VeriSign Plans to Further Enhance .com and .net Constellation with Regional Internet Resolution Site in Bulgaria

July 6, 2006; 02:51 AM
VeriSign, Inc., the leading provider of intelligent infrastructure services for the Internet and telecommunications networks, has planned to enhance its global constellation of geographically-dispersed Internet Resolution Sites by installing and operating a Regional Internet Resolution Site in Sofia, Bulgaria. The announcement is another important step in VeriSign’s effort to expand critical Internet infrastructure in regions of emerging growth. Once fully implemented, the site will improve Internet performance for the over 2 million Internet users in Bulgaria.

“One of the Internet’s greatest benefits is that it provides a universal medium for commerce and communications to people living in all parts of the globe,” said Mark McLaughlin, executive vice president and general manager, VeriSign Information Services. “VeriSign has analyzed Internet traffic data, paired it with advanced mapping technologies, and pinpointed new regions of emerging growth to enhance Internet performance in those key regions. The expansion of this critical Internet infrastructure is important to Bulgaria as it seeks to build more secure Internet access and provide faster resolution for its community of Internet users.”

Bulgaria has experienced rapidly accelerating Internet growth in the last year.  From 2005 through the first half of 2006, growth in Bulgaria in .com and .net domain names is at a nearly 40% growth rate and the total growth of all domain names in Bulgaria stands at 42%. “As the Internet continues to drive economic development and convergence of communications in Bulgaria, reliable and secure Internet performance is of paramount importance,” said Veni Markovski, Senior Advisor to the Chairman of the Agency for IT and Communications.  

VeriSign is also meeting with Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev, President Georgi Parvanov and the Chairman of IT and Communications as well as Internet industry leaders this week in Sofia. “VeriSign looks forward to discussing key issues related to the Internet’s growth in Bulgaria and globally including the importance of cybersecurity and the appropriate model for Internet Governance. The Bulgarian Government is focused on combating Internet abuses and is positioned to play a leading role in ongoing Internet Governance discussions. VeriSign will collaborate with the Bulgarian Government to advance these important twin objectives,” said Brian Cute, vice president, VeriSign Government Relations.       

For over seven years, VeriSign's Internet infrastructure has provided unmatched stability and 100 percent service availability for the resolution of .com and .net traffic. VeriSign’s plan to install and operate additional sites in key locations around the world is critical to help support new trends in Internet growth as traffic continues to expand globally.

VeriSign, Inc. (Nasdaq: VRSN), operates intelligent infrastructure services that enable and protect billions of interactions every day across the world’s voice and data networks.

VeriSign Media Relations: Brian O’Shaughnessy, [email protected], 650-426-5270   VeriSign Investor Relations: Tom McCallum, [email protected], 650-426-3744 http://www.verisign.com