 | On August 28, 2009 Director of the Coordination Center for TLD RU Andrey Kolesnikov was elected the Board member of GNSO (Generic Names Supporting Organization). GNSO is included in the structure of ICANN and is responsible for development of Internet standards and policy on generic top-level domains (gTLD) usage, and also assists the extension of international participation in ICANN activities. Andrey Kolesnikov’s main task as a representative of the European region will be development of mutually acceptable positions and keeping the interests balance between generic and country code domain areas. Besides, the current activity of the Coordination Center for TLD RU on the Cyrillic IDN ccTLD .РФ launch will be useful for the international community as the first precedent on the internationalized top-level domain implementation in non-Latin letters. |
Representatives of other countries that contribute much into the Internet development have also been elected in the Board of GNSO. These are the representatives of India, Malaysia, Jamaica, Argentina, Chile, and the USA. The main election criteria for the Board were the objective views and judgements, efficient work capabilities, understanding of ICANN mission, and professionalism. GNSO Board members represent different countries, which shows the ICANN aspiration to develop the international cooperation in its Internet coordination activities and to take into account the national variety of the Internet community, cultural and geographical peculiarities of different world regions.
ICANN structure is currently composed of three analogous organisations – GNSO, ccNSO, and ASO. In March 2007 the Coordination Center for TLD RU joined ccNSO (country code Names Supporting Organization) as a ccTLD Manager. This organisation is responsible for the development and support of ccTLDs, and also the development of international policy in the sphere. However, this is the first precedent of a Russian Federation citizen being a Board member of the ICANN.
Brief biography:
Andrey Kolesnikov started his career in telecommunications in 1988. In 1991 Andrey Kolesnikov introduced an e-mail system with direct terminal access and an Internet channel at the joint company of VNIIPAS ad SFMT. This system united the computers of VNIIPAS and Internet computers in the USA. In 1992 this system became part of the national e-mail system that united Demos, Relcom, Glasnet, and other providers.
In 1993 Andrey Kolesnikov was one of the 8 Internet provider representatives who signed the agreement that delegated .RU domain to Russia. In 1994 Andrey Kolesnikov took part in developing the first license for telematics services, and in 1995 he was managing launch of the first mass Russian Internet service “Russia On-Line”. ROL was the largest dial-up Internet access provider that offered its services in more than 80 cities.
Since 2005 and until recently Andrey Kolesnikov served on the Council of Russian ccTLD Manager. In 2000 within the framework of ECOSOC in UN Kolesnikov represented Russia at the development of the first international concept in informational and communicational technologies, further accepted by G8 leaders in Okinawa as “Okinawa Charter on Global Information Society”.
Since March 2009 Andrey Kolesnikov has been working as the Director of Coordination Center for TLD RU (www.cctld.ru)
References: ICANN blog
