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AFRICA DNS FORUM 2015 – A huge step for Domain Services in Africa
 Stakeholders from around the globe, in the African Domain name business g ![]() athered this week in Nairobi, Kenya, for the third edition of the Africa Domain Name System Forum 2015, to discuss the challenges, opportunities and the future of Africa’s Domain Name Industry. This annual event enables Registries, Registrars and other stakeholders share experiences, interact and learn from each other about the Domain Name Industry. This year's event was rewarding as it fostered discussions on cross border collaboration between NiRA and KeNIC, our Top Level Domain counterpart in Kenya. The NiRA delegation had Board, Staff and Registrars. Yours truly and Mrs. Mary Uduma, our immediate past president were among the moderators and panelists at the Forum. The event presented the numerous opportunities available to Africa in the DNS industry, which other countries in the world had taken up to the benefit of their countries.
We actualized our dream of encouraging and rewarding performing (by sales volume) NiRA Accredited Registrars by sponsoring two Registrars to the Africa DNS Forum 2015 at Nairobi, Kenya. This is a show of appreciation of the work done to project the .ng brand, our collective resource and identity. We look forward to providing more of these opportunities to all, so please sell more .ng domains!
The growth of the DNS Industry in Africa provides employment opportunities to Youths. In Kenya, students in the universities operate as resellers to Registrars in their country. They are involved in the process of claiming and advertising their country identity in the cyberspace. This is something we can and should copy in Nigeria. We must always advertise Nigeria positively to the world.
In the coming months, we will mount aggressive marketing campaigns to bring NIRA to the consciousness of Nigerians and beyond. As usual, we welcome your suggestions and advise always.
Your President,
Sunday Folayan
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TECH SPEAK
Cybersquatting!
What is Cybersquatting?
Cybersquatting, also known as domain squatting is the registering, selling or using a domain name with the intent of profiting from the goodwill of someone else's trademark. This is using an Internet domain name in bad faith.
Cybersquatting originated during the era when most businesses were not proactive about the commercial opportunities on the Internet. During the early stage of cybersquatting, some entrepreneurs would register the names of well-known companies as domain names, with the intent of selling the names back to the companies when they finally wake up. Panasonic, Hertz and Avon were among the "victims" of cybersquatters. Opportunities for cybersquatters can rapidly diminish as more businesses know that securing their domain names is a high priority. In Nigeria, NiRA is proactively protecting organisations, companies and individuals from cybersquatters through its policies and sensitization programs.
Recognizing Cybersquatting
How do you know if the .ng domain name you want is being used by a cybersquatter? Follow these steps to find out.
- Check where the domain name takes you on your Internet browser.
- Check the "WHOIS Lookup”. If your trademark is in use, this confirms you are a victim of domain squatting.
How do you prevent Cybersquatting?
The easiest and cheapest way to prevent most cybersquatting is to register your company name and variants before the damage is done.
Contact any of the NiRA Accredited Registrars on NiRA’s website to register your domain name.
Domain Name Report – January to June 2015
There was a remarkable increase in the domain name registration in June 2015 compared to the registration in other months of the year, but the significant increase was with domain name registration at the third level. In general for June 2015, this increase cut across the renewal and transfer of .ng domain names. Adding the number of domain name registrations from January to June 2015 and domain name renewals, we have a total of 9,966 domain names registered and 7,423 domain names renewed. It is worthy to note that from January to June 2015, we have 17,389 domain names, inclusive of new registrations and renewals at both second and third levels.
