.cloud

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Status:	Delegated
Type:	Generic TLD
Category:	Technology
Key People
Francesco Cetraro

.cloud is a TLD delegated in ICANN's New gTLD Program. The TLD is managed by Italian Company Aruba PEC SpA, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aruba S.p.A., one of Europe's largest Hosting and Cloud Providers with over 2 million customer . The back-end services are provided by ARI Registry Services. The proposed application succeeded and was delegated to the Root Zone on 26 Jun, 2015.

Launch Plans

The Registry kicked off the .cloud launch by announcing the first wave of Pioneers on October 7th, 2015 . Over 30 companies are featured in the Pioneer program, ranging from leaders of the cloud space such as Canonical ltd. (the company behind Ubuntu Linux), Odin, Jelastic, Atomia, SpamExperts and OVH, to startups from various part of the world. The Pioneer stories are presented on the WorldOf.Cloud portal.

The End-date Sunrise for .cloud is scheduled to open on November 16th, 2015, and will run until January 15th, 2016. A Landrush will follow between January 25th and February 5th, 2016. General Availability will start on February 16th, 2016 .

The .cloud TLD is open to everybody and does not have any eligibility restriction.

Former Applicants

A private auction conducted in November 2014 left Aruba as the only applicant for the string.

1. CloudNames, a Norwegian TLD consultancy and management services provider. CloudNames plans to provide a dedicated identity and online space for companies and organizations engaged in offering cloud-based services through the .cloud string. The company plans to operate the TLD as an open TLD with unrestricted registration. CloudNames has partnered with Afilias to provide back-end registry solutions to ensure that the .cloud domain name space is secured and that new DNSSEC security protocols will be implemented.
2. Top Level Domain Holdings Ltd., it is one of 68 applications that the company has filed for on its own behalf. This applicant submitted a Public Interest Commitment, which can be downloaded here.
3. Symantec Corporation, the company provides security, storage and systems management solutions for its clients worldwide. Fair Winds Partners help the company submit its application with ICANN. Phil Lodico, Managing Partner of Fair Winds Partners is the contact person. Cloud Industry Forum Limited filed a Community Objection against this application.
4. Amazon, the company filed for the 76 domain name strings including .cloud through its office in Luxembourg. Cloud Industry Forum Limited filed a Community Objection against this application.
5. Donuts (Dash Cedar, LLC), a start-up registry operator that applied for 307 new gTLDs. This applicant submitted a Public Interest Commitment, which can be downloaded here.
6. Google (Charleston Road Registry Inc.), has applied for 101 TLDs. Sarah Falvey, Senior Policy Analyst of Google is the main contact person in the application. Cloud Industry Forum Limited filed a Community Objection against this application.

Community Objections

Cloud Industry Forum Limited filed a Community Objection against three of the applications: Symantec, Amazon, and Google. All three objections failed and the applications are able to proceed after the panelist at the ICC concluded that the "cloud community" did not constitute a clearly delineated community.

GAC Early Warnings

The applications from Symantec, Amazon, and Google were each issued a GAC Early Warning from the representative of Australia and GAC Chair, Heather Dryden. The warning system is noted as a strong recommendation on behalf of national governments to the ICANN Board that a given TLD application should be denied as it stands. Applicants are encouraged to work with objecting GAC members.

The warning states that the applicant is "seeking exclusive access to a common generic string .. that relates to a broad market sector," which Ms. Dryden notes could have unintended consequences and a negative impact on competition.