On February 20-21, Dubai, UAE, hosted two major international conferences that were held in conjunction with each other: the 75th Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Top-Level Domain Association (APTLD75) and the 6th Middle East DNS Forum (ME DNS Forum). Experts from the Coordination Center for TLD .RU attended both events to share Russia’s experience in developing its country-code domains and building a sustainable internet infrastructure.
Speaking on February 20 at the session, The Myth of the Better: An Alternative DNS Root Concept and Its Implications, Deputy Head of External Communications, Mikhail Anisimov, presented the latest legislative initiatives introduced in Russia with a view to improving the stability of the national internet infrastructure. In his presentation, he sought to comfort the audience by explaining what the concept of an “autonomous Russian internet” was all about. “No one is insured against mistakes, disasters or accidents that can cause the key elements of the addressing system to become inaccessible for Russian users. This is why Russia is seeking to make its infrastructure more sustainable to make sure that the internet works in any unforeseen circumstances,” he pointed out.
During the second day of the APTLD75 and the ME DNS Forum, the Coordination Center’s experts attended a number of breakout sessions to share their experience and expertise. Head of External Communications, Maria Kolesnikova took part in a session on marketing in country-code domains by presenting the outcome of a study carried out by the Coordination Center in 2018, on how Russian users choose and buy domain names. She used data from the study to describe approaches to segmenting the targeted audience and the main factors influencing decisions related to choosing and buying domain names. Her presentation also included possible strategies for communications with users.
Mikhail Anisimov also attended a session on legal matters to share the Coordination Center’s experience in working with government officials. In his presentation he talked about the complementarity between domain name registration terms and conditions for .RU and .РФ and national laws, and how they help ensure transparency through a combination of state oversight and self-management.
In addition, Coordination Center representatives attended training sessions that took place on February 18 and 19. Their topics included marketing practices for registries and registrars, as well as the spread and implementation of the IPv6 protocol.
“Being able to meet colleagues from around the world at meetings like this is extremely important, especially today when the internet and the domain space play such important economic and political roles. Exchanging experience and best practices, learning new trends and participating in debates going on within the industry on various subjects helps set the development of country-code domains and the Russian internet in general on the right track,” Coordination Center for TLD .RU Director Andrey Vorobyev said.
