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Ausregistry Neustar drops a bomb on current auDA Management

DomainNames

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QUOTED
https://www.ausregistry.com.au/sett...s-role-audas-registry-transformation-project/
"Setting the record straight
In the spirit of clarifying some of the claims that have been made throughout this process, I wanted to take the opportunity to clear up some points – because the .au community deserves to be fully informed.

The claim: There will be an improvement of the .au customer support service with 24/7 coverage
The truth: Neustar already provides 24/7 customer service and technical support, based in Australia


In a blog post Afilias announced that “no registrar will need to wait ‘til tomorrow’ to resolve a problem” due to the partnership between its Melbourne and global service centres to provide 24/7 support, also claiming that this service is “beginning July 1.”

Neustar’s Australia-based team includes the entire .au operations personnel; from our already 24/7 support to all our developers, DBAs and network engineers. We have provided this service for a long time, so this will not be a new offering to Registrars.

The claim: Western Australia will be better served due to a dedicated DNS node installed in Perth
The truth: Neustar already operates a DNS node in Perth, and regardless this does not guarantee the claimed improvements


In a press release on June 13, Afilias and auDA claimed that “Users of .au domains in Western Australia will now have more resilient DNS.” This is billed as a significant improvement to .au infrastructure in WA.

Neustar already has nodes in Perth, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. Also, it’s important to understand that just because there’s a locally-located DNS node, it doesn’t mean that will be where a user’s query ends up. This “new” Perth node is not providing any improvement to service than what is currently offered. In addition, Neustar has 30 global DNS nodes supporting its full Registry system plus the largest DDoS mitigation platform in the world, with 10Tbps of mitigation capacity. It’s unclear what protection (if any) will be safeguarding .au in the future.

The claim: The new Registry offers superior technology
The truth: The new Registry system is retrofitted and not bespoke to .au

The current Neustar Registry platform has two dedicated sites in-country (active/active) to support the technical demands of .au, with full failover possible in under a very short amount of time in case of a serious incident. The new Registry will switch to one dedicated site in Melbourne that is managed by engineers, DBAs, and developers mostly based overseas – with a cloud-based stand-by (cold site). The question is: has this been tested to see how quickly emergency failover can be implemented?

In addition, our current understanding is this new setup has been retrofitted from other TLDs; whereas our Registry was custom-built for .au, with over 16 years of development to explicitly meet all auDA policy and technical requirements. It was also built here in Australia and therefore has always stored and managed all .au data in-country.

The claim: The new .au Registry will provide enhanced security for DNS
The truth: Neustar is a world leader in DNS security and runs a global network with more than sufficient capacity to support .au


Afilias has pointed to “massive capacity, smarter DNS, [and] DNSSEC deployment” as “enhancements” to the protection and safeguarding of .au.

In actuality, Neustar’s existing DNS is scaled globally to handle capacity massively above the regular volumes of traffic. Not only this, Neustar has multiple layers of security and features to handle unusual traffic, attacks and denial of service events. This includes firewalls, auto withdrawal of nodes, intelligent DNS response and DDoS scrubbing of data streams – in fact, Neustar is a global leader in DDoS mitigation, with a scrubbing capacity of over 10Tbps. DNSSEC is also already deployed across multiple .au zones and is available to Registrants through the Registry.

The claim: Registrars will see upgrades to their systems when the Registry is transitioned
The truth: The new Registry systems will have reduced feature sets

Neustar is proud of the relationship we’ve built with .au Registrars over the last 16 years. Over that time we’ve worked closely and developed true working partnerships that have allowed us to collaborate on making the .au Registry as efficient as possible for the benefit of Registrars and ultimately the .au internet community.

