auDA ends exclusive negotiations with AusRegistry...

[DomainNames]

I don't think it would be a good idea to have AUDA running anything of a critical nature, can you imagine them being in charge of a registry? I think it would need government department running it personally.

100% it needs to be run by the Commonwealth Government
https://www.communications.gov.au/what-we-do/internet
auDA staff can submit their resume and experience may help therm get jobs there.
Cut the auDA monopoly
Cut the wholesale registry monopoly
Increase transparency and proper governance. The Government has an Ombudsman and proper processes to clean things up.
Industry Self Regulation has not worked with auDA, Supply and Ausregistry etc running things and it never will.

 

[Scott7]

Also big thanks to Tim

+1

 

[Bacon Farmer]

There wasn't any support for a tender!

They tried to get away without one.

 

[DomainNames]

+1

Why what did Tim do?
As Bacon Farmer says no one on the auDA Board pushed for a Wholesale Registry tender at all.
The previous auDA announcement also states this... it was unanimous by the auDA Board before to Not to go to tender ..... That was very disappointing and discussed on this forum at the time.

So do we know does auDA plan to run the Wholesale Registry itself now? That should see $5 come off the Australian wholesale registry .com.au and .net.au price easily.... auDA already makes great profits from it.

 

[Scott7]

Why what did Tim do?

Influence. No easy task when you're on the wrong side of the numbers.

 

[DomainNames]

Influence. No easy task when you're on the wrong side of the numbers.

The probable fact is this was a Government pushed decision based on information provided to them, more involvement by them and some media behind the scenes questioning about auDA, conflicts of interest, foreign overseas ownership , risk to Australian Critical Infrastructure and processes...It came to light very little improvement in the wholesale registry provider have taken place PLUS there may have been serious issues of security and no back up plans or registry if something went wrong.

 

[DomainNames]

auDA and all of Australia was lucky when Ausregistry / Neustar was taken over they even kept Ausregistry and the Australian Wholesale registry running!

Imagine the problem if the wholesale registry just shutdown at the wish of a new foreign owner, they went bankrupt etc.. or even another country entity making that happen as the real foreign owner/ shareholder.

auDA apparently did not even know about the new foreign owners of Ausregistry / Neustar until the public media announcements... that's really strange since Ausregistry/ Neustar has its management on the auDA Board for 15 years? I would call that a slap in the face and also a possible issue of the role and responsibilities of an auDA Board member to auDA under the Corporations Act?

 

[robert]

Shut the whole damn operation down. Everything and everyone. auDA, AusRegistry, all the drop platforms (except Domain Shield!!) and start all over again. Hit the RESET switch. Learn from the mistakes. Bring Robert Elz (Australia's Domain Godfather!) back from wherever he's holidaying and give back what was rightfully his in the beginning. Wipe the whiteboard (or blackboard) clean and start again. (I may be joking right now.)

 

[robert]

... or am I?

 

[DomainNames]

Robert Elz would not be not interested... they stabbed him in the back years ago.. he probably also is a bit too out of the global domain name system... imagine how rich he could have been had he not been screwed over by some who have gotten very very rich in Australia from the initial Melbourne IT monopoly then auDA and Ausregistry monopolies!
Robert ran it for Free and .com.au Domains where Free....Enter Melbourne IT, auDA, Ausregistry...$$$

 

[DomainNames]

Let's hope we do not see Ausregistry, Melbourne IT staff just move over to the new expanding auDA Kingdom staff payroll if auDA intends to try and run the Australian Wholesale Domain Registry itself now. They should be the last people considered or we will just see more of the same at Wholesale Registry perhaps.

With the vast improvements in Registry technology available now plus government support systems the Australian Wholesale Registry could be run far cheaper, with less staff and more secure than it ever has been including a Back up system which we still do not even have.

Many governments run both the Domain Name Administration plus their Wholesale Registry. It can cut out the often risky monopoly administrator and wholesale registry contractors who often just focus on their own profits as priority.

