© 2004 VeriSign, Inc.

LARGE REGISTRY CHALLENGES: LESSONS LEARNED FROM .COM/.NET

VeriSign

Bart Mackay

April 2005

2

VeriSign Journey

+ Network Solutions enters into agreement to manage the .com/.net/.org/.gov/.edu etc. extensions

+ Prevailing views did not anticipate the explosion of the DNS+ No charge to fee based registration: Major Uproar+ Registrations begin to grow, and then explode in 1997+ Explosion in registration numbers, particularly in .COM runs through

Q-3 2001, from 5 million in Q-3 1999 to more than 27 million in Q-3 2001, a period of 2 years

3

Growth of .com and .netCOM NET ZONE

-

5,000,000

10,000,000

15,000,000

20,000,000

25,000,000

30,000,000

35,000,000

40,000,000

45,000,000

NOTES: Data prior to 2000 w as obtained from Netw ork Solutions SEC filings and may also include .org, .gov and .edu domains and does not contain other registrar data for 1999.

4

3,329,194,870

6,597,987,105

7,253,184,712

11,114,262,083

2,102,753,277

20,165,899

2,443,478,400

69,664,014 157,136,875654,736,977

1,204,716,0391,649,937,103

4,759,958,988

9,065,208,710

3,625,041,686

5,328,325,470

8,179,727,627

10,100,016,947

0

2,000,000,000

4,000,000,000

6,000,000,000

8,000,000,000

10,000,000,000

12,000,000,000

1Q95

3Q95

1Q96

3Q96

1Q97

3Q97

1Q98

3Q98

1Q99

3Q99

1Q00

3Q00

1Q01

3Q01

1Q02

3Q02

1Q03

3Q03

1Q04

Current Daily Volume: 7.5B – 13B/day; 15B+ peak

Average Daily DNS Traffic by Quarter

DNS Query Volume Handled by VeriSign

5

Global Infrastructure

6

Some Important LessonsEvolution to professional management: Some can do it, some can’t

-Continuous strategic planning; constantly questioning how to do things better-Close coordination of efforts between technical staff, and financial and business operations-One weak link can be the downfall of the entire organization. Very little room for error.

Capital Reserves are KING – Estimate Needed Cash Reserves Then x2

Ensuring 100% availability, maintaining response times measured in fractions of milliseconds, ensuring capacity to handle DoS attacks and other events that burden the infrastructure, providing highest security possible in capacity, evolution with technological developments all require capital.

Customers, end users, governments and others in the internet community expect the same performance of a registry with millions of registrations as one with thousands.

IPv6, Real-time zone file updates, personalized attention and trouble-shooting, etc. Expect you to have it all, and the resources to make it happen regardless of strain caused by growth