies and trends, as well as the opportunity to exchange opinions and solutions, to a wide range of people who are engaged in network administrations.

Internet Week continues to grow in size from year to year. This time, the event was content-rich, with the number of tutorial programs increased to 30, and solutions seminars presented by some of the event's sponsors. More than 4,300 persons pre-registered for the event; the total number of visitors reached 6,500, bringing the event to a successful close.

JPNIC Organizes its First Seminar

As a new attempt, organizer JPNIC conducted its first seminar. The theme of the seminar was "How to apply for IPv4 addresses - case studies." IP address allocation policy, application method, and rules will be revised, with enforced starting on January 29, 2000. The purpose of the seminar was so that JPNIC itself could explain the revised application procedures for IPv4 addresses, utilizing the opportunity of Internet Week 99.

JPNIC had provided general explanations at Office Contacts Meetings. However, for the first time here at the seminar, we provided more details by introducing concrete examples.

There were 41 participants for the seminar, and a heated atmosphere was generated. Specific questions were asked as soon as the whole explanation was completed, providing us with additional confirmation that there is high interest in the IPv4 new rules.

We conducted a survey by passing out questionnaires to the participants of the seminar. Most of them responded with such comments as "satisfied with the contents," "examples made things easy to understand," or "please hold this kind of seminar in other areas, not just in the Kanto region," all of which we appreciate very much. We, the staff members, felt tense when we left the venue, thinking that we must continue our efforts to make applications easier to understand, and reduce the burden on our members.

Off-Line Meetings

Off-line meetings have been held for further, face-to-face discussion of issues that have been dealt with on the domain-talk, ip-users, and edu-talk mailing lists. Direct discussions often make arguments more convincing, allow for settlement of issues, and sometimes lead to new developments. From this point of view, there were some very heated exchanges of ideas and suggestions at each meeting. Following are reports from the working groups that held each meeting.

5-1-2 Domain-Talk Off-line Meeting Report

(JP Domain Name Working Group)

A domain-talk off-line meeting was held on December 16, from 14:00 to 17:00, with approximately 80 participants.

There were two subjects discussed at this meeting, the overview of which follows.

Domain Names and Intellectual Property Rights

Mr. Tsubo and Mr. Kubo from the JPNIC Domain Name Working Group presented lectures on the following issues:
(1) Causes of current domain name conflicts
(2) Dispersion of information and explanation of NSI's Dispute Policy, gTLD-MoU's ACP (Administrative Domain Name Challenge Panel), and ICANN's uDRP (Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy).
(3) JPNIC's establishment of a task force to review policy and rules on domain name dispute resolution, in order to deal with such requests as liberalization of JP domain transfer and creation of generic SLDs. After the lecture, an open discussion was held.

iDNS (internationalized Domain Name System)

Mr. Yoneya and Mr. Hyodo from the JPNIC iDN Task Force gave lectures on the following issues:
(1) The demand for using the native language of a country in domain names has arisen, especially in Asia
(2) World trends and iDNS, one implementation of the internationalized domain name system.
(3) JPNIC's point of view, and future policy
(4) Technological issues and study thereof
(5) The situation regarding implementation in Japan. After the lecture, an open discussion was held.

The minutes of the meetings and related materials are available to the public at the following URL:http://www.nic.ad.jp/jp/materials/domain-talk/199912/index.html (Japanese Only)

Considering the outcome of these discussions, the Domain Name Working Group and the iDN Task Force would like to create a JP domain name dispute resolution policy, and study the internationalization (multi-lingualization) of domain names.

Please refer to the following URL for information on multilingual domain
names.http://www.nic.ad.jp/jp/research/idn/index.html

5-1-3 IP-USERS Off-line Meeting Report

(IP address and AS number Assignment Working Group)

An IP-USERS off-line meeting was held on December 16, Thursday, from 9:30 to 12:40. "JPNIC services concerning IPv6," "ICANN ASO," "Consideration regarding charging for IP addresses," and "IRR Trends" were the four themes of the meeting.

In "JPNIC services concerning IPv6," a wide range of lectures were given, starting with a lecture on the v6 address structure, including comparisons to IPv4 and allocation methods. Subsequently, a report on the current situation in an organization where a IPv6 network is already in operation. This was followed by an explanation of JPNIC's scheduled agent service for IPv6 allocation application. Participants also asked questions, including processing fees and JPNIC's policy regarding such service.

Secondly, "ICANN ASO" discussed the histories and roles of ICANN and its sub-organization, ASO (Address Supporting Organization), and JPNIC's suggestions to ASO were introduced. For example, suggestions to be given at APRICOT in March in Korea, such as /29 simple address applications, and allocations and policy for CATV.

This was followed by "Consideration for charging for IP addresses." JPNIC's current methods of charging for IP addresses were explained, as well as the systems for charging of other registries, such as RIPE and ARIN . Also, attendees were informed that JPNIC will reevaluate its charge system. The audience asked many questions and actively exchanged opinions regarding the purpose and methods of charging.

Finally, during "IRR Trends," a panel discussion was held on current problems and future expectations, with consideration for the technological mechanisms of IRR (Internet Routing Registry), now attracting a great deal of attention because Merit Inc. has started to charge for its RADB service, which stores and manages the largest amount of registered routing information in the world.

Covering a wide range of subjects, this was a very valuable meeting, with many questions and comments from the participants.

5-1-4 EDU-TALK Off-line Meeting Report

(Education Working Group)

The edu-talk off-line meeting was organized by the JPNIC Education Working Group, with the theme of "Network use in school education: current situation and problems." It was held for approximately two hours on Saturday, December 18, during Internet Week 99.

The purpose of this BOF was to provide an opportunity to understand the network usage situation in schools, and exchange ideas for solutions to problems. Because it was held on Saturday, many people from the school education fields were able to take part in the meeting.

Four people who are involved with school education gave lectures. The following are summaries of those lectures:

Report on the Experimental Project of ED Domain Name Registration

Last year JPNIC conducted a experimental project of ED domain name registration. Interim survey results were reported by Mr. Hakoda, from the JPNIC Secretariat. A diverse range of questions was asked, from details regarding the experimental project questionnaire, to actual use of ED domain names.

The Current Network Situation in My School

Mr. Shirahata, a high school student at Kanagawa Sogo High School, Kanagawa Prefecture, was invited to give a lecture on "the current network situation in my school," and talk about the ways that high school students are using networks these days. As it was expected that, he would speak very openly, as a high school student, the audience actively asked questions about how high school students are using the Internet.

Research and Development of Internet Connection Using Multiple Access Infrastructures

A lecture was given regarding the network for educational institutions, with emphasis on the research and development that the Telecommunications Advancement Organization of Japan is currently undertaking. Many questions concerning operations were asked, including questions pertaining to security issues among schools, and actual methods of connection.

Report of U.S.A/Canada Inspection Tour

Mr. Okubo, from Uchida Yoko Co., Ltd., reported on the network situation in the U.S. and Canada, as examples of networks in overseas educational environments. By introducing examples, such as comparisons with Canada, the educational network in Japan was shown to be lagging behind.

As a whole, because the network environment in education is rapidly changing, participants actively exchanged opinions and proposals.

BOF's minutes and supplementary materials may be found at the following URL:

http://www.nic.ad.jp/jp/materials/edu-talk/199912/index.html (Japanese Only)

We regret that time limitations did not allow for more exchanges of opinion. We believe that we can continue these discussions by effectively utilizing the edu-talk mailing list.