 

[Scott.L]

Many governments run both the Domain Name Administration plus their Wholesale Registry.

Can you name one?

 

[snoopy]

Robert Elz would not be not interested... they stabbed him in the back years ago.. he probably also is a bit too out of the global domain name system... imagine how rich he could have been had he not been screwed over by some who have gotten very very rich in Australia from the initial Melbourne IT monopoly then auDA and Ausregistry monopolies!
Robert ran it for Free and .com.au Domains where Free....Enter Melbourne IT, auDA, Ausregistry...$$$

Yep there is no time machine to go back in but as you said AUDA's current model has been a failure. The government telling AUDA to go to tender should be a huge wake call for everyone at AUDA, AUDA are on the wrong path completely and if they continue to act in the interests of Ausregistry and not the Australian people they will soon find Ausregistry out of the picture and maybe even themselves out of the picture as well.

The registry should have been run by the government from the beginning but that is all in hindsight. There is now the opportunity though to configure things correctly by moving to government control.

 

[Scott.L]

Government control = insanity
No ccTLD is completely controlled by its own Government;

 

[snoopy]

Government control = insanity
No ccTLD is completely controlled by its own Government;
View attachment 376

Scott, not sure I follow, quite a number state "part of government" in that table?

 

[Scott.L]

Scott, not sure I follow, quite a number state "part of government" in that table?

yeah, "part" not "full" - ccTLD's are not statutory creatures. But, Gov has an active role at a distance, as it should be.

 

[neddy]

Based on my enquiries, this is what I now believe:

• auDA are indeed planning to bring the registry in-house.

• The tender they refer to in their announcement is for 3rd parties (including AusRegistry) to provide a complete solution for building a best-in-class registry.

I think it’s a great idea for auDA to run it themselves (provided they have the right people and necessary resources). But there's a big challenge ahead - registry contract expires in 13 months.

 

[snoopy]

Wonderful news for registrants Ned!

A huge vote of no confidence in Ausregistry and Ausregistry siding board members also, hopefully this is just the start of significant government intervention.

 

[eBranding.com.au]

Based on my enquiries, this is what I now believe:

• auDA are indeed planning to bring the registry in-house.

• The tender they refer to in their announcement is for 3rd parties (including AusRegistry) to provide a complete solution for building a best-in-class registry.

I think it’s a great idea for auDA to run it themselves (provided they have the right people and necessary resources). But there's a big challenge ahead - registry contract expires in 13 months.

Thanks for sharing your insights Ned.

This makes sense when you consider recent discussions as to whether the .au name space should be deemed 'significant' or 'critical' national infrastructure. The shock news about the sale of AusRegistry to Golden Gate Capital would no doubt play a part in the decision to take this approach (if this is indeed what's going to happen).

It would be great to see a public statement from auDA to clarify the direction that's being taken.

This would be quite a significant change to the way in which the Australian name space is managed and operated; so I think it's a reasonable expectation that stakeholders are kept informed.

 

[snoopy]

Thanks for sharing your insights Ned.

This makes sense when you consider recent discussions as to whether the .au name space should be deemed 'significant' or 'critical' national infrastructure. The shock news about the sale of AusRegistry to Golden Gate Capital would no doubt play a part in the decision to take this approach (if this is indeed what's going to happen).

It would be great to see a public statement from auDA to clarify the direction that's being taken.

This would be quite a significant change to the way in which the Australian name space is managed and operated; so I think it's a reasonable expectation that stakeholders are kept informed.

If you read the press release exactly as it is written it gets a lot clearer,

This process will commence initially with a scoping exercise, sourcing expert advice so auDA can build and operate a dedicated .au registry.

I think it was initially confusing because people didn't think it could really mean just what they stated, and it doesn't even sound like something Auda would contemplate. It is more than a backflip., they backflipped and completely changed direction on how things are done. That all makes sense in light of the government intervening as opposed to it being something AUDA has thought up itself. No way has this come from AUDA because they were completely in bed with Ausregistry and were avoiding even a tender for another 3rd party registry like the plague.