VeriSign announced this week they are planning to refocus their business on managing DNS infrastructure and selling SSL security certificates for Web sites. The new strategy will call for divesture of a number of businesses in the company’s portfolio, such as communications, billing and commerce.The focus of the new strategy will be to focus human and financial resources to grow the following:
- DNS Services: In 2008, Naming programs and services will focus on providing tools to customers which will grow the existing lines of business in .com, .net and .tv, new TLD-like opportunities, and new programs internationally.
- Web Certificates: Better known as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificates that secure transmissions on the Internet, including the recently introduced Extended Validation (EV) SSL Certificate.
- Identity Protection Services: The VeriSign Identity Protection (VIP) Service is a comprehensive suite of identity protection and authentication services designed to strengthen and protect consumers’ digital identities.
The changes come about after a difficult 2007 where their Chief Financial Officer Dana Evans left in July, as the company restated financial results for the period 2002 to 2005 to revalue stock option grants by $160 million according to IDG.Having expanded into a wide range of services outside their core area, DNS services that account for around 90 per cent of their business, such as supply chain consulting, banking technology for mobile phones and VoIP, it is obvious they have found these are outside their core competencies.The changes are intended to gain support from investors who have seemingly become disenchanted with the company’s performance.More information is available from:
- the VeriSign news release at www.verisign.com/press_releases/pr/page_043088.html
- the Associated Press story at www.thestate.com/technology-wire/story/229364.html
- the IDG story at www.infoworld.com/article/07/11/14/VeriSign-to-divest-several-lines-of-business_1.html