Tag Archives: VeriSign

Fri 21st May 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Meet a Faces Behind a Top 10 Domain Registrars - VeriSign interviews founders and CEOs of top domain name registrars. Some domain name registrars have boisterous CEOs with their own blogs and video blogs. Others are a bit quieter. As part of its “25 Years of .Com” celebration, VeriSign has captured the stories behind 10 of the top domain name registrars, and it’s a good opportunity to hear from the quieter CEOs in the industry. VeriSigns “Meet the domain pioneers” features the CEOs or founders of ten ... read more ...
Wed 19th May 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Understanding a Value of VeriSign’s Monopoly - The definition of a cash cow. Just how valuable is VeriSign’s monopoly on .com and .net domain name registrations? With rumors that the company is seeking a buyer for its security group, leaving it basically with just registry services, the monopoly is being thrust back into the spotlight. At latest count there are roughly 87 million .com domains registered and 13 million .net domains. As of July 1, the price VeriSign charges on .com will be $7.34 and .net to ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
VeriSign Withdraws Request for “Domain Name Exchange” Service - Registry nixes domain trade-in plans — for now. Last month VeriSign submitted an evaluation request to ICANN for a so-called “Domain Name Exchange”. VeriSign has withdrawn the request according to the evaluation status on ICANN’s web site. The service would basically allow domain name registrars to return unused domain names in exchange for others. This would be ideal for companies that sell web packages for less than a year at a time. For example, a web ... read more ...
Thu 29th April 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
.Com and .Net Base to Top 100 Million This Quarter - VeriSign set to hit major milestone this quarter. Sometime this quarter, VeriSign predicts its total registered base of .com and .net domain names will top the 100 million mark. In its investor conference call last night, VeriSign reported that the base is currently 99.3 million domain names. 2.5 million net new names were added in the first quarter, and the company expects to add 2.0 to 2.3 million names to the base during this quarter. Do the math, and it’s ... read more ...
Wed 7th April 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
VeriSign Offers Tools to Secure Domain Names - Two tools from VeriSign help keep your domain names secure. With a couple recent high profile domain thefts, and the recent hijacking of Baidu’s nameserver settings, I reached out to VeriSign Chief Technology Officer Ken Silva to learn what VeriSign offers to help domain owners protect themselves. “Over the next 12 months, we’re working so that from the time a person registers a domain name and creates an account to when it gets resolved, almost every single ... read more ...
Mon 5th April 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
VeriSign Proposes Domain Name Exchange Service - New program would let registrars trade-in domains they no longer want. VeriSign has filed papers with ICANN proposing a “Domain Name Exchange” that would let .net domain name owners trade in their domains for others. The stated purpose of the exchange is to allow service providers that offer packages for less than a year to change in domains when customers are no longer using them: Today when a registrant terminates a package of services from a registrar after, ... read more ...
Fri 12th March 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN Board Drops Bomb on Registrars Hoping to Launch New TLDs - Board opts for separation of registrars and registries for new top level domain names. [Update: Minutes from board meeting emphasize pending plan from GNSO.] ICANN’s board resolved today that there will be “strict separation of entities offering registry services and those acting as registrars. No co-ownership will be allowed.” However, the board left the possibility open for compromise, stating that if the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) comes ... read more ...
Fri 26th February 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
VeriSign’s Plans for “.Com IDNs” Become Clearer - Registrants of existing .com domain names are well positioned for coming release of IDN TLDs. For years, domainers have been investing in Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) that use non-Latin characters. But these have all been IDN at the second level only, as there currently aren’t any top level domain names in non-Latin characters. So an internet user has to type the second level domain using one character set and then append “.com” to the end. But that’s ... read more ...
