.SAP New gTLD Application
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New gTLD Application Submitted to ICANN by: SAP AG
String: SAP
Originally Posted: 13 June 2012
Application ID: 1-1735-78954
Applicant Information
- Full legal name
SAP AG
- Address of the principal place of business
Dietmar-Hopp-Allee 16
Walldorf 69190
DE
- Phone number
+49 6227 747474
- Fax number
+49 6227 757575
- If applicable, website or URL
http:⁄⁄www.sap.com
Primary Contact
6(a). Name
Elmar Knipp
6(b). Title
CEO
6(c). Address
6(d). Phone Number
+49 231 97030
6(e). Fax Number
6(f). Email Address
Secondary Contact
7(a). Name
Dietmar Knipp
7(b). Title
CEO
7(c). Address
7(d). Phone Number
+49 231 97030
7(e). Fax Number
7(f). Email Address
Proof of Legal Establishment
8(a). Legal form of the Applicant
Stock Corporation
8(b). State the specific national or other jursidiction that defines the type of entity identified in 8(a).
Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesrepublik Deutschland):
Stock Corporation Act (Aktiengesetz)
http:⁄⁄www.gesetze-im-internet.de⁄aktg⁄index.html
8(c). Attach evidence of the applicant's establishment.
Attachments are not displayed on this form.
9(a). If applying company is publicly traded, provide the exchange and symbol.
Frankfurt_Stock_Exchange;SAP
9(b). If the applying entity is a subsidiary, provide the parent company.
n⁄a
9(c). If the applying entity is a joint venture, list all joint venture partners.
n⁄a
Applicant Background
11(a). Name(s) and position(s) of all directors
Dr. Werner Brandt board member
Gerhard Oswald board member
Vishal Sikka board member
11(b). Name(s) and position(s) of all officers and partners
Jim Hagemann Snabe Co-CEO
William Richard Bill McDermott Co-CEO
11(c). Name(s) and position(s) of all shareholders holding at least 15% of shares
11(d). For an applying entity that does not have directors, officers, partners, or shareholders: Name(s) and position(s) of all individuals having legal or executive responsibility
Applied-for gTLD string
- Provide the applied-for gTLD string. If an IDN, provide the U-label.
SAP
14(a). If an IDN, provide the A-label (beginning with "xn--").
14(b). If an IDN, provide the meaning or restatement of the string in English, that is, a description of the literal meaning of the string in the opinion of the applicant.
14(c). If an IDN, provide the language of the label (in English).
14(c). If an IDN, provide the language of the label (as referenced by ISO-639-1).
14(d). If an IDN, provide the script of the label (in English).
14(d). If an IDN, provide the script of the label (as referenced by ISO 15924).
14(e). If an IDN, list all code points contained in the U-label according to Unicode form.
15(a). If an IDN, Attach IDN Tables for the proposed registry.
Attachments are not displayed on this form.
15(b). Describe the process used for development of the IDN tables submitted, including consultations and sources used.
15(c). List any variant strings to the applied-for gTLD string according to the relevant IDN tables.
- Describe the applicant's efforts to ensure that there are no known operational or rendering problems concerning the applied-for gTLD string. If such issues are known, describe steps that will be taken to mitigate these issues in software and other applications.
Q16 - Operational or Rendering Considerations with Regard to the gTLD String
The SAP AG (and Knipp Medien und Kommunikation GmbH as its technical provider) ensured that there are no known operational or rendering problems concerning the applied-for gTLD string ʺsapʺ.
Since the gTLD string ʺsapʺ is an ASCII-only string, it is safe to assume that, just like with existing ASCII-only TLD strings like .com, .net or .de, no operational or rendering problems may be expected. In particular, the name consists only of ASCII characters that are already used for existing top level domains; all the characters in the name are even used in the leftmost position of existing TLD labels. In order to confirm this, Knipp Medien und Kommunikation GmbH conducted a thorough research regarding whether operational or rendering issues occurred for any existing ASCII-only top level domain in the past. The results of this research confirmed the assumption.
