So -- how much notice would the operator community want before deploying new software? What about for enterprises? (We all know that stuff *can* be deployed more quickly in emergency circumstances. We also know the problems that that can lead to, which is why we generally want testing and controlled deployment.)

From the technical point of view, in order to provide proper design, technical review and testing prior to deployment, I would think that there should be a minimum of 3 months notice.

From the political point of view I agree with the person who said "after Verisign's contract expires". In other words, the notice should be given prior to contract renewal so that the action can be discussed as part of the contract renewal process. However, the actual deployment should not happen until at least 3 months after contract renewal to allow for technical activities.

It is not appropriate to require network operators to take actions to adapt to a change that may or may not occur depending on some policy approval process. The two notice periods need to be decoupled so that the policy approval is done first and then the technical notice period begins. --Michael Dillon