Mon 22nd February 2010
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
VeriSign 4th Quarter State Of The Industry Domain Report: 192 Million Domains; Up 11 Million - According to the new VeriSign released its State Of The Industry Report for the 4th Quarter today, (pdf) the Internet added 11 million domain name registrations in the 4th quarter of 2009 and wound up the year at more than 192 Million domains. New registrations in the 4th quarter of 2009 came in at around 3.7 million domain name registrations per month,  to total approximately 11 million new domain name registrations. This reflects an 8% increase in new registrations from the 3rd quarter of 2009. The ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
How Tiered Pricing Could Lower a Cost of Domain Name Registration - …for some domains, anyway. A lot of the talk around new top level domain names is the lack of pricing controls on providers. A company that launches a new TLD can set prices however they wish, and owners of existing TLDs worry that this idea would then be applied to their domains. Have a successful domain? You could get hit with a $1,000 renewal bill. But let’s look at the other side for a moment. My guess is VeriSign would like to offer variable pricing — ... read more ...
Fri 19th February 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
VeriSign Joins List of Companies Not Going to Nairobi - .Com registry to participate remotely. The world’s biggest registrar, Go Daddy, has already announced it is not sending anyone to the ICANN meeting in Nairobi due to security concerns. Now you can add the biggest registry, VeriSign, to the list. The company confirmed to me today via e-mail that it will not be sending anyone to participate in-person at the event: VeriSign has decided to participate virtually in the upcoming ICANN meetings in Nairobi. We made this ... read more ...
Tue 16th February 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
VeriSign Gets Patent for Suggesting Alternative Domain Names - Patent describes system for providing alternatives to already registered domain names. When you search for a domain name at any major registrar, and the domain isn’t available, the registrar will likely serve up a list of similar domain names that are available for registration. VeriSign just got a patent for part of that process. U.S. Patent 7,664,831 (pdf) was applied for in 2001, based on a provisional patent application filed in 2000. Here’s the abstract: A ... read more ...
Thu 11th February 2010
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
WSJ: Covers VeriSign, The No Bid Contract To Run The .Com Registry & What Happens After 2012 - The Wall Street Journal had an article discussing VeriSign today and its contract to run the .com registry “The domain name business remains the subject of a lawsuit originally filed in 2005, by a group calling itself the Coalition for ICANN Transparency – arguing that VeriSign’s deal with ICANN violates antitrust laws, while artificially inflating prices.” “”The lawsuit had been dismissed, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed course and potentially re-started ... read more ...
Tue 9th February 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Al Gore, Steve Jobs, Digg, Others adult for .Com 25 Awards - Politicians and instrumental web companies nominated for awards. As part of a year long celebration of the 25th anniversary of .com, domain registry VeriSign today announced nominees for its “.com 25″. There are 75 nominees; a panel of judges will whittle it down to the “.com 25″. The public is invited to show support for nominees to help the judges. Winners will be announced at a gala in San Francisco this May, hosted by comedian Dana Carvey. Among the ... read more ...
Wed 3rd February 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
VeriSign Toasts 25 Years of .Com - VeriSign launches campaign to celebrate 25 years of .com. .Com registry VeriSign has launched a new campaign to celebrate 25 years of dot com domain names and the emergence of the web. The campaign — found online at 25YearsOf.com — will celebrate a number of the milestones and important individuals that have made .com what it is today. As part of the program, VeriSign will sponsor a Policy Impact Forum in Washington D.C. on March 16. This forum will examine ... read more ...
Tue 2nd February 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Dynadot Offers VeriSign’s Expired Domain Data Treasure Trove - Dynadot extends data use to customers. Last year VeriSign quietly started offering its Internet Profile Service (IPS) to domain name registrars. The service provides traffic data on pending delete domain names. Since VeriSign runs the DNS for .net and .com, it has access to data that most other sources don’t have. Now domain name registrars are beginning to make the same data available to their customers. One of the first is Dynadot, which offers IPS to bulk ... read more ...
Tue 5th January 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Ranking Domain Name Stocks in 2009 - Mixed results for domain name stocks in 2009. The U.S. stock markets returned about 35% in 2009. Domain name stocks were a mixed bag, however. Here’s how six publicly traded companies fared last year, based on the closing price December 31 of 2008 versus 2009. Tucows (AMEX: TCX) – Up 106% – Tucows aggressively bought back shares in 2009, reducing its shares outstanding and thus increasing their price. But the buybacks only tell part of the story; the company ... read more ...
