Network Solutions

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Network Solutions, LLC

logo
legal form Limited Liability Company
founding 1979
Seat Herndon, Virginia
management Tim Kelly (President & CEO)
Number of employees 900
Branch Domains and web hosting
Website www.networksolutions.com

Network Solutions ( NSI for short ) is a US company with headquarters in Herndon, Virginia . From September 1997 until it was acquired by VeriSign in 2000, the company's shares were traded on the New York NASDAQ under the symbol NSOL .

NSI was founded in 1979 and initially dealt with the development of software . Network Solutions became known as the first registry of the top-level domains .com , .net and .org , which it held from 1991 until it was acquired by VeriSign in 2000. Although it only functions as a registrar and web host today , the company continues to be one of the largest representatives in its industry alongside GoDaddy , Tucows and eNom .

history

Network Solutions was founded in 1979 as a technology company specializing in application and systems programming . However, greater awareness reached it only through the management of top-level domains .com , .org , .mil , .gov , .edu and .net to him in September 1991 by the Defense Information Systems Agency of the US Department of Defense has been transferred . At this point in time, domains could be registered for free.

In 1992, Network Solutions applied as the only provider to further develop the Domain Name System and in the following year signed an exclusive contract with the National Science Foundation for the further administration of .com, .net and .org. The top-level domains .mil and .gov, on the other hand, were returned to the US government and managed independently again, with NSI later taking over the technical operation of .mil as a subcontractor to Boeing . It was not until 1995 that Network Solutions was granted the right to charge fees for assigning domains: In the first year, 100 US dollars were due, and every subsequent year 50 US dollars were charged. About a third of the fees were passed on to the National Science Foundation, which in April 1998 was qualified as an illegal tax by federal court .

In the period that followed, the domains business became the main source of income for Network Solutions, while the software development business took a back seat. Due to the sustained growth of the Internet , the US government established ICANN in October 1998 , which from then on was to take care of the allocation of top-level domains as a not-for-profit supreme organization. Network Solutions did not recognize ICANN at first and tried to defend its monopoly by legal means. In September 1999, NSI, ICANN and the US Department of Commerce announced an amicable settlement of their dispute. The agreement between the parties stipulated that NSI would largely retain control of the main TLDs .com , .net and .org .

Network Solutions only lost its position as a domain name registry following its takeover by VeriSign . After the acquisition in 2000, the parent company transferred the business of managing top-level domains to itself and created Network Solutions, a pure domain name registrar that, like any other provider, had to be accredited by a central registry . This separated the registry and registrar , which ICANN had always advocated. VeriSign sold all shares in Network Solutions in 2003, and they were taken over by a private group of investors.

In 2011 Network Solutions announced that it had been acquired by Web.com , which also includes registrar Register.com . At this point in time, both companies were managing around ten million domains, according to experts. The purchase price for the transaction was $ 405 million in cash and an estimated $ 150 million in shares, according to media reports.

criticism

In the mid-1990s , Network Solutions was accused of censoring domains. This became known when Jeff Gold tried to register the address shitakemushrooms.com . His attempt was technically blocked, although the domain shit.com was already taken at the time. As a result of the incident, the company confirmed that it would filter unwanted domains based on a list of prohibited terms. The practice continued and was in accordance with agreements between Network Solutions and the National Science Foundation .

Network Solutions played a crucial role in the theft of the sex.com domain . In 1995 Gary Kremen registered the domain with NSI, along with other valuable addresses such as auto.com , but in October of that year the address had already been transferred to another owner (Stephen Cohen). Kremen then litigated against Network Solutions, its mother VeriSign and ICANN. Finally, in 2003, a court ruled that Network Solutions had acted negligently in this case because it had not examined a letter from Cohen. Furthermore, the company did not take into account the naming and property rights of Kremen.

