[Apologies for duplicates] Dear Colleagues, Dr. Paul Twomey, CEO of ICANN, has posted an open letter to Axel Pawlik, Managing Director of the RIPE NCC, noting ICANN's appreciation of the role RIPE NCC plays as operator of k.root-servers.net, or simply K-root, one of the 13 Internet root name servers. The letter was sent in response to letters sent by the RIPE NCC, Autonomica, operator of I-root, and WIDE Project, operator of M-root, to ICANN in May 2009. The letter notes that both ICANN and the RIPE NCC acknowledge "that a single, unique DNS root is paramount to the stable operations of the Internet and to ensure global interoperability", and that "close ICANN coordination with the root-server operators provides a foundation for a secure, stable and resilient DNS." ICANN and the RIPE NCC have jointly committed to "coordinating their respective activities regarding the DNS root name service with each other and third parties". This includes "exchanging and maintaining the necessary operational and administrative contact information, notifying each other without undue delay of any (pending) operational changes or any (pending) changes in their respective activities". You can view the full text of the letter from ICANN to the RIPE NCC at: http://ripe.net/news/icann-kroot-reply.pdf The text of the May 2009 letter from the RIPE NCC to ICANN can be found here: http://ripe.net/news/root-server-statement-to-icann.html More information about RIPE NCC's operation of K-root is available at: http://k.root-servers.org/ Regards, Paul Rendek Head of External Relations and Communications RIPE NCC