Translations:ICANN/122/en

The First Three Supporting Organizations

The three original supporting organizations include:

• Domain Names Supporting Organization (DNSO) provides policy advice to the ICANN Board on issues related to the Domain Name System (DNS) and IP addresses. The ICANN Board established the Bylaw provisions for the basic structure of the DNSO on March 31, 1999. The DNSO was composed of the Names Council, General Assembly and Constituencies including ccTLD registries, gTLD registries, commercial and business entities, ISPs and connectivity providers, registrars and intellectual property. On July 9, 2003 the DNSO was restructured and its responsibilities were transferred to the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO). The organization ceased operation after the ICANN Board adopted Article XX: Transition Article of the New Bylaws on December 15, 2002.
• Address Supporting Organization (ASO) is responsible for providing advice to the ICANN Board on issues related to the operation, assignment and management of Internet addresses. It is composed of an Address Council and representatives from the Regional Internet Registries (RIRs), including the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC), American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) and Reseaux IP Europeens (RIPE).
• Protocol Supporting Organization (PSO) advised the ICANN Board on issues related to the assignment of parameters for Internet protocols through the PSO Council, which was composed of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).