Network Solutions, LLC is a technology company which was founded in 1979. The domain name registration business has become the most important division of the company. As of January 2009, Network Solutions managed more than 6.6 million domain names. Their size, founding status, and longevity have made them one of the most important corporations affecting domain name price and policy.

History

Network Solutions started as a technology consulting company in 1979, with approximately 30 employees, and focused its efforts on applications development.

Network Solutions was acquired by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) in 1995, and listed on NASDAQ in 1997.

John Dillon reports in MediaFilter.org, "Initially, the service was subsidized by the government. But, in May 1993, the National Science Foundation privatized the name registry (InterNIC - Internet Network Information Center) and paid NSI $5.9 million to administer it. In September 1995, NSI instituted the fee system. A few months earlier, it had been bought out by Science Applications International Corp (SAIC)."

In 2000, Network Solutions was acquired by VeriSign, Inc. for $21 billion.

In 2003, Network Solutions was acquired by Pivotal Equity Group. In 2008, Roy Dunbar was appointed CEO.

On February 6, 2007, Network Solutions announced that General Atlantic, a private equity firm, entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Network Solutions from Najafi Companies (formerly Pivotal Private Equity). Although terms of the deal were not released, the Wall Street Journal reported in a story on May 30, 2007 that the price tag was "around $800 million."

In 2003 nearly 90% of the company's revenue was from domain-name registrations, said Network Solutions Chief Executive Champ Mitchell. Since 2005, the company has added 69 services and products and today these new offerings are fuelling Network Solutions' growth. Now only 45% of the company's revenue comes from domain-name registrations.

At the end of July, 2007, Network Solutions had 6,659,150 domains under management and was in the top five wholesale domain registrars following Go Daddy with 19,709,215 domains and eNom with 7,646,676 domains. Tucows, the largest publicly traded registrar, has 6,622,982 domains under management with its recent acquisition of ItsYourDomain.com. Melbourne IT, a publicly traded company located in Australia, trailed with 4,664,019 domains under management.

In addition to being a wholesale registrar, Network Solutions provides web services such as web hosting, website design and online marketing - including Search Engine Optimization and Pay Per Click Management.

Registry and registry business

Network Solutions, Inc. (NSI) first operated the domain name registry under a sub-contract with the U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) in September 1991. NSI gave out names in .com, .org, .mil, .gov, .edu and .net for free, along with free IP address blocks. This work was performed at the Chantilly offices of GSI, the primary contractor, a corporation formed by Infonet to avoid foreign ownership of U.S. government contracts. The work had previously been performed by incumbent SRI International.