hi all, here's an example of an outreach item that we could use as a model. mikey http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/12/prweb11412696.htm Blacknight Advises IT Professionals to Take Steps to Mitigate Potential Name Collision Issues Leading Irish registrar joins ICANN in public education campaign to promote DNS stability. We want to get the message out to all IT professionals to change these internal names to FQDNs to get ahead of the problem. Carlow,Ireland (PRWEB) December 11, 2013 Leading Irish domain registrar and hosting company, Blacknight joins ICANN in urging IT professionals to correct potential Name Collision issues before they become a critical problem. A report released by ICANN on December 6, 2013, titled “Name Collision Identification and Mitigation for IT Professionals”, explains the nature and causes of name collision and proposes a range of possible solutions. Domain Name Collision happens when a name used by an individual or organisation for their private networks matches a new TLD that has entered the DNS. For instance if a company were using an internal name called “company.printer.office” this unqualified domain could “collide” with the .office TLD and cause network confusion. However, according to ICANN, the report shows that private networks will consistently, stably, and reliably perform name resolution when they use Fully Qualified Domain Names (FQDNs) and resolve them from the global DNS. “The Collision reports on individual new TLDs are staggering,” Blacknight CEO Michele Neylon explains. “In some cases there are thousands of “internal names” and private name spaces causing collision for a single TLD as private query results show up in the global DNS. We want to get the message out to all IT professionals to change these internal names to FQDNs to get ahead of the problem.” To mitigate the problem, ICANN recommends that users not already using FQDNs from the public DNS should consider the following strategy: Monitor name services, compile a list of private TLDs or short unqualified names you use internally, and compare the list you create against the list of new TLD strings. (You can see all applications on http://www.dotwhat.co) Formulate a plan to mitigate causes of leakage. Prepare users for the impending change in name usage by notifying them in advance or providing training Implement your plan to mitigate the potential collision Neylon continues: “If these potential issues go uncorrected, it will become a problem for both the global DNS and internal networks using the names that are causing collision. At Blacknight we pride ourselves on providing our customers with a pain free online experience and will continue to update and educate the community on any related developments to stay far ahead of this problem.” ICANN’s Name Collision resources, including the Name Collision Identification and Mitigation for IT Professionals report can be found at http://www.icann.org/en/help/name-collision. For more information on Blacknight’s suite of services please visit http://www.blacknight.com. About Blacknight: Blacknight are an Irish based, ICANN accredited domain registrar and hosting company. Recipients of several awards for their revolutionary use of social media, Blacknight are one of Europe’s most cutting edge Internet companies. Blacknight constantly seek to lead the way by introducing innovative solutions for its client base and provide dedicated servers and colocation as well as a comprehensive range of Microsoft Windows and Linux based hosting plans and domain name registration services to business globally. PHONE: 651-647-6109, FAX: 866-280-2356, WEB: www.haven2.com, HANDLE: OConnorStP (ID for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.)