The Internet is on the verge of its biggest change in years, with the pending adopting of perhaps hundreds of new Generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs). Those new gTLDs will not nessarily be a threat to VeriSign, the company that manages the .com and .net registries among others, in fact VeriSign is well positioned to profit from the gTLD expansion as well.
VeriSign could soon be managing a lot more domains too. ICANN is currently in the application process for the gTLD program which will expand the number of available domain names. VeriSign CEO James Bidzos said during the company’s earnings call that VeriSign applied directly for 14 new gTLDs. That doesn’t mean 14 entirely different new gTLDs, as VeriSign is seeking to protect its existing .com and .net registries. According to Bidzos, 12 of the 14 gTLD applications are transliterations of .com and .net. Applying for those new translitered gTLDs is not without cost either. VeriSign’s CFO noted that the 14 gTLD applications added $2.4 million in operating expenses to the company’s bottom line for the quarter.
Going beyond its own ownership of new gTLDs, VeriSign is also positioned to help other applicatants in their bids. Bidzos noted that applicants for approximately 220 new gTLDs selected VeriSign to provide back-end registry services.
The process by which new gTLDs are being approved is still a fluid one. Bidzos explained that sometime in early May, there should be some public disclosure about the different domain names that were applied for. At that point, any conflicts where there are multiple bidders for the same name would be resolved through an ICANN process.
Read the full story at Datamation:
VeriSign Set to Support up to 220 New Internet Top Level Domains
Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at InternetNews.com, the news service of the IT Business Edge Network, the network for technology professionals Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist.
