Public Interest Registry Successfully Completes Largest Domain Name Transfer in History of Internet; .ORG Technical Systems Transitioned From VeriSign Registry.Business Editors/High-Tech Writers RESTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 27, 2003 The Public Interest Registry Public Interest Registry is a not-for-profit corporation created by the Internet Society in 2002 to manage the .org top-level domain. It took over the operation of the domain from VeriSign on 1 January 2003. Afilias manages the technical operations of the . (PIR "Parent in room." See digispeak. ) today announced in a conference call with reporters that it has successfully transitioned the technical systems for the .ORG registry from former back-end provider VeriSign Global Registry Services to PIR's back-end service provider Afilias Limited. This historic transition marks the largest transfer of data from one registry to another in the history of the Internet, and it was accomplished with no interruption of service to users of .ORG sites and email addresses. PIR officially assumed control of .ORG registry operations on January 1, and the technical services for the registry were cutover (communications, networking) cutover - /cut-ov*/ Switching from an old (hardware and/or software) system to a replacement system, covering the overlap from when the new system is live until the old system has been shut down. this past weekend. "This is an exciting and truly historic moment," said David Maher, chairman of the PIR board. "We have a solid technical team at Afilias and they've done an excellent job making sure that the transition was as smooth as possible. I must also say that the registrars, those who sell domain names directly to the public, have been extremely cooperative. Without their help, this would not have been possible. Now, we can look forward to fulfilling our vision of making improvements to the .ORG domain to better serve noncommercial organizations worldwide." The .ORG domain, which has come to be associated with non-commercial activities, is the Internet's third largest "generic" or non-country specific top-level domain (networking) top-level domain - The last and most significant component of an Internet fully qualified domain name, the part after the last ".". For example, host wombat.doc.ic.ac.uk is in top-level domain "uk" (for United Kingdom). (behind .COM (1) (Computer Output Microfilm) Creating microfilm or microfiche from the computer. A COM machine receives print-image output from the computer either online or via tape or disk and creates a film image of each page. and .NET), housing over 2.6 million domain names worldwide. PIR was created to manage the .ORG registry by the Internet Society (Internet Society, Reston, VA, www.isoc.org) An international membership organization dedicated to extending and enhancing the Internet, founded in 1992. It supports Internet bodies such as the IETF and works with governments, organizations and the general public to promote Internet , and is committed to setting a new standard for registry services in its management of .ORG that will meet the unique needs and interests of noncommercial organizations around the world. PIR was able to complete the cutover well within the 48 hour window included in the original plan. The zone file - the authoritative source for all .ORG names, published to servers and routers around the world - shifted seamlessly from VeriSign Registry to Afilias. Within the first 30 minutes of reopening the registry after the data was transferred (at 8:30 PM on the 26th), PIR completed over 18,000 transactions and supported over 170 concurrent connections. The registry began registering domain names at a rate of 1 domain name every 6 seconds. By 10:00 am on the 27th, close to 1800 new domain names had been registered. While new names may be registered, updates and changes to .ORG domain names will not be allowed until January 28, 2003 at 6:00 p.m. EST (23:00 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time, Temps Universel Coordonné) The international time standard (formerly Greenwich Mean Time, or GMT). Zero hours UTC is midnight in Greenwich, England, which is located at 0 degrees longitude. ) while the registry continues testing to ensure the stability of the system. Earlier this year, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers See ICANN. (body, networking) Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers - (ICANN) The non-profit corporation that was formed to assume responsibility for IP address allocation, protocol parameter assignment, domain name system management, and root server system (ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, www.icann.org) A non-profit, international association founded in 1998 and incorporated in the U.S. It is the successor to IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority), which manages Internet addresses, domain names and the huge number ) Board of Directors selected ISOC's proposal from among 11 organizations bidding to operate the .ORG top-level domain. VeriSign Global Registry Services' contract as registry operator for .ORG expired on December 31, 2002. As such, it is relinquishing .ORG to comply with an agreement they entered into with the ICANN and the U.S. Department of Commerce in May 2001. ABOUT PIR Public Interest Registry (www.pir.org) is a not-for-profit corporation A not-for-profit corporation is a corporation created by statute, government or judicial authority that is not intended to provide a profit to the owners or members. A corporation that is organized to provide profits to its owners or members is a for-profit corporation. created to manage the .ORG registry. PIR's mission is to manage the .ORG domain in a way that supports the continuing evolution of the Internet as a research, education and communications infrastructure, and educates and empowers the noncommercial community to most effectively utilize the Internet. PIR is based in Reston, Virginia. PIR was created by the Internet Society (www.ISOC See Internet Society. ISOC - Internet Society .org). ISOC a not-for-profit, open membership organization founded in 1991and is dedicated to ensuring the open evolution, development and use of the Internet for the benefit of all people. It provides leadership in addressing issues that confront the future of the Internet, and is the organizational home for the groups responsible for Internet infrastructure standards. For additional information on PIR and the .ORG registry please visit www.pir.org. |
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