Neustar

Last updated
Neustar, Inc.
Neustar logo.svg
Type of site
 Subsidiary
Founded1998;26 years ago (1998)
Headquarters
Sterling, Virginia
,
United States
Key people
  • Charles E. Gottdiener (CEO)
Industry Telecommunications
Revenue Increase2.svg US$1.2 billion(2017)
Operating income Increase2.svgUS$209,024,000(2011)
Net income Increase2.svgUS$160,823,000(2011)
Total assets US$1,382,638,000(2011)
Total equity US$502,634,000(2012)
Employees1,800 (2012)
Parent TransUnion (2021–present)
URL www.home.neustar
ASN

Neustar, Inc. is an American technology company that provides real-time information and analytics for risk, digital performance, defense, telecommunications, entertainment, and marketing industries, and also provides clearinghouse and directory services to the global communications and Internet industries. Neustar was the domain name registry for a number of top-level domains, including .biz, .us (on behalf of United States Department of Commerce), .co, .nyc (on behalf of the city of New York), and .in (on behalf of the National Internet Exchange of India) until the sale of the division to GoDaddy in 2020.

Contents

Until the end of 2018, Neustar was also a North American Numbering Plan Administrator under behalf of the Federal Communications Commission, a role continued from its founder, Lockheed Martin. Their first contract was granted in 1997 and was renewed under its spin-off in 1999, 2004, and 2012. Since 2019, it has been replaced by Somos, Inc.

History

Neustar was founded in Delaware in 1998 as a business unit within Lockheed Martin Corporation. [1] It was spun off to keep the neutrality that was essential to its original core contract with the nation's telecommunications providers. [2] In November 2006, it bought Followap, Inc., a UK-based enabler of mobile instant messaging services. [3]

In 2010, Lisa Hook was named the firm's President and Chief Operating Officer. In January 2010, The Washington Post reported that under Hook's leadership, Neustar was chosen by a consortium of Hollywood studios and technology executives to manage a system whereby consumers could access movies and other video entertainment from multiple digital devices. This system was named "UltraViolet". [4] Over the next years, Neustar bought several companies: TARGUSInfo (2011), Aggregate Knowledge (2013) and .CO Internet (2014). [5] [6] [7]

Neustar entered into an asset purchase agreement in 2015 with Transaction Network Services for their caller authentication assets. [8] The following year, Neustar planned to split into two independent publicly traded companies. [9] This plan was abandoned later that year when Golden Gate Capital and GIC announced to buy all Neustar public shares for approximately $2.9 billion ($33.50 per share). [10] This was completed by August 2017. [11]

Neustar lost its Number Portability Administration Center (NPAC) contract in 2016 to Ericsson subsidiary Telcordia. Neustar had administered the number portability system since 1997. The local-number-portability administrator (LNPA) was created to handle NPAC, which enables users to take their phone numbers with them when they switch service providers. The NPAC manages the routing of all calls and texts for more than 650 million US and Canadian phone numbers for more than 2,000 carriers. [12]

Charles Gottdiener was appointed as president and chief executive officer, succeeding Lisa Hook in July 2018. [13] In October, Neustar announced that it bought Verisign's security services customer contracts. This includes DDoS protection, DNS firewall, and managed and recursive DNS services customer contracts. [14] Three months later, Neustar bought TRUSTID, a caller authentication and fraud prevention systems provider for contact centers. [15]

GoDaddy bought Neustar's domain name registry business in August 2020, which was then renamed GoDaddy Registry. [16] In late 2021, TransUnion purchased Neustar's main business for 3.1 billion. [17] However, Neustar's security business, Neustar Security Services, was excluded from the transaction and remained as a portfolio company of Golden Gate Capital and GIC, [18] and was rebranded as Vercara in April 2023. [19]

Business

From 1998 until 2015, the original business of Neustar was the administration of the North American Numbering Plan, the maintenance of the system of directories and databases that manage the telephone area codes and central office prefixes in North America. This enables the routing of calls among thousands of competing communications service providers (CSPs). Neustar also provided clearinghouse services to emerging CSPs, including Internet service providers (ISPs), mobile network operators, cable television operators, and voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) service providers.[ citation needed ]

Neustar offers internal and external managed Domain name system (DNS) services that play a role in directing and managing traffic in the Internet, cloud-based DDoS attack protection and website performance management tools. [20] Before being purchased by Godaddy, Neustar managed the authoritative directories for the .us and .biz Internet domains, and acted as the worldwide "registry gateway" for China's .cn and Taiwan's .tw Internet domains outside of these two countries. [21] Neustar also provided back end registry services for .co Top Level Domain.