In 2008 Network Solutions came under fire after the company misused the search of interested parties for new domains in order to register the checked domains on itself. The aim of the measure was obviously to force interested parties to choose Network Solutions and not another provider for whom the desired domain was technically blocked. Network Solutions justified the so-called domain tasting by wanting to protect its customers from abuse. Due to ongoing protests, Network Solutions faced a class action lawsuit in a California court, which was amicably settled in May 2009 for payment of one million US dollars .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Suzanne Galante: Network Solutions nets strong trade. In: CNET. September 26, 1997, accessed on May 18, 2013 (English): "Network Solutions (NSOL) this morning jumped into the public arena with a strong showing, as its first trade hit the market at nearly 40 percent above its target price."
  2. ^ Company IPO Overview. Nasdaq, accessed on May 18, 2013 (English): “Network Solutions is the leading Internet domain name registration service provider worldwide. The Company currently acts as the exclusive registrar of second level domain names within the .com, .org, .net, .edu and .gov TLDs. "
  3. Florian Hitzelberger: Hit list - the 30 largest domain registrars. In: domain-right. May 13, 2010, accessed on May 17, 2013 : “The Lincolnshire-based GPM Group has published a list of the 30 largest domain registrars in the world. A German company can also establish itself in the top group. "
  4. ^ A b c Company History. (No longer available online.) Network Solutions, archived from the original on March 12, 2016 ; accessed on May 17, 2013 (English): "Network Solutions started out in 1979 as a technology consulting company with a focus on applications development. In 1993, Network Solutions was awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation to develop the Internet's domain name registration service. After developing the technology, Network Solutions became the first and only domain name registrar until 1999, when the domain name industry opened up to competition. In 2000, Network Solutions was acquired by VeriSign, which was the largest internet purchase in history. ” Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / about-networksolutions.com
  5. ^ History of DNS. In: Cybertelecom. Retrieved May 17, 2013 : "The amendment set the fees at $ 100 to register and at $ 50 to renew annually. Since 1995, NSI has been solely responsible for collecting these fees. "
  6. Courtney Macavinta, Janet Kornblum: Judge rules domain fees illegal. In: CNET. April 9, 1998, accessed May 18, 2013 (English): "A federal judge has ruled that a government fund with more than $ 50 million collected from domain name registrants is an illegal tax because it was never approved by Congress."
  7. ^ The Formation of ICANN. Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, accessed on May 18, 2013 (English): "As opinions in the global community divided over the structure of Internet governance, the US government decided to launch a new initiative for reform, led by Ira Magazine. Magaziner's group presented a proposal called the Green Paper, which called for the creation of five new proprietary TLDs while allowing NSI to retain control over the .com, .org, and .net domains. After soliciting comments from stakeholders throughout the world, the Magaziner group revised its plan and presented the White Paper, which proposes the establishment of a private, non-profit corporation to assume responsibility for the Domain Name System. "
  8. Florian Rötzer: Network Solutions was the target of Cracker attack. In: Telepolis. July 3, 1999, accessed on May 18, 2013 : “Network Solutions does not want to give up the monopoly for understandable reasons and has excelled with strong criticism of ICANN. So far, at any rate, NSI has not recognized ICANN as the future administrative institution for the central domain name system. "
  9. Approved Agreements among ICANN, the US Department of Commerce, and Network Solutions, Inc. ICANN, November 10, 1999, accessed on May 18, 2013 : “On September 28, 1999, the United States Department of Commerce, Network Solutions, Inc. (NSI), and ICANN announced a series of agreements they had tentatively reached to resolve outstanding differences among the three parties. "
  10. Melanie Austria Farmer: VeriSign buys Network Solutions in $ 21 billion deal. In: CNET. March 7, 2000, accessed on May 17, 2013 (English): "Security software maker VeriSign today said it agreed to acquire Net name registrar Network Solutions in an all-stock deal worth about $ 21 billion."
  11. Daniel Dingeldey: Separation of registry / registrar canceled! In: domain-right. November 18, 2010, accessed on May 17, 2013 : “VeriSign bought NSI for US $ 21 billion in 2000, but had to part with NSI and its registrar business again in 2003 for US $ 60 million, but kept the registry part for .com , .net, while the administration of .org was added to PIR in early 2003. "
  12. Jens Ihlenfeld: VeriSign sells Network Solutions. In: Golem. October 16, 2003, accessed May 17, 2013 : “VeriSign is selling Network Solutions, divesting its business as a public registrar for domains. Network Solutions will be the new owner of Pivotal Private Equity, who will pay a total purchase price of around 100 million US dollars. "
  13. Florian Hitzelberger: Shopping frenzy in the registrar market. In: domain-right. August 11, 2011, accessed on May 18, 2013 : “With the loss of monopoly and the establishment of ICANN in September 1998, NSI lost its dominance, even though the company is still one of the largest registrars in the world with an estimated six to seven million domains . Together with the approximately 2.5 million domains from Register.com, Web.com will have just under ten million domains in the future. "
  14. ^ Jolie O'Dell: Web.com acquires Network Solutions for $ 405M plus stock. In: VentureBeat. August 3, 2011, accessed May 18, 2013 : “The terms of the deal include $ 405 million in cash plus 18 million shares of Web.com stock. At current share prices, that puts the total value of the deal at $ 560.8 million. "
  15. ^ Paul Festa: Food domain found "obscene". In: CNET. April 27, 1998, accessed on May 18, 2013 (English): “Network Solutions has a right founded in the First Amendment to the US Constitution to refuse to register, and thereby publish, on the Internet registry of domain names words that it deems to be inappropriate. "
  16. Florian Hitzelberger: Domain crime thriller about sex.com. In: domain-right. December 22, 2006, accessed on May 18, 2013 : “The starting point is the endless story about sex.com in 1995, when the American Gary Kremen bought the domain name through the then monopoly Network Solutions along with other highlights such as auto. com and match.com registered, but without realizing how valuable the addresses would one day be. But just one year later he found out that the domain had been illegally transferred to Stephen Cohen on October 17th, 1995. "
  17. ^ Carsten Meyer: Court: Network Solutions negligent in sex.com theft. In: heise online. July 26, 2003, accessed on May 18, 2013 : “The 9th Court of Appeal of San Francisco announced on July 26th that registrars are responsible for safeguarding the rights to domain names and that they can be held liable for negligent errors and violations . "
  18. Florian Hitzelberger: NSI took domains hostage. January 17, 2008, accessed May 17, 2013 : “Vice President Jonathon Nevett admits, but explains that it is a security tool designed to protect customers from abuse. You register the domain, but you don't earn any money with it. "
  19. Florian Hitzelberger: NSI pays tasting fees. In: domain-right. May 7, 2009, accessed on May 17, 2013 : “The ex-monopoly Network Solutions (NSI), one of the five largest domain registrars in the world, is paying the hardship for the“ front running ”practices: costs up to US $ 1 million NSI the amicable settlement of a class action lawsuit in a US court. "