MARINA DEL REY, Calif., March 29 (UPI) -- VeriSign Inc. of California, the Internet address company, won an competitive bid to control the .net domain, the Washington Post reports.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, posted the findings of an independent panel that chose the future operator of the .net domain, now being run by VeriSign.
The Mountain View, Calif., company once ran the .com, .net and .org addresses, but agreed in 1999 to relinquish .org and bid competitively for .net to retain near permanent control of .com.
ICANN will immediately begin negotiations with VeriSign officials on a new .net contract.
"The evaluators find that all the vendors have the capabilities to run the .net registry," said a bid-evaluation report by Telecordia, the Piscataway, N.J., firm engaged to vet proposals, ICANN said.
"The distinguishing characteristics are largely difference in experience, risk and price."
