Kevin Robert Elz, often referred to in computing circles as Robert Elz, or simply kre, is a

computer programmer A computer programmer, sometimes referred to as a software developer, a software engineer, a programmer or a coder, is a person who creates computer programs — often for larger computer software. A programmer is someone who writes/creates ...

and a pioneer in connecting

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

to the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

, and more recently, in connecting

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

Career

Some of his achievements include developing a number of important Internet

RFC RFC may refer to: Computing * Request for Comments, a memorandum on Internet standards * Request for change, change management * Remote Function Call, in SAP computer systems * Rhye's and Fall of Civilization, a modification for Sid Meier's Civ ...

documents, helping connect Australia to the world-wide Internet, developing the internet-based research network within Australia, and operating the

.au .au is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Australia. It was created on 5 March 1986. Domain name policy is managed by .au Domain Administration (auDA). As of July 2018, the registry is operated by Afilias. History The d ...

domain registry from 1986 through to the late 1990s. He also managed the

Usenet Usenet () is a worldwide distributed discussion system available on computers. It was developed from the general-purpose Unix-to-Unix Copy (UUCP) dial-up network architecture. Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979, and it was ...

hierarchy from its inception in the 1980s until the mid-1990s. In 1979 he co-founded the Australian Computer Science network ( ACSnet) and in 1989 with Torben Nielsen of the

University of Hawaiʻi The University of Hawaiʻi System, formally the University of Hawaiʻi and popularly known as UH, is a public college and university system that confers associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees through three universities, seven com ...

he completed the connection work that brought the internet to Australia, which enabled

AARNet AARNet (Australian Academic and Research Network) provides Internet services to the Australian education and research communities and their research partners. AARNet built the Internet in Australia. In 1995, the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Com ...

to develop soon after. He is an Honorary

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

, where for some years he worked in the

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

department. An ardent

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

fan, Elz is also credited for pioneering online text commentary for cricket matches. Having previously lived and worked in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

for many years, he currently lives in

Hat Yai Hat Yai ( th, หาดใหญ่, , also Haad Yai or Had Yai) is a city in southern Thailand near the Malaysian border. It is south of Bangkok, and has a population of 156,802 (2019) in the city itself and an urban population of about 400,00 ...

Songkhla Songkhla ( th, สงขลา, ), also known as Singgora or Singora (Pattani Malay: ซิงกอรอ), is a city (''thesaban nakhon'') in Songkhla Province of southern Thailand, near the border with Malaysia. Songkhla lies south of Ba ...

, Thailand, where he is an honorary lecturer in the Computer Engineering Department of the

Prince of Songkla University Prince of Songkla University (PSU) ( th, มหาวิทยาลัยสงขลานครินทร์; ) is the first university in southern Thailand, established in 1967. The name of the university was granted by the King Bhumibol ...

Operation of .com.au

As the architect of the early domain-name eligibility criteria for ".com.au", Elz was 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 The domain name .com is a top-level domain (TLD) in the Domain Name System (DNS) of the Internet. Added at the beginning of 1985, its name is derived from the word ''commercial'', indicating its original intended purpose for domains registere ...

registry. Elz was, however, criticised during his tenure, as domain name applications often took many months to be examined, despite the commercialisation of the Internet and customer demands for quick turnaround times. In 1990, Elz delegated responsibility for the ".gov.au" and ".edu.au" domains to Geoff Huston at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

. Elz handed the operation of ".com.au" to

Melbourne IT Webcentral, formerly known as Melbourne IT Group, is an Australian digital services provider. It is a publicly-traded company that was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange () in December 1999. It provides internet domain registration, ...

in 1996. Responsibility for other domains was transferred to

auDA .au Domain Administration (auDA) is the policy authority and industry self-regulatory body for the .au domain, which is the country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Australia. It was formed in 1999 to manage the .au ccTLD with the endorsement ...

in 2001.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elz, Kevin Robert Australian engineers Australian expatriates in Thailand Scientists from Melbourne Living people Year of birth missing (living people) University of Melbourne alumni University of Melbourne faculty Australian computer scientists