VeriSign, Inc. provides intelligent infrastructure services that enable and protect billions of interactions every day across the world’s voice and data networks.
Through its Internet Services Group and Communications Services Group, the company offers a variety of Internet and communications-related services, including Internet security services, information services, network connectivity and interoperability services, intelligent database services, content and application services, clearing and settlement services, and billing and payment services. The Company markets its products and services through its direct sales force, telesales operations, member organizations in its global affiliate network, value-added resellers, service providers, and its Web sites.
The Company is organized into two service-based lines of business: the Internet Services Group and the Communications Services Group. The Internet Services Group consists of the Security Services business and the Information Services business, formerly known as Naming and Directory Services. The Security Services business provides products and services that enable enterprises and organizations to establish and deliver secure Internet-based services to customers and business partners, and the Information Services business acts as the registry of domain names in the .com and .net generic top-level domains (gTLDs), and certain country code top-level domains (ccTLDs), as well as providing other value added services, including intelligent supply chain services, real-time publisher services and digital brand management services. The Communications Services Group provides communications services, such as network connectivity and interoperability services, Signaling System 7 (SS7), network services, and intelligent database services; content services, such as application and content services and messaging services; and commerce services, such as clearing and settlement services and billing and payment services to telecommunications carriers and other users.
INTERNET SERVICES GROUP
The Internet Services Group consists of the Security Services business and Information Services business. The Security Services business provides products and services to enterprises and organizations that want to establish and deliver secure Internet-based services for their customers and business partners. The following types of services are included in the Security Services business: network and applications security services, including its managed security and global security consulting services, authentication services, including its public key infrastructure (PKI) and unified authentication services, and digital certificate services, including its commerce site. The Information Services business provides registry services as the registry of domain names in the .com and .net gTLDs and certain ccTLDs, as well as providing other services, including intelligent supply chain services, real-time publisher services, and digital brand management services.
Security Services
Network and Application Security Services
The Company's network and application security services include managed security services, iDefense security intelligence services and global security consulting services for enterprises.
Managed Security Services (MSS): The Company's MSS services enable enterprises to monitor and manage their network security infrastructure on a 24x7 basis while reducing the associated time, expense, and personnel commitments by relying on its security platform. The Company's MSS services include:
Firewall Management Service:
The Company's Firewall Management Service provides enterprises with management and monitoring of firewalls. Its security engineers and program managers stage the firewall devices and test them prior to deployment; once deployed, devices are monitored for health and security events 24x7. Ongoing device management services include rule changes, software patches and upgrades.
Intrusion Detection/Prevention Management Service:
The Company's Intrusion Detection/Prevention Management Service provides management and monitoring of intrusion detection/prevention sensors, designed to identify and counter malicious security events attacks against an organization’s network.
Vulnerability Management Service:
The Company's Vulnerability Management Service provides customized identification of exploitable vulnerabilities and helps prioritize remediation by providing up-front risk assessment and recurring vulnerability scanning, vulnerability testing and penetration testing.
iDefense Security Intelligence Services: The Company's iDefense Security Intelligence Services provide information regarding network-based threats, vulnerabilities and malicious code to customers to aid them in making decisions in response to threats on a real-time basis. The Company's network of research contributors in approximately 30 countries provides information about the cyber underground and software vulnerabilities.
Global Security Consulting Services and Other Services: The Company's Global Security Consulting Services help enterprises assess, design, and deploys scalable network security solutions. Key offerings include Payment Card Industry security assessments, application security assessments, enterprise risk assessments, and security program development in support of compliance regulations and industry practices in both the public and private sectors. The Company's consulting services are also available to help enterprises integrate its unified authentication and PKI services with existing applications and databases and advises on policies and procedures related to the management and deployment of digital certificates. The Company's Messaging Security and Compliance Services, which include Email Security Service, Message Continuity Service and Message Archive Service, provide enterprises the ability to secure their email system from unwanted messages and virus attacks; loss of email and email disruption due to disasters or system failure; and retain messages for extended periods of time to address compliance requirements. Using its Email Security Service, an enterprise’s in-bound email can be checked for spam and malicious code, such as viruses and worms.
The Company's Message Continuity Service makes identical copies of messages and retains them for thirty days, giving enterprises the ability to recover messages lost in the event of a disaster or accidental deletion. Its Message Archive Service stores identical copies of messages and retains them for extended periods defined by the enterprise to address compliance or internal audit requirements. Its Anti-Phishing Solution provides enterprises strategies for mitigating and eliminating phishing attempts by providing services for the prevention, detection, and response to, identity theft attacks.
Authentication Services: The Company's Authentication Services include its Managed PKI Services and Unified Authentication Services that can be tailored to meet the specific needs of enterprises that wish to issue digital certificates to employees, customers or trading partners.
