Domain News

Verisign has closed a deal to acquire Global Name Registry, the London-based company that runs the .name registry. This move adds to Verisign’s control over the domain industry, as the company already operates the registry for the .com, .net, .cc, and .tv domains while also running the DNS servers for .edu and .jobs.

Although the deal isn’t official, Verisign announced the move in an email to registrars. This email was obtained and posted on TechCrunch by Michael Arrington:

We are pleased to announce that VeriSign closed on an agreement to acquire Global Name Registry, Ltd., which includes management of the .name top level domain on October 1, 2008. We believe the addition of .name is a natural fit, as we have run the technical backend in support of .name for more than five years.

What does this mean for existing registrars?

Your interface to VeriSign for .name domain names will continue to operate as it has in the past with no changes.

We are currently assessing enhancements to the service offering that meet the needs of the registrar channel in servicing the consumer market. Please look for service notices in the coming weeks that will outline those changes and the steps you need to take advantage of those features.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Customer Service at info@verisign-grs.com.

Very truly yours,

PJ Bolanos
Vice President, Global Customer Support
VeriSign, Inc.

Northzone Ventures and Verdane Capital also invested in the company, although the details of the transaction are not expected to be released.

[via TechCrunch]

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Original post by Chad Kettner

eNom has recently made two significant changes. First, the domain registrar introduced their redesigned website which provides additional emphasis on their reseller service. Next, they announced a hike in domain registration fees that was directly impacted by Verisign’s October Price Increase announced in March.

If you’re going to purchase or renew your domain names, you should do so before October. Visit eNom’s website for more information on the price adjustment.

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Original post by Chad Kettner

Michael Geist recently reported that Rogers, an internet service provider, has changed its approach for failed DNS lookups, which happens when an internet user types in a domain name that does not resolve. Now, instead of reaching a standard error page, Rogers’ customers are being redirected to a sponsored page that contains links to Rogers’ content, paid search results, and additional Yahoo! search results.

Whenever a redirect happens, Rogers explains to the user that “these search results were provided because the domain name you entered into the address bar is either improperly formatted, currently unavailable, nonexistent, or part of a key word search. Rogers Supported Search Results is a service designed to enhance your web surfing experience by eliminating many of the error pages you encounter as you surf.”

Although Rogers allows users the option to opt-out, it is a temporary action that resets every time the cookies are cleared.

In 2003, Verisign provided a similar “service” anytime an internet user landed on an unregistered .com or .net webpage. Site Finder, as it was known, created enough controversy among network operators, competing domain registrars, and internet users that ICANN insisted for Verisign to cease wildcarding.

[via MichaelGeist.ca]

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Original post by Chad Kettner

As part of VeriSign’s (VRSN) 2001 purchase of eNic Corporation (operator of the .CC registry) the company became the owner of a patent application, which has now been granted on March 4th of this year under patent number 7,337,910 b2.

While the original patent application, at the time written by eNic’s CEO Brian Cartmell and eNic’s CTO Jothan Frakes, was used in order to resolve and offer non-existent domain names for registration, it would also cover Verisign’s Sitefinder application, implemented in September of 2003, causing any unregistered .COM/.NET domain to resolve to a parked page. VeriSign, was ordered by ICANN to cease the practice shortly after they introduced it.

The patent could potentially be used in order to request licensing fees from the operators of the .CM wildcard or DNS providers and ISPs whose nameservers respond to failed DNS queries.

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Original post by Frank Michlick

As reported earlier, the Australian registrar Melbourne IT has acquired the Verisign Digital Brand Management Services unit for $50 Million USD. Verisign’s Digital Brand Management Services manages the domains for about 2,000 corporate client such as Microsoft.

According to Versign, “the Digital Brand Manager enables companies to manage their entire domain name portfolios – including names currently registered through other vendors – through a secure, Web-based portal.” By combining its Corporate Brand Services division with Verisign’s DBMS business, Melbourne IT has greatly increased its scale and market share in digital brand protection and protection market.