We’ve raised a number of concerns directly with auDA about what we considered to be inaccurate remarks comparing Neustar’s systems with the new Registry and implying that the new Registry will include “all previous functionality plus enhanced security and authentication measures”, as stated in recent auDA Member communications. We questioned auDA about this and were informed that the statement is comparing the various testing phases of Afilias’ Registry – so the latest version has “all previous functionality” of the earlier versions. It doesn’t mean the Registry will have “all previous functionality” of Neustar’s platform – which we believe the statement implies. ...."​
 
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DomainNames

Top Contributor
Looks like now we see they will promote other domain name extensions and intentionally hurt the .au namespace and people's choice in using a .au domain name?

Now we see the real intentions....? Will they now do all they can to hurt auDA, their competitors,.au domain name Consumers and the .au paying industry that made them rich?

"We’re excited to keep supporting many of our other domains for Australian customers. Stand-out from your competitors.


 

DomainNames

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DomainNames

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Ausregistry / Neustar seem to have not admitted the new Afilias price is rumoured to be 60% lower than the Ausregistry / Neustar price Plus other bidders where even lower!

The problem for both Supply and Demand is now the greedy current auDA Management and auDA Board have decided to keep it for themselves and pay themselves more!

auDA current Management and current Board are now directly ripping off Supply Registrars, Supply Resellers and the paying .au domain name Consumers! VOTE YES www.Grumpier.com.au

What is the real benefit for the .au domain name consumer?

10 people could run management of the .au namespace and for less than $3 million per year. They could take a Fee / Tax of $1 per name, FREE COR, Free membership. If current management can't do it sack them all and get new people in who can. They already have over $20 million stockpiled! How much is auDA current Management and Board charging now and how much turmoil and damage have they caused?
 
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snoopy

Top Contributor
The tender process has resulted in a bad outcome for consumers because auDA has pocketed almost all of the savings.

auDA isn’t being run as not for profit and members should seek redress via the SGM vote.

The opportunity to do something positive for Australian business has been squandered.
 

DomainNames

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Bacon Farmer

Top Contributor
Yep you know it's a slush fund because spening $12 million dollars doesn't make business sense. Is there a business case?

How many new domains are they hoping to sell?

It would be cheaper to give every Australian adult a free domain. Oh wait there's no demand.

Here's a tip, reduce the price and demand will increase, economics 101.

Just pass on the 60% cost savings you are stealing from your customers.

Sorry, there's nothing in it for your maaaaaaaaates.
 

DomainNames

Top Contributor
Yep you know it's a slush fund because spending $12 million dollars doesn't make business sense. Is there a business case?

How many new domains are they hoping to sell?

It would be cheaper to give every Australian adult a free domain. Oh wait there's no demand.

Here's a tip, reduce the price and demand will increase, economics 101.

Just pass on the 60% cost savings you are stealing from your customers.

Sorry, there's nothing in it for your maaaaaaaaates.
 

DomainNames

Top Contributor
QUOTED
https://www.itwire.com/strategy/83428-neustar-contests-claims-made-by-new-au-manager-afilias.html

American technology company Neustar says the new manager of the .au domain namespace, Afilias, has made a number of incorrect assertions about the time when Neustar was managing the .au namepsace, and issued a blog post about what it says are claims that need to be clarified.

Neustar vice-president for Australian registry services George Pongas said that he had kept quiet thus far because of professional courtesy and due to the company's commercial relationship with auDA.

Neustar bought Australian firm Bombora Technologies, the parent company of ARI Registry Services, AusRegistry and ZOAK Solutions, in 2015. AusRegistry was managing the .au domain namespace for 16 years, with Afilias taking over from Sunday, following a tender put out by auDA in 2017, and Neustar assumed this role from the time of the acquisition.

Pongas said Afilias had claimed that there would be 24/7 .au customer service beginning on 1 July. This, he said, was incorrect because Neustar had already been providing round-the-clock service and technical support based in Australia.