Managed PKI Services: The Managed PKI Service is a managed service that allows an organization to use its trusted data processing infrastructure to develop and deploy customized digital certificate services for its user communities. The Managed PKI Service can be used by its customers to provide digital certificates for a variety of applications, such as: controlling access to sensitive data and account information, enabling digitally-signed email, encryption of email, or Secure Socket Layer (SSL) sessions. The Managed PKI Service can help customers create an online electronic trading community, manage supply chain interaction, facilitate and protect online credit card transactions or enable access to virtual private networks.
Unified Authentication Services: Unified Authentication provides a single, integrated platform for provisioning and managing all types of strong, two-factor authentication credentials used to validate users, devices or applications for a variety of purposes, such as remote access, windows logon, and Wi-Fi access. Unified Authentication supports authentication using smart cards, device-generated one-time passwords and digital certificates, as well as PKI-based encryption, digital signing and non-repudiation. Unified Authentication can be run at the enterprise or through its infrastructure.
VeriSign Affiliate PKI Software and Services: VeriSign Affiliate PKI Software and Services are sold to a variety of entities that provide electronic commerce and communications services through wired and wireless Internet Protocol (IP), networks. It designates these types of organizations as VeriSign Affiliates and provides them with a combination of technology, support and marketing services to facilitate their initial deployment and ongoing delivery of digital certificate services.
VeriSign Affiliates enter into a multi-year technology licensing agreement with the company whereby it receives up-front licensing fees for the Service Center or Processing Center technology, as well as ongoing royalties from each digital certificate or the Managed PKI Service sold by the VeriSign Affiliate.
Digital Certificate Services
Digital certificate services include its SSL digital certificate services and code signing digital certificate services. SSL certificate services enable Internet merchants to implement and operate secure Web sites that utilize SSL protocol. These services provide Internet merchants with the means to authenticate themselves to consumers and to encrypt communications between consumers and the merchant Websites. The Company's code signing digital certificate services provide software developers the means to identify and the authenticity of their software to consumers and relying software applications.
The Company offers the following SSL and code signing digital certificate services.
Secure Site and Secure Site Pro: Both the company's Secure Site and Secure Site Pro certificates enable approximately 256-bit SSL encryption when both the web server and the client browser support such sessions. Secure Site Pro, the company's premium certificate offering, implements Server Gated Cryptography, a technology which automatically steps-up encryption levels to 128-bit in certain client/browser configurations. Secure Site Pro also includes a third party site availability monitoring evaluation, a network security monitoring trial, a site performance monitoring evaluation, and additional warranty protection.
Code Signing Certificates: The Company offers various code signing certificates based on the platform for which customers wish to sign the code. Platforms include Microsoft Authenticode, Microsoft Office and VBA, Symbian, Sun Java, Netscape, Microsoft Smartphone, Macromedia Shockwave and Marimba Castanet.
Thawte Branded Digital Certificates: The Company offers SSL and code signing certificates under the Thawte brand. These services use the same underlying infrastructure, and are targeted at small businesses and independent software developers.
Information Services
The Company's Information Services business includes its domain name registry services for the .com and .net gTLDs and certain ccTLDs, managed domain name services, intelligent supply chain services, real-time publisher services and digital brand management services.
Domain Name Registry Services: The Company is the registry of domain names within the .com and .net gTLDs under agreements with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), and the Department of Commerce (DOC). As a registry, the company maintains the master directory of all second-level domain names in these top-level domains. The Company owns and maintains the shared registration system that allows all registrars to enter new second-level domain names into the master directory and to submit modifications, transfers, re-registrations and deletions for existing second-level domain names.
The Company is also the registry for domain names within the .tv and .cc ccTLDs. These top-level domains are supported by its global name server constellation and shared registration system. In addition, the company has made .bz domain name registration services available through its outsourced hosting environment, which enables domain name registrars and resellers to simultaneously access .bz registries. The Company also provides internationalized domain name (IDN), services that enable Internet users to access Web sites in their local language characters. IDNs are available in approximately 350 languages such as Chinese, Greek, Korean and Russian.
Intelligent Supply Chain Services: The Company offers supply chain information for retail, pharmaceutical and consumer goods customers for marketing and operations purposes. Its point-of-sale data service is a hosted, Web-based solution for accessing and managing daily updates of point-of-sale data from multiple key retailer partners. An electronic product code is a number that corresponds with an individual product (or container of products). Radio frequency identification (RFID) tags are small chips with antennas that contain an electronic product code (EPC). The Company has been selected by EPCglobal, a not-for-profit joint-venture formed by The Uniform Code Council, Inc. and EAN International, to operate the authoritative root directory for the EPCglobal Network, the authoritative directory of information sources that are available to describe products assigned EPCs. The EPCglobal Network is a concept that if proven would enable users to find and share information about products in the supply chain using the Internet infrastructure. Additionally, the company offers managed services that are designed to work in conjunction with RFID and bar code technology and the EPC root directory to facilitate the secure sharing of product data across diverse supply chains.