“The acquisition of VeriSign DBMS is expected to quadruple our current enterprise client base, provide a leading market position in the Americas and deliver a 200 per cent increase in the number of digital brands managed on behalf of our clients,” said Melbourne IT chief executive Theo Hnarakis.

Melbourne IT said it would rename the purchased unit “Melbourne IT Digital Brand Services” and added that they are looking to develop “world class data centre facilities and digital brand support services during the year“.

On the other side of the deal, this move indicates that VeriSign is going to focus all their resources on the more profitable registry business. Domain Tools Blog mentioned that William Roper, the CEO of Verisign, had recently “indicated that a leaner more focused business was his goal.”

Melbourne IT, established in 1996 as a part of Melbourne University, has grown to be a leader in domain name registrations. They were one of the five first companies to be granted access to .com sales by ICANN following Network Solution’s monopoly on the industry and have built a strong following by offering affordable services worldwide.

[via Domain Tools Blog]

Further Reading:

TheAge.com.au: Melbourne IT buys Verisign’s DBMS

TechCrunch: Melbourne IT Acquires Verisign DBMS for $50 Million

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Original post by Chad Kettner

According to several sources the Australian Registrar Melbourne IT has purchased the Verisign Digital Brand Management Services (DBMS) unit for $50 Million USD. Verisign DBMS is a a domain registration and brand monitoring service mostly used by large corporations, such as Microsoft.

[via TechCrunch]

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Domain Convergence, October 6-8, 2008, Niagara Falls

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Original post by Frank Michlick

Antony Van Couvering is a seasoned veteran of the domain space.  We found his commentary on the Verisign price hike worth a read, so we’re passing it on to you in case you missed it. Anyone not agitated (even more) at the ICANN/Verisign issues after reading this probably works for one of the aforementioned companies.

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Original post by Adam Strong

In an announcement sent to registrars today, Verisign announced that they will again be raising prices on both .com and .net domain names.  The price increase, effective October 1, 2008, will raise the registry fee to $6.86 for .com and $4.23 for .net domains. (*Note these are registry prices, ie what registrars pay to the registry)  You should therefore expect all registrars to be increasing their retail prices in October.

This news comes as no surprise as the ICANN and Verisign revised agreement allows for Verisign to raise rates by 7% every year of their new contract and grants them a presumptive renewal of that contract.  It’s interesting how the cost of every other technological commodity such as bandwidth and server space has decreased in price, yet Verisign somehow can increase it’s prices.

Domain Name News advice - buy Verisign stock. ;)  and renew your domains before October

The note sent to all registrars can be seen after the jump.

(more…)

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Domain Convergence, October 6-8, 2008, Niagara Falls

price increases, verisign

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Original post by Adam Strong

The domain industry continues to grow, as demonstrated by the latest Domain Report by VeriSign, the global registry operator for .com and .net.

VeriSign reported that the third quarter of 2007 had 31% more domain registrations than the same time period from last year, ending with a total base of 146 million domain name registrations worldwide for Top Level Domain names (TLDs).

“Some growth was driven by consumers as domain name registrars targeted consumers with their marketing efforts and expanded product functionality aimed at making domain names more attractive to consumers including tools to enable consumers to publish their own podcasts, as well as, add custom calendars and personal portal pages.”

While the domain industry continues to grow, so does the idea of purchasing domains for the purpose of parking, an issue that is becoming more difficult to track for VeriSign.

According to the December report, 87% of all analyzed websites are live while only 13% are inactive. In their previous reports (including the August report), however, VeriSign had another section attributed to “Parked Web Sites”, which at the time accounted for 23% of the .com/.net industry.

While it is safe to assume that 20% of all .com and .net web sites are being parked, it is interesting to note that VeriSign may be no longer able to easily distinguish between which sites are live compared to which ones are parked. As the domain industry continues to grow at staggering rates, so will the use of parked domains.

domain industry brief, domain report, News, tools, verisign

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Original post by Chad Kettner