Neustar previously operated the authoritative directory for U.S. Common Short Codes, part of the short messaging service (SMS) relied upon by the U.S. wireless industry, and provides solutions used by mobile network operators to enable mobile instant messaging for their end users. CTIA granted that contract to Iconectiv, who took over providing Common Short Code (CSC) Registry Services on January 1, 2016. [22]

Neustar offered a "Digital Rights Locker" for Hollywood studios, consumer electronics manufacturers and retailers looking for Digital restrictions management, such as UltraViolet and the planned Mobile DTV Trust Authority (MDTV) Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC). UltraViolet was shut down on July 31, 2019. [23]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Domain name</span> Identification string in the Internet

In the Internet, a domain name is a string that identifies a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control. Domain names are often used to identify services provided through the Internet, such as websites, email services and more. Domain names are used in various networking contexts and for application-specific naming and addressing purposes. In general, a domain name identifies a network domain or an Internet Protocol (IP) resource, such as a personal computer used to access the Internet, or a server computer.

The domain com is a top-level domain (TLD) in the Domain Name System (DNS) of the Internet. Created in the first group of Internet domains at the beginning of 1985, its name is derived from the word commercial, indicating its original intended purpose for subdomains registered by commercial organizations. Later, the domain opened for general purposes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.tv</span> Internet country code top-level domain for Tuvalu

The domain name .tv is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Tuvalu. Except for reserved names like com.tv, net.tv, org.tv and others, anyone may register second-level domains under .tv. The domain name is popular, and thus economically valuable, because it is an abbreviation of the word television. In 1998, the government of Tuvalu sought to capitalize on the .tv suffix, later signing with the International Telecommunication Union, Information.CA, Idealab, Verisign, and currently GoDaddy to expand the domain. By 2019, 8.4% of the revenue of the government of Tuvalu came from .tv royalties, with hundreds of thousands of websites registered under the domain. Google treats .tv as a generic top-level domain (gTLD) because "users and website owners frequently see [the domain] as being more generic than country targeted."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Verisign</span> American Internet company

Verisign, Inc. is an American company based in Reston, Virginia, that operates a diverse array of network infrastructure, including two of the Internet's thirteen root nameservers, the authoritative registry for the .com, .net, and .name generic top-level domains and the .cc country-code top-level domains, and the back-end systems for the .jobs and .edu sponsored top-level domains.

Local number portability (LNP) for fixed lines, and full mobile number portability (FMNP) for mobile phone lines, refers to the ability of a "customer of record" of an existing fixed-line or mobile telephone number assigned by a local exchange carrier (LEC) to reassign the number to another carrier, move it to another location, or change the type of service. In most cases, there are limitations to transferability with regards to geography, service area coverage, and technology. Location Portability and Service Portability are not consistently defined or deployed in the telecommunication industry.

AusRegistry was a Melbourne, Australia based company that specialised in domain name registry services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.in</span> Internet country code top-level domain for India

.in is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for India. It was made available in 1989, four years after original generic top-level domains such as .com, .net and the country code like .us. It is currently administered by the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI).

iconectiv supplies communications providers with network planning and management services. The company’s cloud-based information as a service network and operations management and numbering solutions span trusted communications, digital identity management and fraud prevention. Known as Bellcore after its establishment in the United States in 1983 as part of the break-up of the Bell System, the company's name changed to Telcordia Technologies after a change of ownership in 1996. The business was acquired by Ericsson in 2012, then restructured and rebranded as iconectiv in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dyn (company)</span> Former Internet infrastructure company

Dyn, Inc. was an Internet performance management company that also dealt with web application security, offering products to monitor, control, and optimize online infrastructure, and also domain registration services and email products. The company was acquired by Oracle Corporation in 2016. It began operating as a global business unit of Oracle in 2017.

Short codes, or short numbers, are short digit-sequences—significantly shorter than telephone numbers—that are used to address messages in the Multimedia Messaging System (MMS) and short message service (SMS) systems of mobile network operators. In addition to messaging, they may be used in abbreviated dialing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OpenDNS</span> Domain name system provided by Cisco using closed-source software

OpenDNS is an American company providing Domain Name System (DNS) resolution services—with features such as phishing protection, optional content filtering, and DNS lookup in its DNS servers—and a cloud computing security product suite, Umbrella, designed to protect enterprise customers from malware, botnets, phishing, and targeted online attacks. The OpenDNS Global Network processes an estimated 100 billion DNS queries daily from 85 million users through 25 data centers worldwide.

A location routing number (LRN) is an identification for a telephone switch for the purpose of routing telephone calls through the public switched telephone network (PSTN) in the United States. This identification has the format of a telephone number, in accordance with the North American Numbering Plan (NANP). The association of a location routing number with a telephone number is required for local number portability.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.biz</span> Generic top-level Internet domain

.biz is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) in the Domain Name System of the Internet. It is intended for registration of domains to be used by businesses. The name is a phonetic spelling of the first syllable of business.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cloudflare</span> American technology company

Cloudflare, Inc. is an American company that provides content delivery network services, cloud cybersecurity, DDoS mitigation, wide area network services, reverse proxies, Domain Name Service, and ICANN-accredited domain registration services. Cloudflare's headquarters are in San Francisco, California. According to W3Techs, Cloudflare is used by more than 19% of the Internet for its web security services, as of 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Public Interest Registry</span>

Public Interest Registry is a not-for-profit based in Reston, Virginia, created by the Internet Society in 2002 to manage the .ORG top-level domain. It took over operation of .ORG in January 2003 and launched the .NGO and .ONG top-level domains in March 2015.

