18.1 Mission and Purpose of .DELL
Dell Inc. (“Dell”) is a leading multinational information technology corporation, serving the needs of consumers around the world with 103,300 employees and operations in numerous countries. Dell delivers innovative technology and services that customers trust and value. As a leading technology company, Dell offers a broad range of products and services that create optimal solutions, providing customers with the power to do more. Dell’s online content is accessible in the .COM gTLD and also in multiple ccTLDs, including .CA, .DE, .EU, and .RU.
The intended future mission and purpose of the .DELL gTLD is to serve as a trusted, hierarchical, and intuitive namespace provided by Dell for its consumers. Dell is committed to moving forward with a .DELL gTLD application; however, at the time of filing this application, there has not been enough time, and currently there is not enough market information available, to fully analyze and evaluate all potential use case options.
Dell will be analyzing and evaluating other .BRAND gTLD applications as well as general market adoption to determine short- and long-term potential best-in-class use case options to more effectively serve and enhance Dell’s online strategy. Dell has four global customer-oriented operating segments, identified as: Large Enterprise, Public, Small and Medium Business, and Consumer, all of which will help to determine the future use of the .DELL gTLD. Dell has optimized its supply chain to best serve its global customer base and will continue to expand upon that endeavor through the use of the .DELL gTLD.
Although ICANN has not specifically recognized a .BRAND gTLD specification in the current version of the Applicant Guidebook, it is widely anticipated within the brand-owner community that this will become a specialty subset of the new gTLDs. The .DELL gTLD is planned as a .BRAND gTLD, with the goal of protecting Dell’s online presence and identity; expanding its marketing and promotion efforts; providing a secure channel for online products and services; and offering a platform through which to consolidate many of the intellectual property activities of Dell.
Dell intends to initially limit registration and use of domain names within the .DELL gTLD to Dell and its qualified subsidiaries and affiliates. This initial limited use will allow Dell to establish its operations and achieve full sustainability. This limited distribution coupled with the other requirements set forth in Specification 9 of the template Registry Agreement is intended to exempt Dell from its annual Code of Conduct Compliance requirements.
After Stage 3 (see below), Dell will evaluate whether opportunities exist to carry out the business strategy for the .DELL gTLD through expansion that continues the sustainable operations of the registry through fee-based registrations to parties other than Dell and its qualified subsidiaries and affiliates.
Dell currently plans a four-stage rollout for the .DELL gTLD:
Stage 1
The initial stage of implementation of the gTLD will involve Dell registering a limited number of .DELL second-level domain names.
This initial use will provide Dell’s IT and security personnel the time to run a number of tests to ensure seamless and secure access using the .DELL gTLD domain names, interoperability with various software and Web-based applications, and unbroken and secure use of all names. This initial allocation will also allow the appropriate Dell staff to coordinate with the internal and external staff responsible for the delegation and setup phases of the .DELL gTLD to ensure a proper transition from delegation to full operation.
Stage 2
Once all testing has been successfully completed, Dell will begin allocating domain names in .DELL for more widespread internal corporate use. During this same period of time, Dell will begin evaluating strategies to potentially migrate traffic away from its current patchwork network of second-level domain names, which are registered in a variety of TLDs, to Dell’s new gTLD.
It is in Stage 2 that Dell will evaluate expanding the operations of the gTLD to permit registration by other registrants, such as licensees and⁄or strategic partners. Should an assessment of its expansion strategy lead to a decision to extend registration rights to other parties, this expansion is currently planned to take place during Stage 3. However, any expansion would be conditioned upon a review of Specification 9 (Registry Code of Conduct) set forth in the template Registry Agreement to ensure compliance with Dell’s business model.
Stage 3
Depending on the analysis of the evaluations undertaken in Stage 2, Dell may implement the permanent migration of Internet traffic away from the TLDs in which Dell’s domain names are currently registered, and toward the .DELL gTLD. It is in this stage that Dell also may implement its decision to extend registration rights to licensees and⁄or strategic partners, depending upon compliance with Specification 9 as noted above. The dates of such expansion are subject to change depending upon business, strategic, and industry factors at the time.
After consideration of the following factors: analysis of Dell’s existing domain name portfolio, internal analysis of marketing initiatives, and the fact that Dell will have full control over the number of registrations in the .DELL gTLD namespace, Dell is confident that the number of domain name registrations will be less than 10,000 in the first five years of operation.
Stage 4
Based on its experience with any expansion implemented in Stage 3, Dell will assess whether its business plan and expansion strategy should be augmented by extending registration rights to a broader class of licensees, potentially including customers of Dell. It is anticipated by Dell that changes to the domain name industry, and particularly the impact of .BRAND gTLDs, will take at least five years to be realized and assessed. Any decision to expand the gTLDs beyond corporate, qualified subsidiary and affiliate, and licensee use will take into account this experience as well as the technical analysis of potential expansion.
The potential use of the .DELL gTLD by Dell and its various business segments will also be driven by Dell’s future business strategies as identified in its annual report and investor filings, see: http:⁄⁄content.dell.com⁄us⁄en⁄corp⁄about-dell-investor.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=corp&~ck=mn.
Utilizing current projections based upon Dell’s existing businesses, future business plans, current domain name portfolio, and other strategic factors, Dell estimates second-level domain name registrations to be in line with the projections set forth in the financial template provided in response to Question 46 of this application.
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