Four Letter .COM Domain Name – SWAG.com is Now Up For Sale

UPDATED: .BERLIN And .WIEN Domains Coming Soon

It was a glimmer in the eye of Dirk Krischenowski and a few others back in 2004, but now it is almost reality with the proposed new gTLD to be entered into the root in about four weeks.

In a surprise at The Munich Conference on New Top Level Domains, contracts were signed for the .berlin and .wien (Vienna) new gTLDs with ICANN – the first two cities to have their contracts signed.

The signing follows the passing of technical tests of the backbone operator, TLD Box, a subsidiary of nic.at, the registry for the .at (Austria) country code.

“We are glad that after our work over the last eight years we have finally achieved our goal,” Krischenowski, founder and general manager of dotBerlin told Golem.de, who also said the signing was unexpected.

Krischenowski hopes that .berlin domain names will be available in the first quarter of 2014 for somewhere between €29 and €49 while Ronald Schwärzler, Operations Manager for punkt.wien. expects .wien domains to be available in March 2014.

Note: a previous version of this article noted .berlin domains would launch in the final quarter of 2013.

ICANN: Draft Vision, Mission & Focus Areas for a Five-Year Strategic Plan

Purpose (Brief): In line with ICANN ‘s commitment to the multi-stakeholder model, a working draft – ICANN ‘s Draft Vision, Mission & Focus Areas for a Five-Year Strategic Plan [PDF, 313 KB] – is provided for community discussion and public comment.

It proposes a new Vision, reiterates ICANN ‘s existing Mission, and describes five proposed Focus Areas with goals. At this stage of development, ICANN is seeking general feedback, as well as input on measurable outcomes for Focus Area Goals. Your responses will help inform additional aspects that are not yet included, but will be elements of ICANN ‘s final strategic and/or operating plans and budget.

Current Status: Draft Vision, Mission & Focus Areas for a Five-Year Strategic Plan

Next Steps: Public comments are requested on the draft Vision, Mission & Focus Areas to inform a proposed ICANN Vision & Five-Year Strategic Plan (scheduled for public comment from February to March 2014).

Detailed Information

Section I: Description, Explanation, and Purpose:

The Draft Vision, Mission & Focus Areas for a Five-Year Strategic Plan [PDF, 313 KB] is a working draft to support the creation of ICANN ‘s Vision and Five-Year Strategic Plan. It has been written based on brainstorming that occurred April – September 2013 and reflects input from ICANN ‘s Board of Directors, community and staff.

In line with ICANN ‘s commitment to the multistakeholder model, this working draft is provided for community discussion and public comment. It proposes a new Vision, reiterates ICANN ‘s existing Mission, and describes five proposed Focus Areas with goals. At this stage of development, ICANN is seeking general feedback, as well as input on measurable outcomes for these Focus Area Goals:

Overall –Does this draft appropriately outline ICANN ‘s future? Are we missing a strategic element you see as critical for ICANN to address in the next five years?

Focus Area Goals –What specific outcomes or achievements should we target for each of the Focus Area Goals? What quantitative / qualitative elements should we consider in measuring progress / results for each Focus Area Goal?

Your responses will help inform additional aspects that are not yet included, but will be elements of ICANN ‘s final strategic and/or operating plans and budget, including: prioritization, timing/staging over five years, critical success factors, outcomes, resources, and metrics and monitoring.

Your feedback and input is critical. For your convenience, we have created simple templates for you to use as you send us your thoughts on the overall Vision and Mission as well as the five Focus Area Goals. Simply click on the links below to access the templates.

All feedback and input will be carefully considered for the proposed ICANN Vision and Five-Year Strategic Plan that will be posted for public comment.

Section III: Document and Resource Links:

Read ICANN ‘s Draft Vision, Mission & Focus Areas for a Five-Year Strategic Plan [PDF, 313 KB]

Tell us what you think:

Click here to comment on the Vision/Mission [DOCX, 35 KB]
Click here to comment on I) Evolving ICANN ‘s implementation of the multistakeholder approach [DOCX, 36 KB] for coordination
Click here to comment on II) Developing a world-class public responsibility [DOCX, 36 KB] framework
Click here to comment on III) Supporting a healthy unique identifier ecosystem [DOCX, 41 KB]
Click here to comment on IV) Striving towards technical and operational excellence [DOCX, 36 KB]
Click here to comment on V) Defining role clarity for ICANN in the Internet governance ecosystem [DOCX, 42 KB]
Click here to provide general comments without using the templates

Section IV: Additional Information:

A session on Strategic Planning will held at the ICANN Buenos Aires meeting on Monday, 18 November 2013 at 17:15-18:45 – see buenosaires48.icann.org/en/schedule/mon-strategic-planning for further details.

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