Batching

Batching, a term that became especially popular during ICANN 42 in Dakar, refers to the process of dividing applications for the new gTLD program into batches. Given that ICANN expected to receive over 1,000 applications, and that they knew their staff could not process over 500 applications at a time, the Board decided that it would be necessary to create separate batches to process the applications. This immediately worried potential applicants, as it was unclear whether a lottery or a system that would reward early application would be implemented. Kurt Pritz, ICANN senior vice president of stakeholder relations, clarified during the GNSO special session in Dakar that there is no advantage for early or later applications. He pointed out that all applications submitted within the deadline will have equal chances to be included in any batch.

In December, 2011, just weeks before the window opened, the Board held a special meeting, where they further discussed the batching process. It was made clear that a lottery would not be used, nor would an application submitted earlier than another have an advantage. Still, the system was not defined and it was clear that they would continue to formulate this process as they received applications and progressed towards the orignal April, 2012 deadline. The Board decided that all global regions would be fairly represented in each batch, and that there would be an opt-out mechanism for non-priority applications.

Digital Archery

Main page: Digital Archery

Digital archery was a mechanism developed by ICANN to determine the processing time or batch slots for each gTLD application using "target time variance." Digital archery was approved by ICANN during a special meeting of the ICANN Board on March 28. 2012, There was significant backlash against the digital archery system, with many applicants arguing for the delay or cancellation of the system. Following complaints that there were unexpected variances in the results of the process due to various circumstances, including network latency, it was suspended on June 23, 2012, and then officially cancelled on June 28th. No alternative was named.

Metering

ICANN proceeded to conduct Initial Evaluation on all applications concurrently, estimating completion around June/ July 2013. Kurt Pritz has stated that he expects some form of "metering," instead of batching, will still be necessary, as implementing more than 1000 TLDs into the root zone in one year could cause instability. Following the close of the batching comment period on August 19th, 2012, ICANN will take six weeks to process all of the comments and come up with an adequate solution. They hope to reconcile the issue by late September/the beginning of October.