NetNames

NetNames is a British company that provides online brand protection, as well as domain name management and acquisition services. The company aims to protect brands from online counterfeiting, fraud, piracy, cybersquatting and other digital threats.

Founded as NetBenefit in 1995 and later renamed to Group NBT plc in 2004, the company officially consolidated all its corporate brands under the NetNames banner in January 2013.

In 1996 NetNames developed the concept of a standalone commercial domain name registration service which would sell domain registration and other associated services to the public.

In 2011, NetNames was bought by private equity firm HG Capital and delisted from the Alternative Investment Market. The following year, NetBenefit ltd, NetNames’ managed hosting division, was sold to Canadian IT infrastructure provider Peer 1 Hosting.

Headquartered in London, NetNames also maintains offices in Cambridge, Paris, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Zurich, Munich, New York, San Francisco, Melbourne and Singapore.

A series of global acquisitions have made NetNames “one of the world’s largest corporate domain name management and online brand protection specialists”. Recent acquisitions have included Ascio Technologies, INDOM and Cedel, as well as WebIP in Australia and Adicio in Singapore.

NetNames supports more than 2,000 companies globally, including a quarter of the UK’s FTSE 100 firms. In 2014, The Telegraph reported that NetNames has relationships with 240 registrars worldwide and can “have fake websites taken down within days”.

Unilever is currently one of NetNames’ biggest clients, with a portfolio of more than 10,000 domain names under management for all its global brands.

NetNames was a founding member of Nominet UK, the .uk domain name registry in the United Kingdom. In 1999, NetNames also gained ICANN accreditation status for domain registration.

NetNames was named as a Deloitte & Touche Technology Fast 50 Winner in 2002 and was recognised again in 2004. NetNames was also selected by Superbrands in its 2006/7 Top 50 eBrand Leaders.

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