AUSTRALIAN COMMUNICATIONS AUTHORITY CALL FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST FOR A TIER 1 REGISTRY OPERATOR FOR THE AUSTRALIAN TRIAL OF ENUM REFERENCE: 04/ACA017 Organisations are invited to express their interest in operating the ENUM Tier 1 Registry on behalf of the Australian Communications Authority (ACA) during the Australian trial of ENUM. This document and its attachments explains the context for the ENUM trial and provides the criteria the ACA will use to select the Tier 1 Registry Operator. It also advises what information must be included in Expressions of Interest. Further information can be obtained from: Robert Johnston enum@aca.gov.au Telephone: (03) 9963 6872 Facsimile: (03) 9963 6899 Expressions of Interest must be received by close of business 7 July 2004 by: The Manager Numbering Team Australian Communications Authority PO Box 13112 Law Courts MELBOURNE VIC 8010 Or emailed to enum@aca.gov.au
CALL FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST FOR A TIER 1 REGISTRY OPERATOR FOR THE AUSTRALIAN TRIAL OF ENUM 1. BACKGROUND ENUM maps a telephone number to the Internet using a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI). It was developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and has the potential to enable a link between a variety of telecommunications and Internet services. The technical specification of ENUM is defined in the IETF s Request for Comment (RFC) 3761, which has replaced RFC 2916. In order to explore the opportunities and implementation issues associated with ENUM, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has approved interim procedures so that national trials can take place. These interim procedures recommend, among other things, the use of the ENUM domain e164.arpa. The ACA is looking for an organisation to perform the functions of Tier 1 Registry Operator on its behalf for the duration of the Australian ENUM trial through a delegation. The period of the trial will be 1 year, and the successful organisation will be expected to enter into a Deed of Agreement with the ACA. In addition, subject to the ACA and the Tier 1 Registry Operator agreeing, the trial may be extended for a further period of up to one year. This document, and its attachment, describes the tasks to be undertaken by the Tier 1 Registry Operator as well as the selection criteria for choosing an operator. Context of Australian trial of ENUM The context of the Australian trial of ENUM is described in full in the Context Document for the Australian ENUM Trial (the Context Document) at Attachment A. The Context Document was developed by the Australian ENUM Discussion Group, which consists of members of the Internet and telecommunications industries, consumer groups and regulators. The appendices to the Context Document includes specific security and privacy requirements that must be met during the ENUM trial (called the Security Guidelines and the Privacy Guidelines). A key principle of the Australian trial is that there will be one Tier 1 Registry Operator. This will ensure that one entity has responsibility for maintaining and running the master registry of numbers in the ENUM trial. The Tier 1 Registry Operator will be expected to establish and maintain for 1 year a minimum base service to ensure a stable platform for ENUM trial participants (including Tier 2 Registrars and their customers). The minimum base service is described in the Context Document (see clause 5.3.4.2 on page 26). It is anticipated that there will be multiple Tier 2 Registrars wanting to trial a range of ENUM services, initially using a range of ENUM trial numbers that have been specified particularly for the trial. The ACA will allocate the ENUM trial numbers to Carriage Service Providers who will issue the numbers to Tier 2 Registrars who in turn will have arrangements with the Tier 1 Registry Operator (see below). 2
The purpose of the trial is to allow technical, regulatory and consumer issues to be explored by the ACA, industry and other interested persons and the Tier 1 Registry Operator will be expected to cooperate with this trial purpose. For example, at the end of the initial 12 month trial period, the Tier 1 Registry Operator will be expected to give the ACA a report which outlines the results of the trial using agreed criteria. The Tier 1 Registry Operator will operate the trial at no cost to the ACA, however it will be able to charge participants in the trial for the registry services it provides. It is expected that the ENUM trial will be conducted in three parts. Part 1 will explore limited technical, regulatory and consumer issues to enable incremental progress towards Parts 2 and 3. Parts 2 and 3 of the trial will move closer toward an environment that will be similar to a commercial ENUM implementation. In consultation with the Tier 1 Registry Operator, agreed dates will be established providing a timeframe for making decisions about progressing to Parts 2 and 3 of the trial. Any decisions to progress to Parts 2 and 3 of the trial will however be subject to ACA consideration of whether the objectives of Part 1 of the trial have been met, whether there are arrangements to support Parts 2 and 3 of the trial and whether there is a reasonable level of industry interest and commitment to extending the trial beyond Part 1. The Tier 1 Registry Operator will also be expected to establish agreements with the Tier 2 Registrars to cover issues such as the methods of exchanging information between the organisations, provisioning, privacy of registrants personal information and reporting on the outcomes of the trial. In developing the agreements and in its