HERNDON, VIRGINIA, U.S.A., 2000 MAY 8 (NB) -- In what some consider to be a natural fit between two Internet superstars, Internet domain-name colossus Network Solutions Inc. [NASDAQ:NSOL] said its co-branding deal with Dulles, Va.- based interactive leader America Online Inc. [NYSE:AOL] will "integrally" weave Network Solutions (NSI) services into AOL's various brands.
With more than 24 million subscribers worldwide, AOL's customer base of more than 75 million user names made for a choice audience for Herndon, Va.-based NSI to target, NSI General Manager of Registrar and Value Added Services Douglas Wolford told Washtech.com.
Earlier this morning, NSI and AOL said they inked a "multi-year, multi-million dollar" marketing alliance to offer NSI's domain name registration and other services globally across AOL's brands. Wolford said financial details of the arrangement were not being publicized.
Under the agreement, NSI's services will be available through co- branded sites across AOL, AOL.COM, CompuServe, Netscape Netcenter, Digital City, ICQ, and Spinner/Winamp, as well as on AOL's international services.
In early March, NSI announced it will be acquired by California-based online security concern VeriSign Inc. [NASDAQ:VRSN]. As part of the NSI-AOL deal, AOL will provide digital certificates as well as authentication, validation and e-payment services from VeriSign on AOL's services, Wolford said.
Both AOL and NSI said the alliance also will provide AOL's various members and visitors to AOL's Web-based properties with access to NSI's Image Cafe Web site and idNames country-code registration services. Plus, the joint offerings will include the ability to register for free listings in the Netscape Business Directory, which will include data from NSI, and NSI will distribute a co-branded version of Netscape Instant Messenger.
In essence, new and old AOL customers will be able to get a user name, domain name and buy online security services all at the same time, Wolford explained. "You'll see NSI, VeriSign and AOL will offer solutions across the whole line of e-commerce," he said.
And Wolford added that not only does the partnership -- first discussed a year ago -- rank as one of NSI's more significant pacts, but it also marks the first time that domain name registration and security services will be directly marketed to AOL's "loyal" customer base.
Shares of NSI were up 25 cents or 1.17 percent to $21.625 each, while AOL shares were down $1.562 or 2.74 percent to $55.438 apiece around 11:30 a.m. EDT today.
Reported by Washtech.com, http://www.washtech.com.
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