NETWORK SOLUTIONS

'Network Solutions, LLC' is a technology company which was founded in 1979. The domain name registration business has become the most important division of the company; as of 2006, Network Solutions manages more than 7.6 million domain names. Their size, founding status, and longevity have made them one of the most important corporations affecting domain name price and policy.

Contents

The Company

Registry and Registrar business

References

See also

External links

The Company

Network Solutions started as a technology consulting company in 1979^[1], with approximately 30 employees, and focused its efforts on applications development.
Network Solutions was acquired by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) in 1995 and listed on NASDAQ in 1997.
SAIC is perhaps most notorious among Internet aficionados for buying the company, Network Solutions Inc (NSI), which received the no-bid, no-compete monopoly contract to privatize the government agency which registered domain names.
John Dillon reports in MediaFilter.org, "Initially, the service was subsidized by the government. But, in May 1993, the National Science Foundation privatized the name registry (InterNIC - Internet Network Information Center) and paid NSI $5.9 million to administer it. In September 1995, NSI instituted the fee system. A few months earlier, it had been bought out by Science Applications International Corp (SAIC)."
In 2000, Network Solutions was acquired by VeriSign, Inc. for $21 billion.
In 2003, Network Solutions was acquired by Pivotal Equity Group. The current CEO is Champ Mitchell.
On February 6, 2007, Network Solutions announced that General Atlantic, a private equity firm, entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Network Solutions from Najafi Companies (formerly Pivotal Private Equity). ^[2] Although terms of the deal were not released, the Wall Street Journal reported in a story on May 30, 2007 that the price tag was "around $800 million." [1]
In 2003 nearly 90% of the company's revenue was from domain-name registrations, said Network Solutions Chief Executive Champ Mitchell. Since 2005, the company has added 69 services and products and today these new offerings are fueling Network Solutions' growth. Now only 45% of the company's revenue comes from domain-name registrations.[2]
At the end of July, 2007, Network Solutions had 6,659,150 domains under management and was in the top five wholesale domain registrars following Go Daddy with 19,709,215 domains and eNom with 7,646,676 domains. Tucows, the largest publicly traded registrar, has 6,622,982 domain under management with its recent acquisition of ItsYourDomain.com.[3] Melbourne IT, a publicly traded company located in Australia, trailed with 4,664,019 domains under management. [4]
In addition to being a wholesale registrar, Network Solutions provides web services such as web hosting and website design.

Registry and Registrar business

In 1992, Network Solutions was the sole bidder on a grant from the National Science Foundation to develop the domain name registration service for the Internet. In 1993, Network Solutions, Inc. (NSI) was granted an exclusive contract by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to be the sole Domain name registrar for .com, .net and .org Top Level Domain (TLD) names.^[3] NSI also maintained the central database of assigned names called WHOIS. Network Solutions acted as a de facto registrar, selling names directly to end users.
In 1995, the National Science Foundation gave Network Solutions authority to charge for domain name registrations. Network Solutions charged $100 for two years registration was imposed on all domains; 30% of this revenue went to NSF to create an "Internet Intellectual Infrastructure Fund." ^{[4] [5]} In 1997, a lawsuit was filed charging Network Solutions with antitrust violations with regards to domain names.^[6] The 30% of the registration fee that went to the NSF was ruled by a court to be an illegal tax. ^{[7] [8]} This led to a reduction in the domain name registration fee to $70. ^{[9] [10]}
In the 1990s, Network Solutions implemented a policy of censoring domain names. This came to light when Jeff Gold attempted to register the domain name shitakemushrooms.com but was unable to. Further aggravating the controversy was the fact that while Network Solutions' automated screens blocked the registration of shitakemushrooms.com, the domain name shit.com had been successfully registered.^[11] Network Solutions argued that it was within its First Amendment rights to block words it found offensive, even though it was operating pursuant to contract with a Federal agency NSF. ^{[12] [13]}
Network Solutions' $100 charge, which many parties believed was excessive, in addition to its monopoly position in the market, was one of the contributing pressures that resulted in the creation of the International Ad Hoc Committee and its failed attempt to take control of the domain name system, and to the US Department of Commerce, NTIA releasing the White Paper and ultimately contracting with ICANN to administer the DNS.
With the formation of ICANN, the domain name industry opened up to partial competition, with NSIF retaining its monopoly on .com, .net and .org but having to recognize a separation of registry and registrar. By the end of 1999 the fee for registration had been reduced to a wholesale rate of $6 per year to registered resellers.

References

1. Company History | Network Solutions
2. Network Solutions Announces Ownership Change
3. Cybertelecom :: DNS history
4. FTC Staff Advisory Letter from David Medine to David Graves, Netsol (Aug. 21, 1997)
5. Domain Name Solution Causes New Problems, IEEE Computer Oct. 1999
6. Network Solutions sued for domain-name antitrust, Sunworld April 1997
7. Thomas v Network Solutions and NSF, Civ. No. 97-2412 (TFH) (Apr 3, 1998) copy from CourtTV
8. Judge rules domain fees illegal, CNET April 9, 1998
9. How to Get Your Own Domain Name, PCWorld.com (June 8, 2000) archived at CNN
10. Domain fees lowered, CNET (Mar 16, 1998)
11. Food domain found "obscene", CNET (Apr. 27, 1998)
12. NSI lets a bad word slip, CNET (Feb. 23, 1999)
13. Censorship shock: no porn allowed on net, The Sunday Times (Oct. 22, 2006)

See also

★ List of Domain Registrars

★ Domain name system

External links

★ Network Solutions Website

★ History of Network Solutions

★ Who says there are no second acts?, a C|Net Article, 10 August, 2005

★ VeriSign acquire Network Solutions for $21b CNN Money March 2000

★ C-Net Article August 20, 2003 - Voting machine fiasco: SAIC, VoteHere and Diebold [5]