20.02.2017

Help Wanted… Evaluation of EAI Readiness of Major Email Software and Services

Universal Acceptance Steering Group

Background

Universal Acceptance is a foundational requirement for a truly multilingual Internet, one in which users around the world can navigate entirely in local languages. It is also the key to unlocking the potential of new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) to foster competition, consumer choice and innovation in the domain name industry. To achieve Universal Acceptance, Internet applications and systems must treat all TLDs in a consistent manner, including new gTLDs and internationalized TLDs. Specifically, they must accept, validate, store, process and display all domain names.

The Universal Acceptance Steering Group is a community-based team working to share this vision for the Internet of the future with those who construct this space: coders. The group’s primary objective is to help software developers and website owners understand how to update their systems to keep pace with an evolving domain name system (DNS). Email Address Internationalization (EAI) is a material part of the UASG’s work.

The Work

This work involves:

  • Agreeing with the UASG community the criteria for an application or services being EAI
    Ready.
  • Agreeing with the UASG community the major Email Software and Service providers.
  • Determining, using the agreed criteria, how EAI Ready each of the major email software
    and service providers are.
  • Producing a clear and concise report, including the evaluation criteria, the selection
    criteria and the evaluation methods to such an extent that the exercise can be
    replicated.

Desired Characteristics

  • You must be technically proficient and able to write clearly in English.
  • An understanding of the applications of issues around Universal Acceptance (UA) and
    Email Address Internationalization (EAI).
  • An understanding of email systems, components and software including EAI is essential.
  • Experiences with EAI deployment and implementation are preferred.
  • Working experience in email industry is an advantage.
  • Access to sufficient facilities to perform the evaluations.

Next Steps

Please provide us with:

  • A brief statement of interest and why you want to do this work and why we should
    want you to do this work.
  • A sample of similar writing.
  • An indication of the approach and resources that you will apply to the work.
  • An indication of expected costs and the basis of the cost.
  • Full contact details.
  • Two references.

Send completed expressions to: don.hollander@icann.org

If you have any questions, please send those to: don.hollander@icann.org
Please allow 24 hours for answers.

Universal Acceptance of Internet Domain Names a $ 9.8 Billion Opportunity