Status: Contract Signed
country: Foshan, China
Language: Chinese (Hans/Simplified)
Manager: Guangzhou YU Wei Information Technology Co., Ltd.
Registry Provider: CNNIC
Type: IDN GeoTLD
Priority #: 63

More information:

.佛山 is an IDN GeoTLD being proposed in ICANN's New gTLD Program. The applicant is Guangzhou YU Wei Information Technology Co., Ltd.[1] The company has partnered with Zodiac.

The applicant failed the Initial Evaluation because of a geographic ruling by ICANN, and for failing to get government support of the gTLD. It requested and subsequently passed Extended Evaluation.[2][3]

.佛山 是一个国际化地域性顶级域名。该域名已被纳入ICANN的新通用顶级域名计划。申请人为Guangzhou Yu Wei Information Technology Co., Ltd(有限公司)。该公司为黄道公司的合作伙伴之一。

Application Details edit

Excerpted from response to question #18 in TLD application:

"Guangzhou Yuwei Technology Co. Ltd (“The Applicant”) was incorporated in China on February 27th of 2012 with a registered capital of RMB 50 million. It is officially appointed and endorsed by the Guangdong provincial government with mission and purpose of applying for the relevant geographic gTLDs upon the launch of the ICANN new gTLD program and subsequently operating and managing these geographic gTLDs.

The vision for the Applicant is to become of the first few stakeholders in the China Internet space, and also the global Internet space to manage and operate geographic TLD and through the TLD, serve the general Chinese public’s interests and promote the culture and brand of the Guangdong region via the Internet. Guangdong province is the most populous province in China, registering about 104 million residents. Its gross domestic product (GDP) in 2011 reached about RMB 5300 billion (USD 841 billion), an increase of 10% from last year. This is the highest among all provinces of China. The province contributes approximately 12% of China’s national economic output and is home to the production facilities and offices of a wide-ranging set of multinational and Chinese corporations.

The Applicant has chosen Zodiac Holdings Limited (“Zodiac”) as its partner to run the business operations of the registry. Zodiac Holdings Limited (“Zodiac”) was founded and incorporated in Cayman Islands by James Seng in 2008 in anticipation of the launch of the ICANN new gTLD program. Currently, it is headquartered in Hong Kong and has an operation center in Beijing, China. The team consists of experienced veterans in the global and China domain name industry like James Seng and former China Network Information Center (CNNIC) employees such as Eugene Li.

James Seng is one of the Internet pioneers in Singapore and is widely recognized as an international expert in numerous Internet areas. He is well known as the inventor of IDN and has co-chaired the IDN Working Group in IETF from 1999 to 2004, leading to the standardization of IDN.

Eugene Li, is the former Vice President of China Network Information Center (CNNIC). During his 7 years tenure at CNNIC, Eugene has launched initiatives that doubled domain name registrations and helped CNNIC become the no. 1 ccTLD and no. 2 TLD by volume. At the time when Eugene left to join Zodiac, CNNIC has over 13 million domain name registrations. [..]

The applied-for TLD “.STRING” is a geographic name, it refers to the city of “Foshan” in Guangdong Province of China. As a geographic gTLD, the Applicant intends to bring the following benefits to the registrants, Internet users and others.

First of all, the applied-for TLD will serve as a specialized and dedicated space on the Internet for Foshan people and Foshan businesses. The applied-for TLD may help to reinforce the visibility of Foshan city by putting it firmly on the online map and becoming the ʺofficialʺ Internet resource for citizens and visitors. It will become a high-profile virtual space to discuss ideas, conduct transactions, support diverse ethnic and cultural groups, and enable citizens to interact with civic departments, public officials, and elected representatives.

On the service levels, the applied-for TLD will strive to enhanced security and trust. As the steward of the Applied-for TLD, the city government will have the authority to set registration requirements for the domain names. By restricting registration of these names to vetted, legitimate registrants the stewards of Geographic gTLDs may help improve trust and confidence. [..]

Prospective registrant of “.STRING” domain names will be required to demonstrate a local presence in the STRING area."[4]

申请细节 edit

域名申请人意在成为中国互联网空间,乃至国际地域性顶级域名系统内为数不多的“拥有话语权”的利益体之一。申请人希望此地域性域名能为推动中国民生,文化以及广东作为一个品牌的存在而做出贡献。申请人已委托黄道公司作为其域名申请工作代言人。

该顶级域名申请成功后,首先将特别为广东佛山的群众和商业活动提供网络服务。域名将通过提供在线地图,官方旅游信息资源等形式帮助佛山更多的出现在公众视野中。【.佛山】将成为一个曝光率较高的虚拟空间,为人们提供各种讨论,事物处理,民族沟通,以及文化交流的平台。该域名还将帮助市民与市政部门,公务人员,以及当选代表产生直接的交流与互动。

在技术服务层面,该顶级域名将努力加强安全及信任机制建设。域名管理者,即佛山市政府,将负责设立下级域名的注册要求。通过加强对申请域名的审查限制,合格的申请人将帮助管理者建立起该顶级域名的公众信任。

Contract Signed edit

On 09 January 2014 Guangzhou YU Wei Information Technology Co., Ltd. received a Registry Agreement signed by ICANN for .佛山 after passing all the required processes needed to become a Registry Operator for the string.[5]

References edit