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Capacity building initiative helps advance ccTLD operations globally

On 23 July, 17 representatives of 14 country code top- level domains (ccTLDs) from Latin American and the Caribbean successfully completed a 5-day course in Advanced Registry Operations. Held in Guatemala City, the workshop formed part of a capacity building initiative developed jointly by the Internet Society, ICANN, and the Network Startup Resource Center (NSRC) to advance ccTLD operations globally.

Guatemala Workshop Participants

Training ccTLD operators benefits the Internet as a whole as they play a key role in the Internet ecosystem both locally and globally. On a local level, ccTLD operators provide the country-code domain name registration services that facilitate national and international commerce and communications, and also deliver broader Internet technical leadership within their communities. On a global level, well-managed ccTLDs contribute to a robust Internet infrastructure.

Guatemala workshop participants acquired knowledge and skills focussed on the technical operation of a top-level domain registry and conducted hands-on exercises in the installation and configuration of tools that enable safe, stable and reliable ccTLD operations in their respective countries. At the request of participants, the agenda was expanded to provide an overview of Anycast routing issues and DNSSEC.

Hervey Allen of NSRC and the Internet Society’s Christian O’Flaherty served as instructors for the course. Courtesy of NSRC, each participant received a set of textbooks to further support the daily operation of their registries. In addition to providing technical training, the workshops are designed to enable participants to exchange information relating to shared operational issues and their solutions. To promote this information exchange, a representative of each ccTLD presented a brief overview of their registries and their operational practices. Feedback on the workshop from the participants has been excellent, with many requests for future workshops.

Information Sharing

In the best tradition of the Internet, the success of this event was made possible by partnerships and collaboration between multiple regional and international groups. In addition to the ISOC, ICANN, and NSRC project partnership, the Latin American and Carribbean ccTLD organisation (LacTLD) played a key role in convening the event in the region. Our local host, the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (operator of the .gt top-level domain), managed local event logistics. The Internet Council of Registrars also provided support.

For more information on the ISOC/ICANN/NSRC ccTLD capacity building partnership see www.isoc.org and nsrc.org.