Real-Time Publisher Services: The Company offers a suite of intelligent infrastructure services that allow organizations to collect and organize amounts of constantly updated content, and distribute it, in real time, to enterprises, Web-portal developers, application developers, and consumers. The real-time publisher services also make it easier for publishers of all sizes to distribute and track their content feeds.
Digital Brand Management Services: The Company offers a range of services that the company known as digital brand management services to help enterprises, legal professionals, information technology professionals and brand marketers monitor, protect and build digital brand equity. These services include domain name registration services for both gTLDs such as .com and ccTLDs, such as .de and .jp, and its brand monitoring services.
COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES GROUP
The Communications Services Group provides managed solutions to fixed line, broadband, mobile operators and enterprise customers through its integrated communications, content and commerce platform. The Company's communications services offerings include network connectivity and interoperability services and intelligent database services; its content services offerings include content and application services and messaging services; and its commerce services offerings include clearing and settlement services, and billing and payment services.
Communications Services
Network Connectivity and Interoperability Services:
Through its network connectivity and interoperability services, the company provides connections and services that signal and route information within and between telecommunication carrier networks.
SS7 Connectivity and Signaling Services: The Company's Signaling System 7 (SS7), network, is an industry-standard system of protocols and procedures that is used to control telephone communications and provide routing information in association with vertical calling features, such as calling card validation, local number portability, toll-free number database access and caller identification. Its SS7 trunk signaling service reduces post-dial delay, allowing call connection almost as soon as dialing is completed which enables telecommunications carriers to deploy a range of intelligent database services.
Wireless Roaming Services: The Company offers wireless carriers roaming services using the ANSI-41 and GSM signaling protocols that allow carriers to provide support for roamers visiting their service area and for their customers when they roam outside their service area. This service also allows number validation inside and outside carriers’ service areas by accessing its SS7 network. The Company's Interstandard Roaming service manages signaling conversion across protocols to provide activation processing, international customer care, end-user billing, and fraud protection, while its Wireless Data Roaming service enables carriers to offer wireless data roaming to their subscribers through Wi-Fi, CDMA2000 and GSM/GPRS networks.
Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) Services: The Company's Wireless IP Connect service is a managed service that allows wireless operators to provide VoIP-to-wireless roaming to their subscribers, while its IP Connect Suite allows VoIP providers, cable operators and MSOs to extend VoIP services across multiple access methods to enterprise customers. VeriSign SIP-7 Service integrates SIP (Session Initiation Protocol)-based VoIP platforms with the existing SS7 network, allowing interconnection between IP networks and the Public Switch Telephone Network (PSTN).
Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA): The Company's NetDiscovery services enable telecommunications carriers to meet the requirements of CALEA through provisioning, access and delivery of call information from carriers to law enforcement agencies.
Intelligent Database Services:
The Company enables carriers to find and interact with network databases and conduct database queries that are essential for many advanced services, including:
Number Portability: Local Number Portability (LNP) and Wireless Number Portability (WNP) allow telephone subscribers to switch local service providers while keeping the same telephone number.
Calling Name (CNAM) Delivery: The Company's CNAM Delivery service enables carriers to query regional Bell operating companies and major independent carriers and provides customers with caller identification services.
Line Information Database (LIDB): LIDB provides subscriber information (such as the subscriber’s service profile and billing specifications) to other carriers enabling them to respond to calls.
Toll-free Database Services: Leveraging its SS7 network, the company's toll-free services allow customers to complete 8xx calls throughout the U.S. and Canada.
TeleBlock Do Not Call (DNC): TeleBlock DNC provides telemarketers with a DNC management tool that automatically screens and blocks outgoing calls to national, state, third-party and in-house DNC lists.
Content Services
Application and Content Services:
The Company's application services enable providers to deliver content through secure customized, branded content acquisition portals and allow for the exchange of pictures, videos, alerts and other forms of multimedia content across a range of connected devices and networks. Its content services manage content aggregation, formatting, mediation, digital rights management and delivery through these services. The Company has a library of approximately 150,000 items, including ringtones, graphics, games and applications that it offers in approximately two dozen countries around the world. In the U.S., U.K., and Australia, the company operates under its Jamster brand, in the U.K. under its Ringtoneking brand, and in Europe under its Jamba! brand.
