Simon Hackett wrote:
> 
> I have some questions to Melbourne IT regarding the recent report of
> activities in November, to date, as a fee-paying "Participating ISP". They
> stem mostly from this statement in the report:
> 
 [...]
> 
> I presume that we are going to receive an invoice for that re-registration
> at some point?  Is that the case?

Correct.  An e-mailed message has been sent this evening (Monday) to the
current list of 76 confirmed and potential PISPs (Participating ISPs),
proposing a collaborative bilateral process for verifying the
provisional lists of COM.AU Domain Names (DNs) "owned" by each PISP,
prior to the PISP submitting validated lists of DNs for renewal of
registration. Melbourne IT will then invoice each PISP on its validated
list. 


> Do you intend to gather data on our notion of preferred billing address for
> these names, ...

Yes
> 
[...]
> 
> Two hopefully clear and important questions are consequent to this. [...]
> [...]
> QUESTION:
> Will Melbourne IT adopt a policy such as the above, and resolve what may
> otherwise become a tremendously unfair and unpopular choice to deem all
> "old" names to have "expired" on 31-December-1996?

ANSWER: You raise a number of points that are clearly of great concern
to a number of ISPs. We wish to work out sensible solutions with the
ISP/IAP community. 

As the COM.AU DNA, we are motivated to improve the integrity of the
COM.AU name space, by flushing out the "dead" DNs and encouraging
updating of the administrative contacts for the "live" DNs; and this
will only happen through a combination of a collaborative process and
the commercial discipline of applying fees to the renewal of wanted DNs.
For this reason, we will be offering financial incentives for early
renewals, to those PISPs who are motivated to assist us in this updating
and data-cleansing process.

However there is bound to be scope for a compromise on timing for those
PISPs and ISPs who genuinely cannot cope with the current time-scale for
renewals.  The weakness in your proposal (that ISPs simply nominate the
anniversary dates for renewal) would only postpone the current problem
by one year if every ISP nominated the end of December 1997 as their
renewal date. We will consult with several large and small ISPs,
including yourself, to come up with a sensible way ahead on this. 
[...]
> 
> QUESTION:
> What are the prices for one year renewals (since only two year renewal rates
> are listed in the rest of the quoted web page)?

ANSWER: $50 via a PISP or $75 from a direct applicant, per DN. The $25
saving per DN to the PISP is, as usual, achieved through the Bureau not
having to incur the cost of processing individual payments.
> ----
> 
> One other note: the form for renewing existing names will, according to your
> web site (http://www.melbourneit.com.au/com_au/guidelines.html), be done by
> completing a form that "will become available on 15th November".
> 
> Guess what - it's the 18th. You've missed your service guarantee point on at
> least one, very public, deadline.
 
This was not a service guarantee point. 

One that's being watched very closely by a
> lot of ISP's wondering what the hell to tell their customers. Whoops.
> 
No-one's perfect ...

The manager of the COM.AU DNA bureau, David Hopkins, will try to get in
touch with you tomorrow to discuss your suggestions and concerns -  and
find some solutions. 
Regards
PG

-- 
Professor Peter Gerrand
CEO, Melbourne IT
Level 3, 207 Bouverie St
CARLTON Vic. 3053 Australia
Tel. +61 3 9344 9300
Fax. +61 3 9347 9473
Email: ceo§MelbourneIT.com.au
Home page: http://www.MelbourneIT.com.au/