July 11, 2007 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Group NBT (groupnbt.com), the parent company of domain registrar NetNames (netnames.com), announced on Wednesday it has acquired online brand protection services provider Envisional Solutions (envisional.com) for £4 million.
Envisional works with global brand owners to manage their Internet presence through monitoring trademark use, highlighting brand infringements, gathering market intelligence and regulating legitimate brand use online. Envisional’s technology can identify images and logos, as well as text-based material in any language or alphabet in search of infringements and brand violations.
The acquisition will enable NetNames to reinforce and extend its Platinum Service brand protection services with Envisional’s unique technology and experience. NetNames Platinum Service clients will benefit from Envisional’s experience and successes in the fields of protection against fraud, piracy and counterfeiting, in addition to the domain name management solutions already offered by NetNames, says the company.
“This transaction is of strategic importance for Group NBT,” says Geoff Wicks, CEO of Group NBT. “We have long recognized the requirement to be able to offer our customers a broader range of products, offering them an ability to protect their brands from various types of infringement in the online market. Envisional has very good technology to do this which is currently being used by some significant brand owners.”
