Network Solutions

Network Solutions had a de facto monopoly; however, as the years went by competitors crept into the market, such as Register.com, GoDaddy.com, and many others. However, Network Solutions had a built-in advantage; they were the highest level administrators for .com and .net domains. The company was later acquired by Verisign, a company that made its reputation created the special digital certificates used to identify sites that need encrypted connections for e-commerce. Verisign has inherited that ultimate control over the DNS database. Competitors sought to neutralize this advantage, and eventually a governing body, called Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), was created to regulate the market for the registration of domain names and the maintenance of the DNS system.