In a nutshell: How would you describe your project in one or two sentences?

BIND 9 has been the Internet's DNS server for the last 10 years. BIND 10 is the Internet's DNS server for the next 10 years.

When did the project begin?

Real work started 2009-04-01 (really!), although the project has been envisioned for at least 3 years now. BIND 10 is part of the overall BIND DNS Server project, which traces back to mid 1980ies.

How many active members does the project have?

There are 7 software developers, plus someone acting as release engineer and technical writer, plus a project manager who also writes code when he needs to do real work. ;)

There are also over 80 people subscribed to the developer mailing list, although most are lurkers.

How did the project come into being?

A few years ago, Paul Vixie realized that BIND 9 was "losing mindshare". The world had changed, but BIND 9 had not kept up - other DNS products
were starting to fill niches left by the old, 20th-century DNS software.

BIND 10 is intended to not only fix the known problems with BIND 9, but also to provide a framework where people can test and implement
solutions to their DNS problems. Hackers of all kind should be able to... hack. :)

Why should a CeBIT visitor come to your booth?

One of our main goals is to meet with different types of computer users. We have good access to DNS administrators - but only in big DNS setups.
Anyone who administers DNS in any environment - big ISP, enterprise, home office, whatever - should come by and talk about how they use DNS.
We can make sure we meet their needs in our software, and also give them an idea of what to expect in the future.

Also note that we are going to be supporting DHCP and IPv6/IPv4 transition software eventually be in BIND 10, so if you love DHCP and
not DNS, we want to talk to you too!

Who do you make your software for?

DNS is for everyone using the Internet, and the Internet is for everyone.

Our first releases will be targeted at big ISP and DNS operators. We are also targeting people who make DNS software, by providing high-quality,
well-documented, easy-to-use libraries. Later (in a couple of years) we will release a version that in a "drop-in" replacement for BIND 9. We are also going to be working with operating system vendors to insure that we meet their needs, and make a package that they can include and support.

As a long term goal we also plan on making our libraries and server software available in low memory versions, to allow these to be used in
embedded environments. A lot of embedded software runs low-quality DNS these days, and this is affecting everyone - especially as small
devices become more powerful.

Where do you see your biggest current challenge?

Right now - making our first year objective of delivering an authoritative-only DNS server! This is complicated because our developers are spread across 5 time zones, all around the world, so a lot of co-ordination has to be done via e-mail rather than chat or phone calls.

If you could hire a full-time project developer now, what problem should he or she be ready to solve?

Right now we need money to fund DHCP work.

Under which license is the software currently offered?

BSD license.

Internet adress: https://bind10.isc.org/