A turbulent year for New Zealand's domain system

The domain name system in New Zealand is undergoing one of the most radical changes to the way it is managed since its inception.

InternetNZ, formerly the Internet Society of New Zealand (ISOCNZ), is the organization charged with managing the .nz name space. It has recently enacted the change from a monopoly-based domain name system to a shared registry system (SRS) following the decision of the membership taken last year. The vote, in favor of developing an SRS, came as the culmination of over a year's debate on the matter - often antagonistic and usually forthright that saw the country's first online defamation case brought against a society member.

The existing system, where InternetNZ's wholly owned commercial entity Domainz ran the register of .nz names, will be finally phased out by March 2003.

Domainz was in the enviable position of being the only company allowed to access the register of names directly. Any registrar (see glossary below) that wanted to add a new registration or modify an existing one needed to do so via Domainz. This natural monopoly upset many in the registrar business, not least because Domainz also sold services to their customers.

Things reached a head once the newly developed domain name registry system (DRS) proved to be unworkable. An independent report into the development of the DRS slammed both the software developer and the then CEO of Domainz for poor project management and the final cost to InternetNZ was far greater than originally budgeted.

The new SRS will allow registrars to directly access the register and change details as necessary. The new regime also includes handing management of the register itself over to a new company, .NZ Register, which will not be allowed to also compete with the registrars for business. Its role will be simply to manage the register and ensure it is always available.

The change over is staggered over several months with Domainz holding the role of stabilizing registrar until March next year when registrants will be required to chose a new registrar.

A key part of the new regime is the creation of a domain name commissioner (DNC) role which will oversee the name space. Debbie Monahan was appointed DNC in April and her job will require her to vet new registrars, ensure all registrars are playing by the rules and to sort out any disputes that arise.

Monahan was soon in action as the .maori.nz second level domain (2LD) came online.

The Maori Internet Society had lobbied for the creation of a new unmoderated 2LD and .maori.nz was enabled in September. However the launch of the new 2LD saw a lolly scramble for names and problems with the Domainz system saw several customers able to buy the same names.

The DNC re-asserted Domainz's contention that the system runs exclusively on a "first come first served" basis and several names were reassigned.

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