Kevin Robert Elz

Kevin Robert Elz, often referred to in computing circles as Robert Elz, or simply kre, is a computer programmer and a pioneer in connecting Australia to the Internet, and more recently, in connecting Thailand.

Some of his achievements include developing a number of important Internet RFC documents, helping connect Australia to the world-wide Internet, developing the internet-based research network within Australia, and operating the .au domain registry from 1986 through to the late 1990s. He also managed the aus.* Usenet hierarchy from its inception in the 1980s until the mid-1990s.

He is an Honorary Fellow at the University of Melbourne, where for some years he worked in the Computer Science department.

Amongst undergraduate students within the department in the mid-1990s, he was considered a semi-mystical figure, having written the BSD operating system's quota system and contributed to its timezone management system. He was rumoured to have a work contract which allowed him time off whenever cricket was being televised.

Having previously lived and worked in Melbourne for many years, he currently lives in Hat Yai, Songkhla, Thailand, [cite web|url=http://cnr.coe.psu.ac.th/members_kre_e.htm|title=Elz's staff listing at Thailand's Centre for Network Research] where he is an honorary lecturer in the Computer Engineering Department of the Prince of Songkla University. [cite web|url=http://www.coe.psu.ac.th/en/|title=Department of Computer Engineering at the Prince of Songkla University]

Operation of .au

As the architect of the early domain-name eligibility criteria for ".com.au", Elz is largely responsible for Australia's not experiencing a domain name gold rush in the mid-1990s. The eligibility policy required a direct connection between a company's official name and its domain name, in contrast to the strictly first-come-first-served policy of the .com registry.

Elz was, however, criticised during his tenure, as domain name applications often took many months to be examinedFact|date=February 2007, despite the commercialisation of the Internet and customer demands for quick turnaround timesFact|date=February 2007. He was also responsible for the controversial handing-over of the operation of ".com.au" to Melbourne IT in 1996.Fact|date=February 2007

References

External links

* [http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/II/OzI04.html Origins and Nature of the Internet in Australia] by Roger Clarke