This means that bi-directional issues (like the ones described at http:⁄⁄stupid.domain.name⁄node⁄683) will not occur, also since the TLD string does not contain digits (which behaviour in bi-directional contexts can lead to rendering issues).
As the registry supports right-to-left scripts on the second level, the respective IDN tables were carefully crafted according to IDNA2008 standards to ensure that no rendering issues occur left or right of the dot (ʺ.ʺ) character separating the top and second domain name labels (which are the only labels under the registryʹs control).
Moreover, the gTLD string exclusively uses characters from a single alphabet, does not contain digits or hyphens, and it contains characters that are not subject to homograph issues, which means there is no potential for confusion with regard to the rendering of other TLD strings.
Finally, Knipp Medien und Kommunikation GmbH set up a testing environment for the .sap TLD using the TANGO Registration System, including an EPP SRS, Whois and DNS servers, in order to conduct a series of tests involving typical use cases (like web site operation and e-mail messaging) for a TLD. The tests revealed no operational or rendering issues with any popular software (web browsers, e-mail clients) or operating systems.
- (OPTIONAL) Provide a representation of the label according to the International Phonetic Alphabet (http://www.langsci.ucl.ac.uk/ipa/).
Mission/Purpose
18(a). Describe the mission/purpose of your proposed gTLD.
- Q 18 (a): Describe the mission⁄purpose of your proposed gTLD.
Headquartered in Walldorf, Germany, SAP is the market leader in enterprise application software. Founded in 1972, SAP (which stands for ʺSystems, Applications, and Products in Data Processingʺ) has a rich history of innovation and growth as a true industry leader. SAP applications and services enable more than 183,000 customers worldwide to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow sustainably. With revenue (IFRS) of €12.5 billion for the year 2010, SAP has more than 55,000 employees and sales and development locations in more than 50 countries worldwide.
SAP is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE, under the symbol ʺSAPʺ.
SAP helps companies of all sizes and industries run better. From back office to boardroom, warehouse to storefront, desktop to mobile device, SAP empowers people and organizations to work together more efficiently and use business insight more effectively to stay ahead of the competition. We do this by extending the availability of software across on-premise installations, on-demand deployments, and mobile devices.
We believe that the power of our people, products, and partners unleashes growth and creates significant new value for our customers, SAP, and, ultimately, entire industries and the economy at large.
Our mission is to help companies of all sizes and industries to run better. Our vision is to help the world run better.
1.1 SAP Active Quality Management
1.1.1 Prestige, Recognition, Acclaim, Respect
Highly successful implementations donʹt just happen – they are the result of proactive engagement from customers during implementation. To mitigate risks, organizations are using the most optimal resources, establishing a strong governance structure, and applying a solid methodology. As a result, companies can become ambitious in achieving high business value in a short period of time and at a low total cost of ownership (TCO).
1.1.2 SAP Commitment to Quality
* At SAP, quality and best practice are at the heart of everything we do. Our software development teams employ recognized practices to ensure the highest quality of design, development testing, and roll out. SAP Education and SAP Consulting services adhere to strict quality standards based on industry best practices. Our ASAP implementation methodology also incorporates clearly defined quality gates and various SAP quality assurance consulting services can decrease risks, reduce TCO, shorten implementation time, and increase business value.
* By learning from each implementation and through customer and partner feedback, SAP continues to improve quality by working more closely with our stakeholders.
* SAP partner programs, through certification of partners and their consultants, enable customers to make informed decisions when selecting implementation partners. Our partner programs and SAP quality assurance services also offer advice to partners about the best way to control program delivery and increase business value to customers.
1.1.3 SAP Quality Principles
* Based on thousands of implementations, SAP has developed a set of quality principles. They guide us, our certified partners, and our customers by highlighting essential factors that enable successful implementation and integration of SAP software into our customersʹ organizations.
