18(a) Describe the mission/purpose of your proposed gTLD

Prototypical answer:

The Mission and Purpose of the .cloud TLD will primarily be to create a viable and sustainable domain name sales business that will be operated as a going concern by Aruba S.P.A. The mission for this business specifically is to operate as many second level domains under .cloud as possible and the business will be geared towards providing pricing and policies that underpin this objective to make it achievable and affordable for .cloud registrants to register within the space.

The .cloud TLD aims to add value to the global online community through the provision of an alternative namespace that is relatively generic in nature and offers a new and innovative approach not currently available in today’s current TLDs.

In terms of a target market, the .cloud TLD will seek to capitalise on the growing international industry for technology services that are borderless, and seen globally as delivered within the ‘cloud’. The .cloud TLD has the mission to identify and contextualize all the solutions based on Cloud technology: from single systems to entire service structures including, but not limited to, services such as SaaS (Software as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service) and IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service).

In terms of market size, estimates forecast a market value of around $270 billion in the year 2020 for Cloud based services. As such, this is seen as a high growth area across the globe and the acquisition and utilisation of the .cloud TLD will provide an identity that is consistent for such providers across the world.

Further, given that Cloud based services are a comparatively new area, the creation of the .cloud TLD is seen as being highly attractive to the industry in that it provides operators with access to a new and relevant branding opportunity as well as helping them to overcome the challenges of keyword domain name availability in today’s current TLDs.

.cloud will be differentiated from other current gTLDs such as .net, .info or .org whose purpose is seen as less appealing for those seeking alternatives due to their reference to generic technology, information and organisations respectively. Rather, .cloud will provide a completely generic approach and a method for registrants to acquire domains in a fresh and reliable TLD.

Domain Name Registrars will be able to respond to this demand offering users the possibility to register “.cloud” domains without any restriction on use or content, except for cases provided for by current laws. This also allows for other registrants to register .cloud domain names that may be seeking to relate to areas that are outside of the previously stated Cloud Services industry, for example weather.

All the registrations will be for a 1 year period, renewable through standard renewal methods (from 1 to 10 years). For the first 3-5 years customers will be bound by an annual renewal.

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