Ajay Data Became First Indian to Become ICANN's ccNSO Council Member

The ICANN 2018 Nominating Committee announces the selection of leadership position for Country Code Supporting Organisation (ccNSO). Dr. Ajay Data, Founder & CEO of Data XGen Plus and a global leader in email linguistic services has been appointed as the new ccNSO council member. He has got a two-year term and will take up the position during ICANN 63 Meet in Spain in October 2018. The members of ccNSO, which is ICANN's policy development body for ccTLD (country code top-level domains) issues, are all country code Top Level Domain operators from around the world.

The Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO) of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is the policy-development body for global issues regarding country code top-level domains (ccTLD) within the ICANN structure.

Dr. Ajay Data, Founder & CEO of Data XGen Plus, is the first Indian to have been selected as a member of ccNSO and will be representing India at a global level. He believes in a visionary approach and a technology-based business thinking. He has been credited for giving access to the World for Internationalized Email Address in 19 languages including Cyrillic, Arabic, Thai, Mandarin, Korean and 15 Indian languages which is available through DataMail app.He will be the custodian of Asia/ Australia/ Pacific Islands as a member of ccNSO.

Commenting on his appointment, Dr. Ajay Data said, “I am very thankful to the government of India for supporting my candidature for this prestigious position which not only brings in pride to the country but also huge responsibility to participate and contribute in shaping the future of the internet.”

The Nomination Committee of ICANN had the task to fill up several positions including two members for ccNSO and three directors for iCANN before the Annual General Meeting in October 2018 in Barcelona, Spain. Post the deadline of the applications in March, a three-day meeting took place in Washington DC to evaluate the applications and only a few candidates were selected. The final round of interview was held during ICANN 62 in Panama City.

The Nomination Committee had received a total of 109 completed applications: 19 from Africa; 25 from Asia Pacific; 21 from Europe; 13 from Latin America and the Caribbean; and 31 from North America. There were 33 female and 76 male applicants. Several applicants applied for more than one position.

“Participation in ccNSO Council will allow me to contribute to the policies pertaining to country code names. With this responsibility, I will be in better position to work towards breaking the language barrier for getting the next billion people online and also support our own Digital India Mission,” he added.

CCNSO was established under the bylaws of ICANN and is responsible for developing and recommending global policies relating to ccTLD to the ICANN Board of Directors, including the name-related activities of ccTLDs and coordinating with other ICANN Supporting Organizations, committees, and constituencies under ICANN.