* Our quality principles also underpin our sales activities, helping to ensure that we provide our customers with the necessary information to make carefully considered decisions about their solution and implementation options. And when issues do arise, we have documented processes and procedures to make sure the issues are resolved quickly.
- Our mission in the operation of the .sap gTLD
2.1 Security, trust, and reputation
A brand gTLD will help us protect our trademark and our company’s reputation. Our customers and Internet users in general will be able to rest assured that a website with our brand’s TLD is authentic and secure. This will help strengthen our brand while increasing our customers’ and the Internet Communityʹs loyalty and trust.
2.2 Control over internet presence
As the operator of our own registry, we will be able to establish the requirements and policies for all domain name registrants. We can choose to restrict use of our brand TLD to departments within the company or allow other companies with whom we partner as well as resellers of our products to use our brand gTLD.
2.3 New marketing opportunities
Operating our own brand TLD will provide new opportunities for marketing online. Whenever we launch a new campaign, we can create custom URLs with our brand extension. A brand TLD will allow us to reach new potential customers online, expand our target market, and strengthen relationships with current business partners and build new relationships with potential partners.
2.4 Short, memorable domain names and ease of access
Choosing to operate a gTLD will allow us to create domain names that are short and easy for consumers to remember. With more and more people using their mobile phones to connect to the Internet, accessing content online will be easier. Internet users seeking reliable first-hand information about our products or our company will benefit largely from the possibility to restrict the search space to the contents of .sap domains.
2.5 Competitive advantage
Being one of the first to be applying for a gTLD in this round will allow SAP to be ahead of the competition.
18(b). How do you expect that your proposed gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users, and others?
- Q 18 (b) How do you expect that your proposed gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users, and others?
We expect that our proposed gTLD will benefit Internet users in so far as it will help us protect our trademark and our company’s reputation in order to offer Internet users a seal of quality. Our customers and Internet users in general will be able to rest assured that a website with our brand’s TLD is authentic and secure. This will help strengthen our brand while increasing our customers’ and the Internet Communityʹs loyalty and trust.
Internet users seeking reliable first-hand information about our products or our company will benefit largely from the possibility to restrict the search space to the contents of .sap domains. Companies, reseller or other institution with whom we partner and to whom we want to give domain space under the .sap TLD will benefit from this reputation as well.
- Q 18 (b) i.) What is the goal of your proposed gTLD in terms of areas of speciality, service levels, or reputation?
The .sap TLD is a single registrant gTLD with its focus on our company, our customers, suppliers, partners, contractors, and especially on our products and services. This implicates a high degree of speciality. The Internet Community can expect to find more accurate, reliable, relevant and up-to-date information on us and our products and services than elsewhere in the domain name space.
The goal of our operation of the .sap gTLD is, among others, to improve the brand communication and to strengthen the customer and partner relationship. As such, it lies in our own interest to achieve service levels that guarantee for a satisfying user experience. The same holds for reputation.
- Q 18 (b) ii.) What do you anticipate your proposed gTLD will add to the current space, in terms of competition, differentiation, or innovation?
We are planning to enable Internet users to find more specialised and in-depth information on SAP products and services on .sap domains than anywhere else in the Internet.
While for most domains within our brand gTLD the focus will be on the content rather than on innovative Web technologies, some marketing campaigns and project sites will probably stand out with bleeding-edge technologies and concepts.
- Q 18 (b) iii.) What goals does your proposed gTLD have in terms of user experience?
A delightful user experience is likely to improve brand perception in the same way that a bad one is likely to damage it. As such, it is SAPʹs intention to provide Internet users with the best possible user experience. To achieve that, SAP is planning to implement monitoring and quality assurance measures.
- Q 18 (b) iv.) Provide a complete description of the applicant’s intended registration policies in support of the goals listed above.
We are not intending to sell domains to third party. We will be deciding to offer the second level domains based on our business requirements and priorities. Requesters do not have a right to a particular domain.
Additionally, SAP will have its own registration policies to assign second level domains. We will also have policies to maintain content integrity that will not proliferate to domains that are not relevant.