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3rd Africa DNS Forum at Nairobi, Kenya
The 3rd (third) Africa DNS forum 2015 took place at Nairobi, Kenya following on the successful forums in Durban, South Africa (2013), and Abuja, Nigeria (2014). The forum organized in partnership with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), The Internet Society (ISOC) and the Africa Top Level Domain Organization (AFTLD) was hosted this year by the Kenya Network Information Center (KENIC), from the 6th to 8th July 2015, with the theme "The Future of Africa's Domain Name Industry: Opportunities and Challenges"
The purpose of the Africa DNS Forum is to bring together ccTLD Registries, Registrars, and stakeholders from Africa and around the world to share, learn, interact and discuss ways of how the African Domain Name Space can be improved upon by sharing experiences and best practices in the Domain Name Industry at a global level and of the emerging business opportunities. The take for this year’s event are:
· The industry players need new business strategies to improve the DNS industry in Africa,
· Continuous collaboration of African ccTLDs,
· Development of capacity and talents necessary in Africa in order to get the digital economy to where it is expected in the black nation.
NiRA Resource Centre Attractions
The Training Hall, Conference Room and Cafeteria at NiRA, 8 Funsho Williams Avenue, Iponri, Surulere, Lagos, are available for hire to NiRA Stakeholders and members for corporate events in the Domain Name System Industry, training, board meetings, business breakfast, business luncheon and related business fora in the Domain Name Business.
The Training Hall has the capacity to seat 100 people and the promo rental fee is N100,000.00 (One Hundred Thousand Naira Only) from 8am to 5pm.
The Conference Room can accommodate 30 people and the promo rental fee is N30,000.00 (Thirty Thousand Naira Only) from 8am to 5pm.
The Cafeteria is available only to those hosting approved functions.
The promo which started from 1st May 2015 would last until 31st October 2015.
Terms and Conditions apply. For more details, please call +234(0) 700 CALL-NIRA and +234(0)8172004272. Email: admin@nira.org.ng and coo@nira.org.ng
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The American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) IPv4 Inventory is Now Exhausted!
On the third of July 2015, AFRINIC became the only Regional Internet Registry (RIR) able to freely allocate IPv4 address space to its members marking a significant milestone in the evolution of the global Internet.
The American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN), the Regional Internet Registry (RIR) for Canada, many Caribbean and North Atlantic Islands and the United States, announced on 1 July 2015 that it has activated its "Unmet Request Policy", meaning that ARIN has effectively depleted its free pool of IPv4 address space, making it the fourth of the world’s five RIRs to do so. This leaves AFRINIC, the RIR for Africa and the Indian Ocean, as the only RIR with an as-yet unrestricted pool of IPv4 from which to allocate to its members.
From 1st July, 2015, ARIN members can only receive IPv4 space if unused IPv4 space is returned to ARIN and is redistributed to those on the waiting list or if they qualify for an allocation from the reserved IPv4 space in ARIN’s ‘Last /8’, which was set aside to facilitate IPv6 deployment or via external IPv4 transfer markets. APNIC – the RIR for the Asia Pacific Region - was the first RIR to exhaust its supply of IPv4 address space in 2011 and the RIPE NCC (Europe, the Middle East and parts of Central Asia) followed quickly in 2012. LACNIC (Latin America and the Caribbean) reached its exhaustion trigger level in June 2014.
IPv6 Deployment Now More Critical Than Ever
The five RIRs have worked with their respective communities over the last decade to ensure that IPv4 exhaustion makes as little impact as possible on the smooth functioning of the Internet. As the supply of available IPv4 address space becomes critically low, more and more new connections will be made over IPv6 as opposed to IPv4. The future of the Internet will be over IPv6 and unless African networks and businesses also transit, we risk becoming isolated from the global Internet. AFRINIC offers free training on IPv6 deployment to network engineers, academics and governments throughout the region as part of its capacity building activities. It also provides an IPv6 test bed for engineers to test their deployments and offers information and statistics on IPv6 and what IPv4 exhaustion means for the local, regional and global Internet.
UPCOMING EVENTS
1.Nigeria Internet Governance Forum (NIGF 2015)
 Theme: Harnessing the Potentials of Internet Governance for Sustainable Development in Nigeria
Date: 20th & 21st July 2015
Venue: NAF Conference Center & Suites, Jahi District, Abuja
ICANN 53 Meeting
18th -22nd October 2015
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eNigeria 2015
Date: 17th to 19th November 2015
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