ICANN launched its Registrar Data Escrow (RDE) program in November
2007 in order to help protect domain name registrants in the event of
the failure or de-accreditation of their registrars. Through the
program, registration data for nearly 127 million gTLD names has been
escrowed, thereby creating a backup of the most critical data needed to
transfer management of domains from one registrar to another, in the
event of de-accreditation. Escrowed registration data has been used on
at least four occasions to facilitate transition of registrations from
de-accredited registrars to successor registrars.
Since the launch of the RDE program, the data storage marketplace has evolved significantly. ICANN is currently exploring whether these developments, such as use of cloud storage and virtualization, could allow for more efficient operation of RDE services. To that end, ICANN is initiating a Request for Expressions of Interest (REOI) to help identify technology escrow agents that could provide cost effective data storage and data verification services to ICANN in furtherance of the RDE program.
Details of the REOI are available at icann.org/en/rde/reoi-rde-15mar11-en.pdf [PDF, 79 KB].
Expressions of interest and questions/comments about the process may be submitted by email to Mike Zupke at mike.zupke@icann.org.
The deadline for receipt of expressions of interest is 15 April 2011.
This ICANN announcement was sourced from:
icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-15mar11-en.htm