- Q 18 (b) v.) Will your proposed gTLD impose any measures for protecting the privacy or confidential information of registrants or users? If so, please describe any such measures. Describe whether and in what ways outreach and communications will help to achieve your projected benefits.
SAP will monitor and safeguard compliance with all applicable data protection and privacy laws.
As for outreach and communications, SAP will use its marketing and communications channels to socialise the fact that it has obtained this gTLD and its uses, benefits and protections to target audiences.
- Envisioned purpose of the .sap gTLD
7.1 Products:
7.1.1 Strategy
* Align SAPs product offerings⁄offering categories under a unique umbrella
* Apply .sap extension to these categories with high equity to project a cohesive brand and relationship
7.1.2 Illustrative URL - hana.sap
7.1.3 Audience
* Existing customers
* Potential customers
* SAP customers
* SAP partners
7.1.4 Sample Content:
* Product offering’s content along with clear messaging defining the relationship between the SAP brand and the product
* Future vision for products within portfolio
7.2 Acquisitions
7.2.1 Strategy
* Align acquired offers under a single umbrella
* Apply .sap extension to acquisitions with high equity to project a cohesive brand and relationship
* Use additional time to manage details regarding portfolio migration
7.2.2 Illustrative URL - sybase.sap
7.2.3 Audience:
* Analysts
* Potential customers
* SAP customers
* SAP partners
* Users of acquired brand
7.2.4 Sample Content:
* Acquired brand’s content along with clear messaging defining the relationship between the SAP brand and acquired offers
* Future vision for products within portfolio
7.3 New offer areas
7.3.1 Strategy
* When moving to a new offer area outside the current brand portfolio, use as a dedicated area for showcasing product content
* Create a clear connection between the new areas and SAP’s existing capabilities
7.3.2 Illustrative URL - mobile.sap
7.3.3 Audience:
* Analysts
* Potential customers
* SAP customers
7.3.4 Sample Content:
* Product information paired with clear messaging defining the relationship between products and other SAP offers
* Thought leadership on SAP’s role in that area
7.4 Marketing campaigns and brand building
7.4.1 Strategy
* A dedicated place for elevating SAP’s impact beyond the product level
* Space for a branded platform to celebrate the customer benefits of SAP
* Tied to a high-level brand asset (tagline, campaign)
* Eliminates the need to secure a new URL disconnected from the brand each time the campaign is refreshed
7.4.2 Illustrative URL - runbetter.sap
7.4.3 Audience:
* Analysts
* Potential customers
* SAP customers
7.4.4 Sample Content:
* Customer success stories
* User-submitted content
* Forum for dialogue
7.5 Vision and thought leadership
7.5.1 Strategy
* Elevate SAP’s thought leadership through blogs, editorial content etc.
* Place for thought leaders including but not limited to SAP’s co-CEOs to share their future vision for:
** the business
** the category
** the world as it relates to technology.
7.5.2 Illustrative URL - future.sap
7.5.3 Audience:
* Analysts⁄Media
* Potential customers
* SAP customers
7.5.4 Sample Content:
* Keynote speeches
* Interviews
* White papers
* Weekly briefings
7.6 Events
7.6.1 Strategy
* While the SAPPHIRE NOW experience happens once a year, the experience could be refreshed and revisited year round:
** Maintains enthusiasm for SAP’s industry-leadership position and interest in its offers
7.6.2 Illustrative URL - sapphirenow.sap
7.6.3 Audience:
* Analysts⁄Media
* Potential customers
* SAP customers
7.6.4 Sample Content:
* Essential SAPPHIRE NOW content
* Highlights of SAPPHIRE NOW presentations, ongoing thought leadership
* content (tied to product innovation, product releases R&D, etc.)
