On December 19, 2012, the Coordination Center for TLD RU/РФ has hosted a press conference themed "Russian Domain Space 2012: the bottom line". The domaining experts spoke on the results of the year, as well as on the emerging future trends.
Mikhail Medrish, the chairman of the Coordination Center Council, Andrei Kolesnikov, the Coordination Center director, Alexey Platonov, CEO of the Technical Center of the Internet, Marina Nikerova, deputy director of the Technical Center of the Internet, and Sergey Plugotarenko, RAEC director, spoke at the conference.
Mikhail Medrish has elaborated on the Coordination Center Council's work in 2012 and spoke of the company's future plans. The main goal of the Coordination Center is ensuring stability of Russia's top-level domains, which are crucial for the Internet in Russia, Medrish says.
Andrei Kolesnikov brought some facts and figures to the attention of the media. With 4,189,642 domain names in RU, and .РФ having 828,021 registered domain names, both of Russia's national domains are now home to over 5 million domains. ".RU is growing at a stable rate, and this is true for .РФ as well. Russia's cyrillic domain has found its niche: it is now widely used for marketing purposes", Kolesnikov says. He also notes that the Coordination Center's activities are based upon listening to all stakeholders and building stable, secure domain space to benefit Russian Internet users. This is why the CC makes an emphasis on the security of the national domain zones, Kolesnikov says.
Alexey Platonov, the TCI director, spoke on safety of the DNS system in Russia. Expanding DNS network both in Russia and abroad, as well as placing more root servers in Russia, increases connectivity and makes the global network more accessible for Internet users. The latest DNSSEC signing of the national top-level domains, .RU and .РФ, contributed to safety in Russia's domain zones. Platonov stresses that simply signing the TLD with DNSSEC is not enough, and notes the importance of promoting DNSSEC in the Internet community so that the domain name administrators, Internet providers, hosters and registrars could start using it.
Marina Nikerova reminded that in 2012, the TCI was selected to provide backbone services to two new top-level domains, .ДЕТИ ("children") and .TATAR. With yesterday's ICANN draw resolving the order in which the top-level domains will appear at the market, .ДЕТИ received a fairly high priority, standing 69th in the review queue of 1917 domains. With this in mind, it is possible that in April 2013, .ДЕТИ can be reviewed and, if the application succeeds, delegated in May 2012. If ICANN meets these deadlines, the landrush phase in a new Cyrillic gTLD can start right after the sunrise phase, as early as the end of 2013.
Sergey Plugotarenko elaborated on the indicators and trends that mark the end of the year in Russia's Internet industry. Plugotarenko thinks that 2012 was a complicated year, owing largely to the changes in the legal acts that affect the Internet in Russia, and notes that the government starts to work on the unified approach to the Internet, which is natural. "Both RAEC and the Coordination Center strive to protect businesses, users and infrastructure, with RAEC working in the economy field while the Coordination Center places emphasis on the technology. This is why we will be most vocal when working on amendments to Russian legal acts, initiating conversations and cooperating with those who work on these laws", Andrei Kolesnikov adds.
"All facts and figures once more prove that the industry is doing well," – Andrei Kolesnikov says. "The Internet and the domain space in Russia will continue to thrive: half of the nation uses the Internet, meaning that we have options for further growth".
