January 26, 2007 -- (WEB HOST INDUSRY REVIEW) -- In the past three years, infrastructure services provider VeriSign (verisign.com) has snapped up several key vendors in an effort to expand and diversity its business portfolio.
The company has acquired vendors in areas spanning security, RSS, broadband delivery, messaging and multimedia, including high-profile acquisitions of Network Solutions, SecureIT and Thawte Consulting.
Last September, VeriSign acquired SSL security provider GeoTrust (geotrust.com) in a $125 million agreement, adding a channel of more than 9,000 direct resellers in more than 140 countries, and adding another product line to its portfolio.
More than four months after it completed the acquisition, VeriSign continues to offer the entire GeoTrust product portfolio including its extended validation SSL certificates, under the GeoTrust brand name.
Tim Callan, product marketing director of SSL for VeriSign, says the acquisition combined the strengths of two companies successful in their own right - GeoTrust with its exceptional SSL reseller channel and technology platforms to serve those channels, and VeriSign with best-of-breed retail and enterprise SSL offerings.
"Combining the two companies allows us to take important advances in online security like extended validation SSL and the VeriSign secured seal and make them available to all customer bases with as little friction as possible," says Callen.
The EV SSL certificates stem from the stringent standards and guidelines set in place by the CA/Browser Forum (cabforum.org) to enforce Internet security and combat fraud, protecting users against online fraudulent activity by providing third party verification of a Web site's authenticity.
"The combined company is setting the pace for future innovation, starting with extended validation SSL certificates and our unique EV Upgrader, the only technology that makes it possible for IE7 clients on Windows XP to experience the benefits of extended validation SSL just as Windows Vista client machines do."
Callan says the GeoTrust acquisition has allowed the company to focus on serving the SSL security channel in the best possible way and to make the full range of premium SSL security offerings available to GeoTrust's customer base. VeriSign intends to include extended validation in both of these initiatives, making these new certificates available in both VeriSign and GeoTrust flavors.
Since December, VeriSign has offered the enhanced EV SSL certificates on its several SSL brand labels, including GeoTrust, Thawte and its own brand. Callen says that during this time the company has generated enthusiasm among its small and large customers.
"User research indicates that online shoppers recognize the green address bar and prefer to shop on sites that offer this highly visible indication of site security," says Callen. "We believe that extended validation SSL is the most important innovation in SSL in over a decade, and we expect widespread adoption across a broad variety of online businesses this year."