dealings with Tier 2 Registrars, the Tier 1 Registry Operator will have to act in a way that is not discriminatory toward Tier 2 Registrars. An outcome of the trial will be the Tier 1 Registry Operator assisting industry and the ACA to identify areas in which regulatory involvement will be necessary in a commercial environment. To facilitate this, it will be an option for the Tier 1 Registry Operator to bring issues that arise during the trial to the Australian ENUM Discussion Group for consideration. At all times, the ACA will retain the power to make decisions regarding future Australian ENUM policies. The trial structure does not imply a structure for the commercial implementation of ENUM in the future. If there is to be a commercial implementation of ENUM in Australia, then the ACA will use a separate process to select a Tier 1 Registry Operator for that implementation. 2. TASKS TO BE UNDERTAKEN BY THE TIER 1 REGISTRY OPERATOR The Tier 1 Registry Operator will develop and operate a Tier 1 Registry for the initial 12 month period of the Australian trial of ENUM. The Tier 1 Registry Operator will undertake the following for the period of the trial, at no cost to the ACA: 1. provide a minimum ENUM trial base service to trial participants so that they have a stable experimental platform on which to provide a range of ENUM services; 3
2. establish and maintain a central registry of ENUM records that stores information associated with an E.164 number, which is necessary for the operation of a Tier 1 Registry, such as: a. each domain name (for example 1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.3.1.6.e164.arpa) associated with the E.164 number (for example +61 3 8765 4321) used in the ENUM trial; b. the domain name and IP address of each name server that holds further information associated with each ENUM record; c. the name and contact details of the person or organisation responsible for the E.164 number; and d. the identity of the Tier 2 Registrar responsible for maintaining the ENUM record in the registry (that is an organisation participating in the ENUM trial); 3. use the information in the central registry to create a zonefile for the 1.6.e164.arpa domain; 4. provide the Domain Name System (DNS) name server for Tier 1 (that is, provide the name server information for each domain name); 5. provide a web based public directory for the trial, similar to a WHOIS service used for domain names. This public directory will be used to provide readily available information about each ENUM record. The Privacy Guidelines provide further information on what can be included in the WHOIS service; 6. provide an interface through which Tier 2 Registrars can exchange information with the Tier 1 Registry Operator. The Tier 1 Registry Operator will test the interfaces between the Tier 1 Registry Operator s registry and the Tier 2 Registrars. The Extensible Provisioning Protocol (EPP) would be an appropriate basis for communication and is described further in the IETF EPP internet drafts; 7. comply with the Privacy Guidelines included in the appendix to the Context Document, including: a. treating itself as an organisation under the Privacy Act 1998, and complying with the National Privacy Principles; b. developing a statement relating to the handling of registrant personal information (it is intended that this will be done post selection, rather than as part of the expression of interest); 8. comply with the Security Guidelines included in the appendix to the Context Document; 9. provide periodic reports to the ACA and the Australian ENUM Discussion Group on the progress of the trial in a format agreed with the ACA; 10. authenticate Tier 2 Registrars, and develop agreements with those organisations about the process to be followed to: register new ENUM subscribers, change particular records in the Tier 1 Registry and impose requirements with respect to ENUM security and the privacy of personal information; 4
11. contribute to and cooperate with the examination of technical, regulatory, consumer and business objectives of the ENUM trial by the ACA and the Australian ENUM Discussion Group; 12. provide customer service to the Tier 2 Registrars including developing complaint handling mechanisms and responding to technical faults; 13. if the Tier 1 Registry Operator is also a Carriage Service Provider, then it is expected that it will manage a range of ENUM trial numbers and issue them to Tier 2 Registrars; 14. comply with all applicable legal and regulatory requirements; and 15. operate in accordance with the ENUM trial context set out in Attachment A. 5
3. SELECTION CRITERIA Note that these criteria are for the trial period only. Should there be a commercial implementation of Australian ENUM services beyond the trial, the ACA intends to develop a separate selection process to choose a Tier 1 Registry Operator for that commercial implementation. 1. Description of services A comprehensive proposal for developing an effective and efficient Tier 1 ENUM Registry, which conforms with IETF RFC 3761 and demonstrates that the proposed system will: a. contain mechanisms whereby Tier 2 Registrars and general internet users can interact with the Tier 1 Registry; b. enable system registration requests with a maximum process turn around time, comparable with.com.au domain registration requests; c. update the zonefile in the Tier 1 Domain Name System (DNS) name server using the data in the Tier 1 Registry at least every two hours; and d. for the duration of the trial, manage the DNS name server and the Tier 1 Registry database service in accordance with the IETF s RFC 2870, incorporating both network-level and geographic diversity; and e. in relation to the DNS name server, have sufficient capacity to handle the expected volume of queries (for example, the name server should be capable of delivering sub-second query-response times during peak periods) and provide significant redundancy to ensure that failure of any single machine or network connection will not render the system unusable. 