Eligibility
Organizations interested in hosting an L-Root single in their network must:
- Be an Africa-based organization (e.g., ISPs, Enterprise Networks including universities and government networks, IXPs, and others).
- Meet technical requirements:
- Ability to provide suitable housing (hosting) for the L-Root single system in Africa. This includes ensuring proper connectivity, power supply, and secure rack space. The L-Root appliance should be installed outside of host network firewalls to ensure optimal functionality.
Ability to meet the networking technical requirements, which include maintaining dual-stack connectivity (IPv4 and IPv6), establishing a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) peering session to propagate specific routes, and adhering to best
- practices, such as actively using the IETF best common practice (BCP38) in your networks.
- Provide commitment to acquire the designated hardware appliance from a nominated vendor specified by ICANN.
- Limited funding may be available to cover costs related to the purchase of the hardware appliance. See “Limited Funding Opportunity” below for more information.
- Support ongoing L-Root operations such as Internet bandwidth, electricity, hardware maintenance, and related expenses.
- ICANN does not charge any fees for hosting, as it is a collaborative effort to enhance the global internet infrastructure.
- Demonstrate ability to replace/refresh the hardware after a period of five years without ICANN’s financial support.
- Support ICANN’s compliance with relevant U.S. laws, rules, and regulations.
Upon successful completion of ICANN due diligence and the signature of a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA), successful organizations will execute an L-Root Single Agreement with ICANN. More information about the process to become an L-Root single host is available here.
Funding Opportunity
- Limited funding may be available to cover costs related to the purchase of the hardware appliance. Organizations receiving financial support will be reimbursed for up to USD $6,000 after the L-Root (formerly IMRS) Single is successfully deployed.
- Expressions of interest with request for limited funding is closed as of 15 April 2024.
- Submissions will be evaluated against the above requirements by the ICANN Organization DNS Engineering team.
- If and when an organization is deemed by ICANN org to be a potential candidate to receive such limited funding,they will be contacted by the ICANN organization who will then conduct further due diligence.
Call for Expressions of Interest Now Closed
Are you an Internet Service Provider (ISP), an enterprise network (including universities and government networks) or an Internet Exchange Point (IXP) in Africa interested in hosting an L-Root single?
By hosting an L-Root single, you can potentially enhance network performance, decrease DNS query response times, and reduce bandwidth usage for root zone queries.
ICANN's L-Root program allows you to actively contribute to the development of the Internet infrastructure, demonstrating your organization’s commitment to a secure DNS ecosystem. Hosting an L-Root single will not only showcase your organization's dedication to the stability and security of the global Internet infrastructure, but also bolsters your reputation as a dependable entity in the digital landscape.
We seek to establish collaboration between eligible organizations in Africa and ICANN, with the goal of installing and operationalizing an increased number of new L-Root singles by June 2025.
The deadline (15 April 2024) for submitting Expressions of Interest in hosting an L-Root single and receiving limited funding support has now passed. Please check back here for more information. If your organization is interested in hosting an L-Root single without any funding from ICANN, please contact gseafrica@icann.org.
