MARINA DEL REY, CA - The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced in a press release that it has published the 2008 Annual Report online on December 31, 2008.
The report covers in detail the organization's achievements and progress during 2008, including three major initiatives ICANN has undertaken this year: the process for introducing new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) to the Internet; the introduction for the first time of internationalized domain names (IDNs); and an extensive Improving Institutional Confidence consultation, to enable the conclusion of the Joint Project Agreement (JPA) with the United States government in September 2009.
Reports from the chairs of ICANN's Supporting Organization and Advisory Organizations are included alongside detailed rundowns of each department by the organization's staff.
Additionally, since it is ten years since ICANN's inception a brief history of the organization, split into its 33 international public meetings, is included, alongside a special memorial note to Jon Postel, one of the Internet's pioneers, from former ICANN chairman Vinton Cerf.
Further contents include:
• Biographical details on each of the Board of Directors
• Highlights of the organization's Strategic and Operating Plans
• An in-depth look at the New Delhi, Paris and Cairo meetings
• Messages from the CEO and Chairman
• The audit report for ICANN, 2007-2008
• ICANN's compensation practices and salary structures for the corporate officers.
“I am delighted to announce the release of our third annual report," ICANN's Chairman of the Board of Directors Peter Dengate Thrush said.
"In this our tenth year ICANN and its community either accomplished or made significant progress toward many goals for the Domain Name System," he added.
"The Internet is growing and evolving at an accelerating pace," Dengate Thrush continued.
"The next billion users will demand more innovative products and services, will access the Internet largely through mobile devices, and will expect to be able to do so in their own languages and language scripts. ICANN's efforts are geared towards developing policies and technologies that will satisfy this next-generation Internet," he concluded.
The complete annual report is available online at: http://www.icann.org/en/annualreport/annual-report-2008-en.pdf
