18.1 Mission and Purpose of .ESURANCE
The content of this Answer to Question 18 set forth below describing the plans for Esurance Insurance Company’s (“ESIC”) registry constitutes the “purpose” of the registry as that term is used in paragraph 1.b. of Specification 9 of the Draft New gTLD Registry Agreement found in Module 5 of the Applicant Guidebook dated January 11, 2012 (the “Purpose”). ESIC will publish its Charter and its policies, guidelines, and other supporting documentation related to the implementation of the registry consistent with the Purpose, all prior to launch. All second level domain names registered by ESIC on behalf of itself or an affiliate will be registered through an ICANN-accredited registrar and will be consistent with the Purpose.
The .ESURANCE gTLD registry will be a standard, not a community-based, registry. The .ESURANCE gTLD registry will be a standard registry restricted to ESIC and potentially its qualified subsidiaries, affiliates or business partners having the Required License (as defined below). The registry will be closed to registrants who do not have a formal, written trademark license agreement from the ESIC affiliate which owns the ESURANCE mark, specifically allowing the registration of a second level domain name in the .ESURANCE gTLD registry (the “Required License”). There will be no market for second level registrations outside of registrants which are affiliated with ESIC and⁄or which have the Required License.
ESIC, together with its affiliates, is a leading online insurance company serving the wide-ranging needs of more than 509,000 current policyholders across the United States. ESIC’s affiliate, Esurance Insurance Services, Inc. (“EIS”), currently holds the intellectual property assets for ESIC and its subsidiaries and through which it operates a powerful, flexible technology platform, including the EIS website, that provides cutting-edge service to its customers across a wide range of insurance offerings including, but not limited to, cars, apartments, homes, recreational vehicles, motorcycles, boats, and other personal property.
The predecessor to EIS was launched in December 1999 as an online service offering car insurance in four states. Leveraging the benefits of the Internet and 24⁄7 customer support, EIS has grown into a company comprised of more than 1,800 employees located in 14 offices offering coverage to nearly 90 percent of the U.S. population. ESIC looks to leverage the potential use of .ESURANCE to expand upon its and its affiliates’ innovative use of online and mobile tools.
The intended future mission of .ESURANCE is to serve as a trusted, hierarchical, and intuitive namespace for ESIC and potentially its qualified subsidiaries, affiliates, or business partners having the Required License, all with the goal of advancing ESIC’s business interests and ability to effectively compete in the marketplace.
Although ICANN has not specifically recognized a .BRAND gTLD classification in the current gTLD application round, it is widely anticipated in the brand owner community that this will become a specialty subset of gTLDs. .ESURANCE is intended to be one of those .BRAND gTLDs, with the goal of protecting ESIC’s online presence and identity, expanding its marketing and promotion efforts, providing a more secure channel for online products and services, and offering a platform through which to consolidate many of the intellectual property activities of ESIC.
ESIC intends to initially limit registration and use of domain names within .ESURANCE to ESIC and potentially its qualified subsidiaries and affiliates. This initial limited use will allow ESIC to establish its operations and achieve full sustainability. This limited distribution, coupled with its Purpose and the other requirements set forth in Specification 9 of the Draft New gTLD Registry Agreement, is intended to exempt ESIC from any annual Code of Conduct Compliance requirements.
ESIC currently plans a four-stage rollout for .ESURANCE:
1. Stage One
The initial stage of implementation of the gTLD will involve ESIC registering a limited number of .ESURANCE second-level domain names.
This initial use will provide ESIC’s IT and security personnel the time to run a number of assessments for seamless and secure access using .ESURANCE 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 ESIC staff to coordinate with the internal and external staff responsible for the application, delegation, and setup phases of the .ESURANCE gTLD to ensure a proper transition from delegation to full operation.
2. Stage Two
Once all testing has been successfully completed, ESIC may begin allocating domain names in .ESURANCE for more widespread internal corporate use. During this same period of time, ESIC 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 gTLDs and ccTLDs, to .ESURANCE.
It is in Stage Two that ESIC will evaluate expanding the operations of .ESURANCE to permit registration by qualified subsidiaries and affiliates. Should an assessment of its expansion strategy lead to a decision to extend registration rights to business partners having the Required License, this expansion is currently planned to take place during Stage Three, and likely after the first three years of operation. However, any expansion would be consistent with the Purpose and conditioned upon a review of Specification 9 (Registry Code of Conduct) set forth in the Draft New gTLD Registry Agreement to ensure compliance with ESIC’s business model.
3. Stage Three
Depending upon the analysis of the evaluations undertaken in Stage Two, ESIC may begin to implement the permanent migration of Internet traffic away from the gTLDs and ccTLDs in which ESIC’s domain names are currently registered, and toward the new gTLD. It is in this stage that ESIC also may implement any decision to extend registration rights to qualified affiliates and subsidiaries, consistent with the Purpose and in 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 ESIC’s existing domain name portfolio; internal analysis of marketing initiatives; and the fact that ESIC will have full control over the number of registrations in the .ESURANCE namespace, ESIC is confident that the number of domain name registrations will be less than 10,000 in the first five years of operation.
4. Stage Four
Based on its experience in Stage Three, including any expansion in that phase, ESIC will assess whether its business plan and expansion strategy should be augmented by extending registration rights to business partners having the Registered License. It is anticipated by ESIC 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 allow registrations by business partners having the Required License will take into account this experience as well as the technical analysis of potential expansion.
Utilizing current projections based upon ESICʹs existing businesses, future business plans, current domain name portfolio, and other strategic factors, ESIC estimates that second-level domain name registrations will be in line with the projections set forth in the financial template provided in the answer to Question 46 of this application.
For the avoidance of doubt, the timeframes associated with various Stages set forth above are estimates only. Such timeframes are subject to change, including delay or early action, depending on ESIC’s business needs. |