A second claim made by Afilias was that Western Australia would be better served as there would be a dedicated DNS mode installed in Perth. "Neustar already operates a DNS node in Perth, and regardless this does not guarantee the claimed improvements," Pongas said.
He added that just because there was a local node, there was no guarantee that a user's query would end up there. "Neustar has 30 global DNS nodes supporting its full Registry system plus the largest DDoS mitigation platform in the world, with 10Tbps of mitigation capacity. It’s unclear what protection (if any) will be safeguarding .au in the future," he added.

Pongas also took aim at Afilias' claim that that the new registry would offer superior technology, pointing out: "The new Registry system is retrofitted and not bespoke to .au."

Said Pongas: "The current Neustar Registry platform has two dedicated sites in-country (active/active) to support the technical demands of .au, with full failover possible in under a very short amount of time in case of a serious incident.

"The new registry will switch to one dedicated site in Melbourne that is managed by engineers, DBAs, and developers mostly based overseas – with a cloud-based stand-by (cold site). The question is: has this been tested to see how quickly emergency failover can be implemented?

"In addition, our current understanding is this new set-up has been retrofitted from other TLDs; whereas our registry was custom-built for .au, with over 16 years of development to explicitly meet all auDA policy and technical requirements. It was also built here in Australia and therefore has always stored and managed all .au data in-country."

Another claim that Afilias had made was about enhanced security for the .au namespace under its management, with the company pointing to “massive capacity, smarter DNS, [and] DNSSEC deployment” as “enhancements” to the protection and safeguarding of .au.

"In actuality, Neustar’s existing DNS is scaled globally to handle capacity massively above the regular volumes of traffic," Pongas said. "Not only this, Neustar has multiple layers of security and features to handle unusual traffic, attacks and denial of service events."

Finally, Pongas said contrary to Afilias' claim that registrars would see upgrades to their systems when the transition of the registry occurred, the new registry systems would actually have reduced feature sets.

"We’ve raised a number of concerns directly with auDA about what we considered to be inaccurate remarks comparing Neustar’s systems with the new registry and implying that the new registry will include 'all previous functionality plus enhanced security and authentication measures”, as stated in recent auDA Member communications, " Pongas said.

"We questioned auDA about this and were informed that the statement is comparing the various testing phases of Afilias’ Registry – so the latest version has 'all previous functionality' of the earlier versions.

"It doesn’t mean the registry will have 'all previous functionality' of Neustar’s platform – which we believe the statement implies. It is a fact that a number of the proprietary features and services that Neustar currently provides to registrars will no longer be available under the new Registry system, and thus Registrars will likely notice a difference."​
 

DomainNames

Top Contributor
QUOTED by ex auDA Director

https://twitter.com/SimonJohnsonAU/status/1012575858886828032
"Simon Johnson‏ @SimonJohnsonAU Jun 28
Wow! @AusRegistry_au has come out & debunked all those #security & #tech claims from auDA.
I believe the tender was a sham & Australians are worse off under this dodgy deal. auDA couldn’t run a bath. #domains @CommsAu @SenatorFifield @MRowlandMP #icann "

https://twitter.com/SimonJohnsonAU/status/1012243535213416448
"
Simon Johnson‏ @SimonJohnsonAU Jun 28
No @AUdomain & @auda you’ve both got it very wrong. That’s not how an anycast network works! Putting servers in different states of Australia, as opposed to the rest of the world does not increase security or make it “stronger and smarter”. Stop, its embarrassing! #cyber @CommsAu"
 

snoopy

Top Contributor
Good to see Mr Johnson still speak out. A sham is exactly right. This tender was done under the guise of getting better pricing. Instead auDA decided to take almost all of the cost saving. The whole process was pointless and aimed at getting more money in auDA's pockets at the expense of Australian business.
 

Bacon Farmer

Top Contributor
Apparently auDA are bank rolling registrar marketing activities.....no doubt with the 50% saving they are keeping.

So auDA, how much $$$ from every domain renewal goes into registrar pockets for "marketing"?

The largesse funded by domain owners is flowing.
 
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