* Forums for attendee discussions & virtual campuses
7.7 Consumer
7.7.1 Strategy
* Create a distinct-yet-related experience for consumers exploring SAP’s app offerings in a non-B2B context
7.7.2 Illustrative URL - poweredby.sap
7.7.3 Audience:
* Consumer Audience who may or may not be part of SAP’s target for its business products
7.7.4 Sample Content:
* App exploration
* App labs
* Crowd-sourcing ideas
7.8 Corporate social responsibility
7.8.1 Strategy
* Ensure all of SAP’s individual community, environment, and charitable works are all collectively communicated to establish SAP’s position on corporate social responsibility
7.8.2 Illustrative URL - betterworld.sap
7.8.3 Audience:
* Investors
* Analysts⁄media
* Potential customers
7.8.4 Sample Content:
* CSR platform tying together all responsibility efforts:
** areas of charitable giving
** community outreach
** employee development
** environmental efforts⁄sustainability
7.9 Strategic partners
7.9.1 Strategy
* Focus all partner relationship channels into a single hub, making it easier to:
** access brand content
** access product content
** help create stronger relationships with SAP customers
7.9.2 Illustrative URL - partners.sap
7.9.3 Audience:
* Current partners
* Potential partners
7.9.4 Sample Content:
* Reconfigured partner content:
** streamline navigation of portals and labs into a cohesive environment
7.10 Recruiting
7.10.1 Strategy
* Create a compelling destination for those considering a career at SAP, and position SAP as a leading employer
7.10.2 Illustrative URL - joinus.sap
7.10.3 Audience:
* Recruiters
* Potential hires
7.10.4 Sample Content:
* Experiential platform for communicating what it’s like to work at SAP:
** videos
** employee testimonials
** development opportunities
7.11 Country specific sites
7.11.1 Strategy
* Create unique presence for geographies⁄countries where SAP has business presence. This will allow local representatives to tailor content relevant to the target Audience of that particular region.
7.11.2 Illustrative URL - emea.sap
7.11.3 Audience:
* Analysts
* Current customers
* Potential customers
* SAP customers
* SAP partners
7.11.4 Sample Content:
* Reconfigured country specific content:
** streamline navigation of country⁄region specific content into a cohesive experience
7.12 Second and third level domain URLs
* We envision using multi-level domain URLs for all the use cases defined above. This will help us achieve a deep level of association with the target Audience.
7.12.1 Illustrative URL:
* technical.partners.sap
* what.sap
* i.love.my.sap
18(c). What operating rules will you adopt to eliminate or minimize social costs?
- Q 18 (c) What operating rules will you adopt to eliminate or minimize social costs (e.g., time or financial resource costs, as well as various types of consumer vulnerabilities)? What other steps will you take to minimize negative consequences⁄costs imposed upon consumers?
It is important to note that SAP does not intend to to sell domains to a third party at any time. Therefore social costs (e.g., time for financial resource costs, as well as various types of consumer vulnerabilities) will not occur. Neither will there be any negative consequences⁄costs imposed upon consumers.
- Q 18 (c) i.) How will multiple applications for a particular domain name be resolved, for example, by auction or on a first-come⁄first-serve basis?
As mentioned above we are not intending to sell domains to third party. We will be deciding to offer the second level domains based on our business requirements and priorities. Requesters do not have a right to a particular domain. If they are offered a domain it will be without valuable consideration.
- Q 18 (c) ii.) Explain any cost benefits for registrants you intend to implement (e.g., advantageous pricing, introductory discounts, bulk registration discounts).
Due to the reasons stated above there wonʹt be any costs or cost benefits for registrants (e.g., advantageous pricing, introductory discounts, bulk registration discounts).
- Q 18 (c) iii.) Note that the Registry Agreement requires that registrars be offered the option to obtain initial domain name registrations for periods of one to ten years at the discretion of the registrar, but no greater than ten years. Additionally, the Registry Agreement requires advance written notice of price increases. Do you intend to make contractual commitments to registrants regarding the magnitude of price escalation? If so, please describe your plans.
As we do not intend to sell domains there will be no contractual commitments to registrants regarding the magnitude of price escalation.