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The development of Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) required cooperation and communication among the various organizations and individuals who are responsible for the technologies, systems, and protocols of the Internet. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) led the effort to create standards for using non-ASCII characters in the Domain Name System (DNS). VeriSign contributed to the standards process as a member of the IETF’s IDN Working Group. Through a process of revision and comment, participants reached agreement and issued standards in 2003.
Published IDN Standards
The four standards related to IDNs are the encoding scheme, name preparation, and IDNs in applications and string preparation. In March 2003, the IETF published the last of the IDN Requests for Comment (RFCs). Review our IETF Standards Summary.
- RFC 3490 -- IDNs in Applications (IDNA)
- RFC 3491 -- Name Preparation (nameprep)
- RFC 3454 -- String Preparation (stringprep)
- RFC 3492 -- Encoding Scheme (punycode)
- RFC 2781 -- UTF16
VeriSign IDN Program
The VeriSign IDN program follows the IETF standards and VeriSign serves as an important partner in testing the application and technologies required - please review the Technical Considerations. In March 2003, the IETF published the last of the IDN Requests for Comment (RFCs) and VeriSign has completed the migration process following the published RFCs.
Internet Standards Community
- Internet Architecture Board (IAB), the technical body that oversees the development of the Internet suite of protocols.
- Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), an international, voluntary group of network designers, engineers, researchers, vendors, and other interested individuals who work together to address and resolve technical and operational problems on the Internet and develop Internet standards and protocols. (See http://www.ietf.org )
- Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN): An international not-for-profit, private sector organization created to coordinate four key functions for the Internet: the management of the domain name system, the allocation of IP address space, the assignment of protocol parameters, and the management of the root server system. (See http://www.ICANN.org )