Fri 18th December 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
VeriSign Isn’t Stupid. That’s Why It’s Raising .Com Prices - VeriSign price increase makes sense for the company. There has been a collective whine from the domainer community over the past 12 hours after news broke that VeriSign is increasing .com prices again. I’m whining, too. But this is an expected and smart move by VeriSign. VeriSign’s contract with ICANN allows it to raise prices 7% in any four years of its current six year contract. It raised prices in the first two years, bringing VeriSign’s take of a .com ... read more ...
Wed 16th December 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN to Hold Live Consultation on New gTLD Registry Agreement - Live consultation to settle differences on domain name registry agreement. ICANN has scheduled a live consultation regarding the new top level domain name registry agreement for Thursday, 7 January 2010. The goal of the consultation is to discuss open issues in the agreement including: the process for amending the agreement, aspects of registry services reviews, and registry/registrar separation. One other major issue that should be discussed: (lack of) limits on ... read more ...
Thu 5th November 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
VeriSign Swings to Profit in Q3, Domain Name Base adult 6% - VeriSign reports earnings and domain growth. VeriSign, which manages the registry for .com and .net domain names, reported a profitable third quarter. The company earned $53.6 million in the quarter, compared to a loss of $201.1 million in the same quarter in 2008. VeriSign has divested a number of businesses lately, and is focusing on its core businesses, which includes domain registry. At the end of the quarter VeriSign had 94.9 million domains registered in ... read more ...
Thu 15th October 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
VeriSign Supports New TLDs? Of Course it Does. - VeriSign says it supports new top level domains, which shouldn’t come as a surprise. Chuck Gomes, VP of Policy and Compliance, Naming and Directory Services at VeriSign, wrote a post at CircleID about his company’s support of new top level domain names. This really shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone in the industry for many reasons: 1. New top level domains won’t erode demand for .com, which VeriSign manages. .Com will remain king. 2. VeriSign will make ... read more ...
Mon 5th October 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Latest Top Level Domain Guidebook Allows .Com Prices to Skyrocket - New draft guidebook doesn’t adequately address concerns that VeriSign could hike .com registration prices. Over the weekend, ICANN released its latest New gTLD Applicant Guidebook with guidelines for the introduction of new top level domain names such as .eco and .shop. Unfortunately, the guidebook still holds a time bomb for owners of existing domain names, such as .com domains, that could force them to pay massive renewal fees for their domains. What the guidebook ... read more ...
Wed 5th August 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Domain Name Companies Spend $2M Lobbying Washington - Analysis shows over $2M spent in first half of year on lobbying. Domain name related companies continue to spend millions of dollars lobbying representatives in Washington, a study by Domain Name Wire shows. The analysis used public records filed with the U.S. Senate to calculate lobbying expenses by domain name companies and other companies regarding domain name issues. By far the biggest spender is VeriSign (NASDAQ: VRSN), which spent $1.4M in the first half of ... read more ...
Tue 7th July 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Most Domain Stocks Down in First Half of 2009 - Domain stocks fail to keep up with broader technology index. The NASDAQ was up 16% in the first half of 2009, but the rally didn’t extend to most domain name companies. Here’s a look at how they fared. The Winners Tucows (AMEX: TCX) jumped 27% to 42 cents a share at the close on June 30, 2009. The company stabilized over the period, but the stock jump was aided by aggressive stock buybacks. AdLINK (DUS: LKI), the parent company of Sedo, saw its price increase ... read more ...
Wed 1st July 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Top Domain Name News Stories of Jun 2009 - A look back at the past month in domaining. Here are the top five news stories on Domain Name Wire in June, ranked by number of views. 1. VeriSign Gets Walloped in Court, .Com Domain Prices Could Fall – a court ruled that a case against VeriSign could go forward. If VeriSign ultimately loses, the cost of registering a .com domain name could drop. 2. Facebook URL Landrush This Friday Night – Facebook opened up vanity URLs. No more facebook.com/13343953212… 3. ... read more ...