VeriSign

VeriSign, Inc. operates as a critical component of the internet's infrastructure, specializing in domain name registry services and internet security. The company was established in 1995 as a spin-off from the RSA Security certification services business. A significant milestone in its history was the acquisition of Network Solutions in 2000, which at the time operated the .com, .net, and .org registries under agreements with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the U.S. Department of Commerce. This acquisition positioned Verisign as the authoritative registry for these top-level domains. Over the years, the company has divested several business units, including its SSL certificate business which was sold to Symantec in 2010, to focus squarely on its core registry operations and security services.

The primary business of Verisign is providing the registry services for two of the world's most important internet top-level domains (TLDs): .com and .net. This involves maintaining the master database of all registered domain names in these TLDs and managing the global infrastructure that propagates this information across the internet, ensuring that a user in any part of the world can navigate to a .com or .net website. Its clients are the domain name registrars, such as GoDaddy and Namecheap, who in turn sell domain names to end-users, including businesses, organizations, and individuals. Verisign's revenue is generated through fixed fees charged to registrars for each new domain name registration and for the annual renewal of existing domain names within the TLDs it manages. The pricing for .com domains is subject to an agreement with ICANN.

In addition to its registry services, Verisign offers critical internet infrastructure and security services. This includes operating a resilient and distributed network of servers globally to ensure the 100% operational accuracy and stability of its domain name services, a feat it has maintained for over 26 years. The company also provides public DNS resolution services, which are a fundamental part of how users connect to websites. Its security focus is on protecting the Domain Name System (DNS) from threats and ensuring the integrity and availability of the internet's naming systems. This specialized focus on the backend of the internet's architecture makes it a foundational, though often invisible, player in the digital economy.

Keywords: domain name registry, .com TLD, .net TLD, internet infrastructure, DNS services, network security, ICANN, domain registrars, internet stability, top-level domains