Verisign to spin off NetSol?! WAS Re: more on VeriSign to revive redirect service

Thu Oct 16 14:39:28 UTC 2003

I don't know if this is a related move or not, but I just received an
email from Verisign that they are selling NetSol.  A snippet:

Dear Valued Network Solutions(R) Customer,

Today VeriSign, Inc. announced that it has entered into a definitive
agreement to sell Network Solutions to a new entity formed by Pivotal
Private Equity.

Please be assured that Network Solutions continues to be committed to
providing superior products and customer service to our more than 4
million customers. You have seen evidence of this commitment in the
numerous enhancements we have introduced over the last 18 months. This
commitment remains strong today in our
600 employees, each focused on providing you with a superior customer
experience.

On Thu, 16 Oct 2003 Michael.Dillon at radianz.com wrote:

>
> >Just out of curiousity, I wonder how many domain registrations those of
> us
> >on nanog represent?  Contract sanctions from ICANN are one thing, taking
> >all of our business elsewhere might also be effective at getting a point
> >across (though it might also backfire - pushing Verisign to be even more
> >agressive at taking advantage of their positioning).
>
> There are alternative suppliers for registering domain names and
> SSL certs. Look here http://referrals.tucows.com/
> for registrars that are alternatives to Verisign for .com and .net.
> Also, give your customers information about the .biz, .info and .us
> domains and ask them if they would choose those rather than .com.
> An awful lot of people want .com because they really don't know
> anything about the alternatives. In this day and age, people don't
> guess URLs anymore by sticking .com at the end of a word so there
> is no longer any advantage to using a .com domain name over a .biz
> or .info or .us. People learn about domain names from advertising
> or by clicking a link on a web page. In both cases .biz, .info and
> .us work just as well.
>
> And don't forget to hire away all the best people from Verisign to
> cripple their ability to execute effectively. If they are willing
> to hurt your business for their own profit, then why shouldn't you
> hurt their business for your profit?
>
> Remember, there is nothing inherent in Verisign's products that
> makes them better than the competing alternatives. Their only
> advantage is that their products were there first so people have
> formed the habit of buying from them without thinking.
>
> --Michael Dillon
>
>
>
>
>

James Smallacombe		      PlantageNet, Inc. CEO and Janitor
up at 3.am							    http://3.am
=========================================================================