About VeriSign Inc

VeriSign, Inc. (Verisign) operates as a global provider of critical internet infrastructure and domain name registry services, enabling internet navigation for many of the world’s most recognized domain names. The company helps enable the security, stability, and resiliency of the Domain Name System (‘DNS’) and the internet by providing Root Zone Maintainer services, operating two of the thirteen global internet root servers; and providing registration services and authoritative resolution for the .com and .net top-level domains (‘TLDs’), which support the majority of global e-commerce. Services The company operates the authoritative directory, for all .com, .net, and .name domain names (generic top-level domains, ‘gTLDs’), as well as for certain transliterations of .com and .net in number of different native languages and scripts (internationalized generic top-level domains, ‘IDN gTLDs’). The company also operates the authoritative directory for all .cc domain names (country code top-level domain, or ‘ccTLD’). The company operates the technical or back-end systems for .edu and certain other gTLDs. As the registry or service provider for these top-level domains, the company’s services allow individuals and organizations to establish their online identities, while providing the secure, always-on access they need to communicate and transact reliably with online audiences. The company operates the .com, .net, and .name gTLDs and the IDN gTLDs under registry agreements with ICANN and also, with respect to the .com gTLD, a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce (‘DOC’). The company operates the .cc ccTLD under an agreement with Cocos (Keeling) Islands. Under separate agreements, the company provides technical or back-end services for .edu and for certain other gTLDs. The company also performs the Root Zone Maintainer function under an agreement with ICANN for the core of the internet’s DNS and operates two of the thirteen root zone servers that contain authoritative data for the top of the DNS hierarchy. The company’s global constellation of DNS servers provides internet protocol (‘IP’) address information in response to queries, enabling the use of browsers, email systems, and other systems on the internet. In addition, the company owns and maintains its shared registration system that allows registrars to enter new second-level domain names into Verisign-operated central directories and to submit modifications, transfers, re-registrations, and deletions for existing second-level domain names (‘Shared Registration System’). Domain names in the registries the company operates can be registered for between one and 10 years. Operations Infrastructure The company’s main operations infrastructure consists of secure data centers in Dulles, Virginia; Ashburn, Virginia; and New Castle, Delaware, as well as more than 200 other points of presence around the world. The company’s domain name servers refer requestors to the associated authoritative name servers for second level domains in the registries the company operates or supports, thus enabling DNS resolution for .com and .net domain names and for domain names in the other registries that the company operates, or for which the company provides technical or back-end services. The company’s servers process hundreds of billions of transactions daily. The company’s operations infrastructure operates continuously, supporting the security, integrity and availability of the company’s services, which are critical for the company’s business and internet users. The performance and availability of the company’s infrastructure are critical for the company’s business. Key features of the company’s operations infrastructure include: Distributed Servers: The company operates a large number of high-speed servers globally to support localized transaction volume and performance demands. In conjunction with the company’s proprietary software, processes and procedures, this purpose-built global constellation of servers offers rapid failover, global and local load balancing, and threshold monitoring on critical servers. Networking: The company deploys and maintains a redundant and diverse global network, maintains high-speed, redundant connections to numerous internet service providers, and maintains network interconnection relationships globally to ensure that the company’s critical services are readily accessible to end users. Security and Availability: The company incorporates architectural concepts, such as protected domains, restricted nodes, and distributed access control in the company’s system architecture. In addition, the company employs firewalls and intrusion detection software, endpoint and network detection and response systems, as well as proprietary security mechanisms at many points across the company’s infrastructure. The company performs continuous internal vulnerability testing and periodic controls audits, and also contracts with third-party security organizations to perform periodic penetration tests and security risk assessments on the company’s systems. The company has engineered resiliency and diversity into how the company hosts classes of products throughout its set of interconnected sites to reduce the risk of unknown vendor defects and zero-day security vulnerabilities. Data Integrity: The company uses several proprietary systemic integrity checks and validations to ensure data correctness when updating and publishing the DNS records for the registries the company operates. The company continuously seeks to enhance its infrastructure and capabilities to support both normal and peak system load plus attack volumes based on historical experience, as well as to address projected internet attack trends. Call Centers and Service Desk: The company provides customer support services over the phone, by email and through web-based self-help systems. The company’s support teams are staffed with trained technical customer support personnel. Support is available for customers 24 hours a day. Operations Support and Monitoring: Through the company’s network operations center, the company has an extensive monitoring capability that enables the company to track the status and performance of its critical systems, network and services. The company’s network operations center monitors its systems continuously. Disaster Recovery Plans: The company has disaster recovery and business continuity capabilities that are designed to deal with the loss of entire data centers and other facilities. The company maintains data centers with mirrored services that allow failover with no data loss and no loss of function or capacity. The company’s critical data services (including domain name registration and global resolution) use advanced storage systems that provide data protection through techniques, such as synchronous mirroring and remote replication. The company periodically operates services at alternate data centers during maintenance windows to ensure the availability of its data centers for disaster recovery. Marketing, Sales and Distribution The company seeks to expand the company’s business through focused marketing campaigns and programs that target growth in .com, .net and .cc domain names, both domestically and internationally. The company provides tools to be used by both registrars and end users to enable them to find relevant domain names. The company has marketing and sales offices and account management teams in several countries around the world. Industry Regulation In China, the company is required to maintain licenses for .com, .net, and .cc under regulations issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The company’s operation of the .com gTLD is subject to the terms of a registry agreement with ICANN (as amended, the ‘.com Registry Agreement’). Other significant terms within the .com Registry Agreement include performance specifications and service level agreements, including by example, for the availability of the company’s DNS resolution services, its Shared Registration System, and its Whois services. The .com Registry Agreement contains marketing limitations, including limitations on the company’s ability to bundle products and the manner in which the company provides marketing support to ICANN-accredited registrars. The company is also required under the .com Registry Agreement to provide ICANN-accredited registrars with nondiscriminatory access to the company’s systems to register or take other actions related to domain names. The company’s operation of the .com gTLD is also subject to the terms of a Cooperative Agreement with the DOC. The company’s operation of the .net gTLD is subject to the terms of a registry agreement with ICANN (as amended, the ‘.net Registry Agreement’). The company operates two of the world’s thirteen root servers. Along with the ICANN community, the company is involved in discussions to establish criteria for operations of the root server system, including the root servers that the company operates. The company also publishes the root zone file, as the Root Zone Maintainer, under the Root Zone Maintainer Service Agreement (‘RZMA’) with ICANN. The current term of the RZMA ends on October 19, 2024 and is subject to an automatic renewal for another eight-year term, unless earlier modified or terminated. Intellectual Property The company has been issued numerous patents in the U.S. and abroad, covering a wide range of the company’s technologies. Additionally, the company continues to file patent applications with respect to certain of the company’s technologies in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and internationally. The company has obtained trademark registrations for the VERISIGN mark and VERISIGN logo in the U.S. and certain countries, and has pending trademark applications for the VERISIGN logo in a number of other countries. Competition Among the company’s competitors operating gTLD and ccTLD registries are China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), DENIC eG, Nominet, Identity Digital, Public Interest Registry (PIR), CentralNic, Google, .xyz, GoDaddy, and Radix. To the extent end-users establish their online identity using social media, as opposed to domain names, or transact on e-commerce platforms, the company faces competition from social media networks, such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and WeChat; e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Etsy, eBay, and Taobao; and microblogging tools, such as X (formerly Twitter). History VeriSign, Inc. was incorporated in Delaware in 1995.