Messaging Services:
The Company's Multi-Media Messaging services (MMS) allow subscribers to send pictures, audio and video between different service providers and devices and is provided on a service bureau basis that connects to wireless service providers’ multimedia messaging centers and routes MMS messages between service providers. Through its hosted services the company also facilitates the sharing, distribution and storage of multimedia messages for its customers in the U.S., Canada, New Zealand and Mexico. The Company's Inter-Carrier Messaging services allow wireless subscribers to send text and multi-media messages between different service providers and devices. Through its Metcalf Global Messaging services, the company enables wireless carriers to offer short messaging services (SMS) between carrier systems and devices, and across disparate networks and technologies so that customers can exchange messages outside the carrier’s network.
Commerce Services
Clearing and Settlement Services:
Through its Wireline Clearinghouse Services, the company serves as a distribution and collection point for billing information and payment collection for services provided by one carrier to customers billed by another.
The Company's Wireless Clearinghouse Services enable wireless carriers to clear and settle telephone traffic charges with their roaming partners domestically and internationally. The Company also provides wireless carriers with fraud management, SS7 monitoring, and other services.
Billing and Payment Services:
The Company offers advanced billing, payment and customer care services to mobile operators. Through its speedSUITE, SmartPay and PrePayIN services, the company provides wireless carriers with an end-to-end customer relationship management system that supports advance pay, prepaid and post-paid wireless services. Carriers have access to a real-time account management platform, administered through a Web interface, designed to make prepaid wireless plans flexible and convenient.
The Company's operations infrastructure consists of secure data centers in Mountain View, California; Dulles, Virginia; Lacey, Washington; Providence, Rhode Island; Overland Park, Kansas; Melbourne, Australia; and Kawasaki, Japan.
VeriSign, Inc. offers its own settlement and exchange services for GSM operators. The VeriSign Next-Generation Global System for Mobile Communications Settlement and Exchange Services for GSM Carriers (SES GSM) is designed to streamline and simplify roaming, tracking and settling by consolidating data and facilitating payments based on GSM industry standards. SES GSM also provides error correction, out-collect billing, ratings and revenue assurance, and a flexible Web-based reporting interface that enables analysis and tracking of financial positions with roaming partners worldwide.
Significant Events
VeriSign, Inc. and China Netcom have entered into a contract agreement to set up a new domain name service site in China.
VeriSign, Inc. entered into a partnership with JoWooD Productions Software AG to offer computer, online and videogames to mobile devices. The VeriSign and JoWooD partnership would allow consumers to play the computer, online -- and video games on their mobile devices. VeriSign transforms these computer, online and video games into a Java-application for various mobile devices in the market place.
VeriSign, Inc. has entered the Broadband Content Services market to provide rich digital media over IP networks. VeriSign also has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Kontiki, a provider of managed peer delivery systems for video, software and digital content.
Significant Events
In June 2007, the company announced a strategic alliance with I(TS)2 to establish a new Security Operations Centre in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I(TS)2 would operate the new Security Operations Centre (SOC), which would be located in Riyadh, using the VeriSign platform to offer a range of security and threat management services.
Competition
Competition in Security Services: The Company's competitors include RSA Security; Entrust Technologies; GeoTrust; Digital Signature Trust Company; CyberTrust; Netscape; and Microsoft.
Competition in Managed Security Services: The Company's major competitors include Accenture; IBM Global Services; Getronics; Lucent NetCare; Symantec; ISS; CyberTrust; Counterpane; MCI that acquired NetSec.
Competition in Communications Services: The Company's major competitors include Syniverse Technologies; Telcordia; NeuStar; and other carriers such as Southern New England Telephone Diversified Group, a unit of AT&T.
Competition in Commerce Services: The Company's major competitors include Comverse; Amdocs; Convergys Corporation; and Boston Communications Group.
Competition in Content Services: The Company's competitors include developers of content and entertainment products and services in a variety of domestic and international markets, such as Jamdat Mobile, LaNetro Zed, Infospace, Itouch, Wisdom Entertainment, Arvato mobile, Monstermob, Motricity and Buongiorno/Vitaminic. This business also faces competition from mobile network operators, such as Cingular, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, T-Mobile, Vodafone, O2, Orange, E-Plus and Telefónica, as well as Internet portal operators, such as Yahoo!, AOL, T-Online and Google. Its inter-carrier messaging services face competition from Mobile 365, Openwave and Comverse. Additional competitors are handset manufacturers, such as Nokia and software providers such as Microsoft and Apple.
Competition in Registry Services: The Company's major competitors include ICANN accredited registrars; UltraDNS; NeuLevel; Affilias; Register.com; and Tucows.com.
Competition in Intelligent Supply Chain Services: The Company faces competition from IRI and AC Nielsen, as well as smaller software companies.
Competition in Digital Brand Management Services: The Company faces competition from companies providing services similar to some of its Digital Brand Management Services, and as well as ICANN accredited registrars.
History
VeriSign, Inc. was incorporated in 1995.
