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Growing the Internet 3 July 2015

Starts Monday: Third Africa DNS Forum to Take Place in Nairobi

By Betel HailuManager, Organization Members Engagement

Technology experts from Africa and beyond will gather in Nairobi between July 6th and 8th, for the third Africa Domain Name System Forum.

This year, the event has brought together experts in the domain name industry, business experts and policy makers, seeking to explore ways to grow Africa’s Domain Name Space. The meeting will build on the success of the inaugural DNS forum in 2013 in Durban and the follow up event in Abuja last year.

Under the theme: The future of Africa’s Domain Name Industry; Opportunities and challenges”, the event is hosted by KENIC, in partnership with the Africa Top Level Domain ( AFTLD), the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ( ICANN) and the Internet Society (ISOC).

The event will discuss issues regarding securing Africa’s domain name space, growing African registries, increasing reseller domain name sales, success stories in marketing country code Top Level Domains, and emerging trends in DNS security, among other topics.

The opening session is likely to elicit debate and set the tone for the three-day discussion, given the speakers on the panel. The speakers on the panel include:

  • Dr. Paulos Nyirenda- President Africa Top Level Domains Organization
  • Dr. Dawit Bekele- Internet Society, Director of the African Regional Bureau
  • Mr. Pierre Dandjinou- Vice President Stakeholder Engagement ICANN
  • Eng. Francis W. Wangusi- MBS- Director General, Communications Authority of Kenya
  • Mr. Joseph Tiampati Ole Musuni- Principal Secretary, Ministry for Information and Communication of Kenya

Africa’s DNS industry is stymied by several challenges and the forum provides an avenue to foster cross-border collaborations between registries, registrars, registrants, and other stake holders as well as provide a forum for the entire domain name industry and community to interact, share and learn from each other and from similar organizations from within and outside the continent.

Photo: "It's all ones and zeros" © Ivan Plata CC BY-NC 2.0

Disclaimer: Viewpoints expressed in this post are those of the author and may or may not reflect official Internet Society positions.

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