VeriSign

Verisign operates as a global provider of domain name registry services and internet infrastructure. Verisign operates the infrastructure for the .com, .net, .tv, .cc, .name, .jobs, .edu and .gov top-level domains, as well as two of the world’s 13 Internet root servers A and J. 

Verisign’s critical yet mostly invisible role; helping to maintain the security, stability and resiliency of the Domain Name System (DNS) and the internet, can sometimes be overshadowed by more visible aspects of the domain name business. The importance of what they do behind the scenes, however, helps the world connect online every day.

The company is located in Virginia, United States, Managing and protecting the DNS infrastructure for some 121 million domain names and processing more than 77 billion Internet queries daily. Verisign’s infrastructure assurance services, including Managed DNS, DDoS Protection and iDefense Security Intelligence, help to ensure online businesses are as available as the Web itself.

1995: Verisign was founded in 1995 as a spin-off of the RSA Security certification services business.

1996: By January, VeriSign had signed up a dozen hardware makers, including Netscape Communications, IBM, Cybercash Inc., CompuServe Inc., and OpenMarket Inc.

1997: At the beginning of the year, VeriSign was the dominant certificate authority and was hoping to make its authentication technology the industry standard. Network Solutions had a successful IPO.

1998: The company released version 4.0 of OnSite, its suite of software and services for corporations that was first introduced in January.

1999: Network Solutions had a monopoly on domain name registration until 1999 when it was placed under the oversight of the semi-public Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and opened up to the competition.

2000: The new company received licenses to key cryptographic patents held by RSA (set to expire this year) and a time-limited non-compete agreement. Verisign acquired Network Solutions, which operated the .com, .net and .org TLDs under agreements with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the United States Department of Commerce.

2001: In this year, that figure rose to $6 billion worth of e-commerce transactions.

2005: Its right to operate the .net registry would expire at the end of June when registration of .net domains would be opened to competitive bidding.

2007: Under the agreement, VeriSign retained control of the .com registry until November, with the option to renew for an additional four years.

2017: Following ongoing controversies regarding Symantec's handling of certificate validation, which culminated in Google's untrusting Symantec-issued certificates in its Chrome web browser, Symantec sold this unit to DigiCert for $950 Million.

“Verisign enables the world to connect online with reliability and confidence, anytime, anywhere.”

“We are passionate about technology and continuous improvement. We embrace new technologies, ideas and the potential they promise. We also challenge past assumptions and do not accept that what works today will work tomorrow.”