VeriSign Puts Faith in GeoTrust

VeriSign has taken yet another security software vendor out of independence for the good of its own agenda.

The registrar and Internet software provider today agreed to
purchase smaller rival GeoTrust for $125 million in cash.

The deal will render moot a running debate about
who is the leading
SSL market provider, even though NetCraft claims VeriSign has 45 percent of
the market to GeoTrust’s 26 percent.

GeoTrust, of Needham, Mass., makes Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)
software certificates to enable safe Web services
transactions and verify computer user identities.

SSL is a popular protocol for securing a message transmission on the
Internet and shoring up computer networks. Developed by Netscape, SSL
included as part of both the Microsoft and Netscape browsers and most Web
server products.

SSL and its descendant Transport Layer Security (TLS) are
crucial to information exchange and transactions over the Web at a time when
malicious perpetrators have become more savvy about working around security
measures to access computers and networks.

The buy won’t make VeriSign a contender of the ilk of Symantec in the
security software market, but GeoTrust will become another weapon in its
security portfolio to fend off cyber criminals.

It will also pump up its customer base.

VeriSign said in a statement that GeoTrust’s channel of more than 9,000 direct
resellers in more than 140 countries will complement its direct-sales SSL
business, which currently serves more than 3,000 businesses worldwide.

“The acquisition of GeoTrust improves VeriSign’s ability to serve the
reseller channel market with technologies and services that are specifically
tailored to their needs,” said Judy Lin, executive vice president and
general manager of VeriSign Security Services, in the statement.

The acquisition is expected to close in the second half of 2006.

VeriSign made its name as the top registrar by buying
rival Network Solutions after tacking on digital certification specialists
SecureIT
and Thawte Consulting.

But the Mountain View, Calif., company has gotten hungrier for pieces of
other pies along the way in its effort to grow and diversify its business.

VeriSign has spent the last three years racking up software vendors in
sectors such as RSS, broadband delivery,messaging and multimedia.