The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) has recently released a list of designated experts for the evaluation of the extended extensible provisioning protocol (EPP). Dr. Kong Ning, head of the international department of CNNIC, is on the list.

　　EPP, formulated by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), is a protocol widely used in domain name registration. As Internet domain name industry develops, the extension of EPP is in great need. To avoid any conflict between the extensions made by different registration authorities, IETF has recently formulated and released international standard RFC7451 (EPP extension registry), specifying that all EPP extensions are subject to the review of the IANA designated experts for EPP extension evaluation.

　　For now, there are five designated experts devoted to domain-name-related fields appointed for this purpose, among whom Dr. Kong is the only Chinese expert. The other four experts are: Scott Hollenbeck (author of EPP) from VeriSign, a .com domain name registration authority; Alexander Mayrhofer, R&D head at the Australian registration authority; Gavin Brown, CTO of CentralNic; and Roger D. Carney, Senior Director of domain name development at Go Daddy.

　　CNNIC Director Li Xiaodong remarks that CNNIC has long been devoted to promoting research on Internet domain name technologies, staying aware of international progresses in this field, conducting extensive international exchanges and cooperation, and taking active part in international technical standards development. Dr. Kong is an outstanding engineer fostered by CNNIC and he has rich experience in　internet-related international standards development and cooperation. He once served as a core member of the expert team that designs WEIRDS, the next-generation WHOIS protocol and now a partner in developing international standards of next-generation WHOIS.

　　It is also said that the pool of designated experts will attend the Registration Operation Workshop in Dallas, US on March 22, 2015. On the occasion, the designated experts will evaluate EPP extensions proposed by domain name registration authorities.