2. Experience Demonstrated experience in developing and managing large scale DNS, database services and related technologies such as provisioning protocols; including skilled staff able to undertake the task of providing the minimum ENUM trial base service set out in the Context Document. 3. No Discrimination Ability to offer and provide services to Tier 2 Registrars and all other organisations involved in the trial on the basis of neutrality, fairness and equality and if also a Carriage Service Provider, to separate its role as Tier 1 Registry Operator from its role as service provider. 4. Privacy Demonstrated experience in and commitment to maintaining privacy of personal information and complying with the Privacy guidelines for the ENUM trial. 5. Security 6
Demonstrated experience in maintaining the security and reliability of DNS records, and ability to comply with the security guidelines for the ENUM trial. 6. Financial matters Demonstrated ability to financially manage the ENUM trial, using a charging structure that does not stifle competition or create significant barriers to entry to the ENUM trial. 4. INFORMATION TO BE INCLUDED IN SUBMISSION 1. Applicants are to include: a. a description of the proposed Tier 1 services; b. system level architectural and detailed design solutions to clearly demonstrate compliance with the requirements of the ENUM trial base service outlined in clause 5.3.4.2 of the Context Document; c. a description of the data fields to be included in the Tier 1 Registry; and d. a description of the data fields to be transferred from Registrars to the Tier 1 Registry Operator. 2. Applicants must be able to demonstrate: a. the technical capabilities of the hardware and software that are to be used to support the trial; b. the proposed system implementation timeframe; and c. the cost of implementing, operating and maintaining the system during the trial period. 3. Applicants must include expected turn around times for ENUM provisioning. 4. It would be useful for applicants to provide details of previous relevant experience such as with hierarchical DNS infrastructure, provisioning methods, directory services, information technology security, and networking. Resumes of staff may be provided to describe previous experience in provision of similar services. 5. Applicants must advise of the expected reliability of their ENUM trial platform. 6. Applicants must outline the key terms and conditions to be covered in any agreements that would be developed between the applicant and Tier 2 Registrars. 7. Applicants must outline the provisions regarding intellectual property that they would expect to be included in the Deed of Agreement with the ACA, noting that the ACA is concerned to ensure it will be able to access the data that is on the Tier 1 Registry at the conclusion of the trial. 7
8. Applicants should provide a description of the methods to be employed to ensure that the privacy of registrants personal information is maintained. Refer to the Privacy guidelines in Appendix 2 to the Context Document. 9. Applicants should provide a description of the methods to be employed to provide authentication and authorisation to ensure registrants control how and whether their numbers are provisioned in the ENUM trial. Physical security of information storage should also be addressed. Refer to the security guidelines in Appendix 1 to the Context Document. 10. Applicants should state any proposed charges that will apply to the ENUM trial, such as proposed charges to Tier 2 Registrars. 11. Applicants are to state whether they are a Carriage Service Provider and how they will manage the separation of the roles of Tier 1 Registry Operator and Carriage Service Provider. 12. Applicants may provide any further information regarding how they intend to undertake the tasks listed in section 2 of this document. 5. SELECTION PROCESS Expressions of Interest must be received by ACA by 7 July 2004. Late Expressions of Interest may not be considered. All Expressions of Interest will be reviewed by ACA staff, who will seek advice from an advisory panel. As a consequence of this call for Expressions of Interest, the ACA may proceed directly to a Deed of Agreement with the successful applicant, or may seek further information from one or more parties. Should the ACA proceed directly to a deed of agreement with a supplier, the ACA proposes to use as a starting point, the ACA s standard Deed of Agreement document. The period of the trial will be 1 year, with a further year s option of extending the trial, with agreement between the ACA and the Tier 1 Registry Operator. 6. REFERENCES REGARDING ENUM ISSUES IETF Request for comment 3761 regarding ENUM: http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3761.txt IETF internet draft on Extensible Provisioning Protocol: http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-provreg-epp-09.txt 8
IETF Operational Criteria for Root Name Servers: ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/rfc2870.txt ITU interim procedures to allow national ENUM trials: http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/enum/ Privacy Act 1998: http://scaleplus.law.gov.au/html/pasteact/0/157/top.htm National Privacy Principles: http://www.privacy.gov.au/publications/index.html#n 9