The Number Portability Administration Center (NPAC) is a function of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States. It administers the routing of telephone calls and text messages (SMS) for the telecommunications industry and its customers in the regions of the North American Numbering Plan. As such, it facilitates local number portability in the United States and Canada.

easyDNS Technologies Inc. is a Canadian Internet service provider which supplies DNS and web hosting services and operates a mail service called EasyMail. The company is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario.

Transaction Network Services (TNS) is a privately held, multinational company in the payments, financial and telecommunications industries. TNS is the supplier of networking, integrated data, and voice services to many organizations in the global payments and financial communities, as well as a provider of telecommunications network solutions to service providers.

A public recursive name server is a name server service that networked computers may use to query the Domain Name System (DNS), the decentralized Internet naming system, in place of name servers operated by the local Internet service provider (ISP) to which the devices are connected. Reasons for using these services include:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rodney Joffe</span> South African/American entrepreneur

Rodney Joffe is a South African/American entrepreneur and cybersecurity expert. He is a recipient of the FBI's Director's Award for Outstanding Cyber Investigation for his role in uncovering the Mariposa botnet.

References

  1. ↑ Holstein, William J. (2008-01-05). "The Company With the Biggest Little Black Book". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2022-05-19.
  2. ↑ Noguchi, Yuki (2001-02-07). "Home of the Big Black Book". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2022-05-18.
  3. ↑ "NeuStar acquires Followap for $139 million". Reuters. November 27, 2006. Archived from the original on 2015-04-02.
  4. ↑ Musgrove, Mike (January 14, 2010). "Neustar gets deal to work on movie download anti-piracy system". The Washington Post . Retrieved May 12, 2015.
  5. ↑ Overly, Steven (October 11, 2011). "Neustar acquires Vienna-based Targusinfo for $650 million in cash". The Washington Post .
  6. ↑ Wasserman, Todd (October 30, 2013). "Neustar Buys Ad-Tech Firm Aggregate Knowledge for $119 Million". Mashable .
  7. ↑ Murphy, Kevin (2014-03-20). "Neustar pays $109 million for .CO Internet". DomainIncite. Archived from the original on 2015-04-15. Retrieved 2015-04-10.
  8. ↑ "Asset Purchase Agreement between Transaction Network Services, Inc. and Neustar, Inc". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. September 9, 2015.
  9. ↑ Birkner, Christine (June 21, 2016). "Ad Tech Player Neustar is Splitting Into 2 Public Companies". AdWeek. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  10. ↑ "Neustar to Be Acquired for $33.50 per Share in Cash by Group Led by Golden Gate Capital" (Press release). Neustar. December 14, 2016.
  11. ↑ "Neustar Announces Completion of Acquisition by Group Led by Golden Gate Capital" (Press release). Neustar. August 8, 2017.
  12. ↑ Gibbs, Colin (July 22, 2016). "Report: Ericsson's Telcordia beats Neustar for key number portability contract". Fierce Wireless .
  13. ↑ Medici, Andy (July 23, 2018). "The new Neustar has a new CEO — and it's vacating some office space". Washington Business Journal .
  14. ↑ "Neustar to Acquire Verisign's Security Services Customer Contracts" (Press release). Neustar. October 25, 2018.
  15. ↑ Maake, Katishi (January 4, 2019). "Neustar closes on acquisition of Oregon fraud prevention company". Washington Business Journal .
  16. ↑ "GoDaddy completes Neustar Registry acquisition". Domain Name Wire | Domain Name News. 2020-08-04. Retrieved 2022-05-19.
  17. ↑ "TransUnion and Neustar Announce Transaction Close". finance.yahoo.com. December 2021. Retrieved 2022-05-19.
  18. ↑ Adrien, Claudia (December 2, 2021). "TransUnion Closes Neustar Deal for $3.1 Billion, Excludes Security Business". channelfutures.com. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
  19. ↑ "Neustar Security Services is Now Vercara". businesswire.com. April 5, 2023. Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  20. ↑ "Neustar Second Annual DDoS Survey Finds 35% Of Businesses Experienced A DDoS Attack In 2012". Dark Reading. April 24, 2013. Archived from the original on December 6, 2013. Retrieved December 9, 2013.
  21. ↑ Neustar, Inc. (March 25, 2009), U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Form S-1 , retrieved January 1, 2010
  22. ↑ "CTIA Announced New Strategic Partner iconectiv for Common Short Code Registry Services" (Press release). CTIA. July 30, 2015. Archived from the original on September 6, 2015.
  23. ↑ Perez, Sarah (31 January 2019). "Cloud movie locker UltraViolet is finally closing". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2020-11-11.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.