July 13, 2000
                                                          JPNIC IDN-TF


      Multilingual Domain Name Evaluation Kit (mDNkit) Beta Version
Distribution Announcement



JPNIC began distributing the "Multiple Language Domain Name Evaluation Kit
(mDNkit)" Beta Version on July 13th. The mDNkit has been developed mainly
by
the "Multilingual domain names survey and evaluation task force (IDN-TF)"
in order to:

 * Evaluate technologies that have been proposed for Multilingual Domain
   Name
 * Promote standardization of Multilingual Domain Name
 * Contribute technologies towards dissemination of Multilingual Domain
Name

For background on the activities of the IDN-TF leading to the adoption of
multilingual domain names, please refer to the following URL.


             http://www.nic.ad.jp/en/research/idn/index.html


Numerous comments concerning multiple language domain names have been
received, however, we would highly appreciate more comments on your
assessments of operating environments.


With regard to the registration service for multilingual domain names,
we will prepare documents and rules considering the results of this
technological evaluations and trends of the Internet standardization
process, and after that we will make an formal anouncement formally.


It must be noted that the mDNkit is a suite of program that contains the
minimum functions necessary for a technical evaluation, and does not
provide a registration service for multilingual domain names at this time.


It should also be noted that at the present time, JPNIC does not provide
any environment for evaluations using the mDNkit.


Please refer to the following URL for information on obtaining and using
the
mDNkit.


        http://www.nic.ad.jp/en/research/idn/index.html#mdnkit

Please send comments concerning the mDNkit to the following E-Mail address


                        idn-cmt@nic.ad.jp


At present we are focusing upon development and thus cannot answer all
questions. We ask for your kind understanding in this matter.


We are planning to make FAQ by assembling the received opinions, requests,
and questions. And it will be included in official release of mDNkit.