ICANN recommends to retain Verisign as root zone maintainer

Nine weeks have passed since the U.S. government announced its intention to transition stewardship of the IANA functions to the global community. This landmark announcement requires a measured, thoughtful approach for how we – the Internet community – will map a route to a successful transition. Together, we must pool our efforts with a goal of producing an acceptable and timely proposal for a smooth transition. The ICANN president  Fadi Chehadé in his blog on May 20, 2014 recommended Versign should continue its role.

3. Maintain security and stability of implementation of the root zone updates

Currently, the process flow for root zone management involves three roles that are performed by three different entities: NTIA as the Administrator, ICANN as the Operator, and Verisign as the Maintainer. After the transition, the role of NTIA as the Administrator will be replaced by mechanisms to be determined by you, the global community, to ensure ICANN’s accountability to the community on each request to update the root zone. ICANN will remain in its role as the Operator, and will establish a relationship directly with the third-party Maintainer.

As a means to help ensure stability, ICANN’s recommended implementation option is to have Verisign continue its role as the Maintainer. However, we will be working closely with all relevant parties including the Root Zone Operators to ensure there are contingency options in place to meet our absolute commitment to the stability, security and resiliency of the Domain Name System.