Most countries have a ccTLD (country code top-level domain). Since there is no direct competition between these organizations, they have worked together to set up groups like LACTLD.  This is the regional organization that brings together the ccTLDs of Latin America and the Caribbean. Its main objective is to coordinate joint policies, as well as development strategies for domain names. In pursuit of this, it organizes technical, legal, political, and commercial workshops to work with various topics of interest. 

The technical-commercial workshop 2022 

After having carried out all its activities remotely since the beginning of the pandemic, LACTLD returned to face-to-face with a hybrid event in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. In which the .gt Domain Registry of the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala participated. The event took place from October 4 to 7 and combined two of the LACTLD Working Groups, the Commercial, and the Technical. It was held in conjunction with the LACNIC 38 – LACNOG 2022 meeting. 

The Workshop had a technical and a commercial agenda, with some joint sessions. The first included topics such as Blockchain, Unified Domain Search, MANRS,  Anycast Cloud, RDAP, ZONEMD, NetBeacon, DAAR, probe deployment platform, traffic analytics, and DNS resiliency.

The commercial part addressed topics such as advertising, digital strategy, innovation, rebranding, post-pandemic consumer trends, and the new paradigm in loyalty and digital marketing. Work tables were also held with all attendees to discuss the challenges, opportunities, and best practices in the distribution of domain names, the Metaverse, and the ccTLD-Registrar relationship. 

The .gt Domain Name Registry participated in these rounds and shared about all the efforts and initiatives that are being carried out in the country to digitize its population and educate people about digital citizenship and cybersecurity. 

LACTLD Unified Domain Search Agreement Signing Ceremony 

The 2022 Technical-Commercial Workshop was a milestone for the Association not only because of the return to attendance but also because it hosted an event of great importance for the community: the Integration Agreement Signing Ceremony was held at the Unified Domain Search, which gave the official start to this initiative. 

This project consists of a service that allows users to check the availability of registration of a domain name in the ccTLDs of Latin America and the Caribbean (adhered). The regional collaborative efforts of the Search Engine Committee gave rise to a service that will contribute to digital integration and transformation in Latin America and the Caribbean and the promotion of domain names, among other aspects. 

The Signing Ceremony was attended by 11 members of LACTLD. They were: Lito Ibarra (.SV), Ernesto Bojórquez (.MX), Luis Arancibia (.CL), Freddy Hernández (.UY), Lorena Villagómez (.EC), Susana Chaves (.CR), Jan Alvarado (.HN), Jenifer López (.PA), Tamara Zylbersztejn (.AR), Esteban Maldonado (.GT) and Gabriel Porco (.VE). Also, the representatives of .BR and .HT were present along with the remote participants who accompanied the ceremony. 

“We are very happy to have achieved this milestone for the Association. Once again, we have demonstrated that we are capable of building a high-impact project for Latin America and the Caribbean, based on regional collaborative efforts,” said Luis Arancibia, President of the LACTLD Board of Directors. He added: “Special thanks to the members of the Search Engine Committee who have worked hard over the past year and a half to make the development and launch of this project possible”.

Learn more about the work of the .gt Domain Names and the role that the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala has in the Internet ecosystem here.