(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Internet infrastructure services provider VeriSign (www.verisign.com) leads the global SSL marketplace with a 44.4-percent share of the total market, according to the latest survey of publicly facing SSL Certificates from web analytics and security firm Netcraft (www.netcraft.com).
According to Netcraft‘s June survey of a total of 1,502,281 distinct valid third-party SSL Certificates, 667,429 were provided by VeriSign and its brands, GeoTrust and Thawte. The report also reveals that VeriSign gained market share from its previously reported 38.1-percent share held in May. Further, its share of the Extended Validation SSL Certificate market also rose in June, with VeriSign brands providing 72.2 percent of the 26,387 EV SSL Certificates currently in use on the Internet.
“The Netcraft June 2010 survey offers the most complete snapshot of the SSL market to date, showing not only that VeriSign has maintained its SSL leadership, but that our market share has been higher than previous surveys indicated,” VeriSign product marketing vice president Tim Callan said in a statement. “As Netcraft has access to more hostnames data, they will be able to report more accurate market share figures, which we believe will continue to be very favorable for VeriSign.”
While this month’s data shows that VeriSign is doing a good job defending its marketshare, competition is fierce. Over the course of 2009, Web host and domain registrar Go Daddy (www.godaddy.com) has been steadily posting strong growth in its SSL certificates sales drawing upon its extensive customer base, as well as its competitively priced EV SSL certificates.
In an effort to expand its reach into the encryption business, Symantec signed a definitive agreement last month to acquire VeriSign’s security business, including its SSL certificate services, Public Key Infrastructure services, VeriSign Trust Services and the VeriSign Identity Protection authentication service.
VeriSign provides SSL Certificates for more than a million web servers, including those of 93 percent of the Fortune 500 and 97 of the world’s 100 largest, SSL-using bank websites.
