Network Solutions Grabs Software Firm

Moving to bulk up its product offerings, the Network Solutions Registry
late Wednesday snagged software firm Acme Byte and Wire LLC for an undisclosed
amount.

The domain directory division for Network Solutions Inc., now a unit of Verisign Inc., bought Acme Byte and Wire, which has extensive experience with Domain Name System (DNS) and Berkeley Internet
Name Domain (BIND) software.

Acme Byte and Wire provides DNS-related services including DNS hosting,
consulting and training. The firm focuses on DNS
environmental assessment, architectural design and implementation.

Acme Byte and Wire’s partners and domain system software experts, Cricket
Liu and Matt Larson, will join the NSI Registry as director of DNS product
development and DNS platform manager, respectively.

Although specific personnel details are not available, the Registry said
it’s likely that the Acme Byte and Wire employees will relocate to Network
Solutions’ headquarters in Herndon, Va.

The Registry, the world’s leading provider of Internet locator services with
more than 15 million names registered, maintains the directory for Web
addresses and is responsible for the infrastructure that moves this
information over the Web.

Network Solutions Thursday also said it would crack down on the rash of
unpaid domain name registrations by placing delinquent registrations in a
new auction site. If this results in a transfer to a new registrant through
the auction site, the proceeds the firm receives from the transfer, up to the full
amount of the registration fee, will be retained by Network Solutions to
cover users’ registration fees.

According to Thomas E. van Gorder, vice president of sales and business
development, customers will be sent the standard three-step billing query —
the original bill, a late notice and a notice of deactivation. If payment is
still not made as of June 28, Network Solutions will enter the domain name
on the auction site.

Russ Smith, a domain speculator and operator of the Consumer.Net Web site, said he was
unhappy with Network Solutions’ decision to auction domain names.

“I’m unhappy because I can’t get a chance to register the domains that
normally would be dropped by now,” Smith said. “I’ve watched several domains
that were about to be dropped, which were released on a regular basis up
until a few weeks ago and all of a sudden that stopped. So right now they’re
holding a number of domains on held and people who want to register for them
can’t.”