Nominum Announces Results from Service Provider DNS Performance Survey

August 18, 2006; 06:52 AM

Nominum, the leading provider of network naming and addressing solutions, today announced results from a commissioned survey conducted by VeriTest®, the testing service of Lionbridge (NASDAQ LIOX), measuring DNS performance of eight leading cable and telco service providers in the United States. DNS is a critical component in any IP network. Internet communications, whether through a browser, email or VoIP (Voice over IP) rely heavily on a well-functioning DNS service. The performance of DNS routinely impacts IP applications and ultimately the experience of the end user as they load web pages, receive emails, or place VoIP calls.

The results from the April 2006 VeriTest survey show that DNS response time and percentage of unanswered queries vary widely across providers. In addition, many service providers have inconsistent performance results depending on the date and time, with dropped query rates varying by more than a factor of ten and DNS response time growing from a few milliseconds to several seconds. The report concludes “Of all the providers measured in this test, Comcast DNS servers have the fastest average response time, the lowest dropped query rate, and the most consistent response.”

“While DNS might not have been an area of investment historically, service providers are realizing that the performance of DNS routinely impacts IP applications and ultimately the experience of the end user. If not addressed, consumers across the US will experience "Internet brownouts," or random slowdowns in the middle of their online experiences,” said Albert Gouyet, vice president of marketing, Nominum. “This survey demonstrates that service providers such as Comcast are clearly ahead in providing consumers with a market leading DNS service in the core of their network.”

In addition to the many new applications and devices connecting over the Web, DNS will further be taxed by an exponential increase in the number of queries from the upcoming Windows Vista operating system. Vista ships with IPv6 enabled by default which has the potential to more than double the amount of queries to the DNS, resulting in an additional slowing effect on DNS response time.

The following services were tested in this report: Bell South DSL, CableVision, Comcast, Cox Cable, Road Runner (Time Warner Cable), SBC DSL, Verizon DSL, and Verizon FiOS. The survey was conducted by sending DNS queries to the DNS servers deployed by the service providers and measuring the response times for each DNS resolution. The response was thoroughly measured over a period of two weeks for various domains. The number of DNS queries dropped was also recorded.

A podcast on this survey and commentary from the inventor of the DNS, Dr Paul Mockapetris, is available at http://www.nominum.com/content/spotlight/chunks/
Nominum-VeriTest-08-17-2006.mp3

The full report can be downloaded from http://www.nominum.com/registration_thanks.php?id=10&type_=&iid=406 or from the Lionbridge web site at www.lionbridge.com/lionbridge/en-US/services/outsourced-testing/
competitive-analysis/Nominum.htm

About Nominum

Nominum's network naming and addressing solutions power the world's largest always-on networks. Nominum is a global provider of ENUM-based IP-Application Routing Directory, DNS, and DHCP solutions that enable communication providers to deliver high quality always-on broadband internet and innovative services to their customers, including VoIP, push to talk, fixed-mobile convergence, IPTV, and triple-play. For further information visit www.nominum.com.

Note: Nominum and the Nominum logo are registered trademarks of Nominum Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.