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Verisign Gets Out of the Registrar Biz, Keeps .com Registry
Perianwyr Stormcrow writes "Verisign shot off a message today saying that they're selling off Network Solutions to Pivotal Private Equity (a firm specializing in picking up and turning around 'under-performing' businesses.) Perhaps Sitefinder was an attempt at maximizing shareholder value for the sale."
For those of you who don't RTFA, here is the key point from the release:
.com and .net domain name infrastructure currently handles over 10 billion interactions per day, remains with VeriSign as a critical component of its business. This Registry business was recently renamed VeriSign Naming and Directory Services and is a core piece of VeriSign's Internet Services Group.
When VeriSign acquired Network Solutions in 2000, it obtained two distinct businesses:
- The customer-facing Registrar business is the world's leading provider of domain name registrations, and an industry leader in value added services such as business email, websites, hosting and other web presence services. The Registrar, which re-assumed the Network Solutions name in January of this year, constitutes the current Network Solutions business that is being sold.
- The Registry business that is the backbone of the global
Synopsis: selling customer facing biz, keeping registry infrastructure.
"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-bitch." - Jack Nicholson
They're only selling half of the business.
.com and .net domain name infrastructure currently handles over 10 billion interactions per day, remains with VeriSign as a critical component of its business. This Registry business was recently renamed VeriSign Naming and Directory Services and is a core piece of VeriSign's Internet Services Group.
.com/.net in an impartial manner. Go SiteFinder!
Quote from the press release:
When VeriSign acquired Network Solutions in 2000, it obtained two distinct businesses:
The customer-facing Registrar business is the world's leading provider of domain name registrations, and an industry leader in value added services such as business email, websites, hosting and other web presence services. The Registrar, which re-assumed the Network Solutions name in January of this year, constitutes the current Network Solutions business that is being sold.
The Registry business that is the backbone of the global
If I was a gambling man, I'd bet that this is an end-run around ICANNs contract with them to run
There are two parts: the registrar business of signing up domain names (the same as what places like register.com do), which is what is being sold, and the registry business, which is the maintenance of the central .com database and the root server(s). They're keeping the registry side, so the submitter's comment about Siteminder is in error... they still have that side of the operation.
Save Maine's economy: write stuff down. All comments are exclusively my own, not my employer.
Whats so bad about it? Ok off the top of my head.....
1) I cannot turn it off.
2) Its in English (not the native tounge of the reader).
3) It breaks the autocomplete url functionality because every time I typo a url it is added to my history, where as they are not added when a domain is not found. Making the right sites harder and harder to find.
4) Search engine is paid for adverts.
5) http is not the only protocol on the planet, its just one port of many.
6) Why does verisign have the right to the wildcard, surely this is a valuable commonity and should have been sold off to the highest bidder?
James
Ever heard of "From Rags to Riches" stories? Not all of them are made up or trumped up on the evening news. Societies/economies based on human's own motivation and drive are not bad.
Your key phrase was "almost impossible." Many a fortune has been made on beating those odds. Don't be such a cynic. Not everyone gives up so easily.
It's only a "billion dollar business" because it's a monopoly and because it's been heavily hyped.