VeriSign's domainnames.com Secures Strategic Agreement with UOL
São Paulo, Brazil, 28 March 2001 - VeriSign, Inc. today announced an agreement with Universo Online Ltda. (UOL), Latin America's leading Internet portal. UOL will offer VeriSign's domainnames.com registration services in multiple languages in .com, .net and .org. to customers throughout Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Spain and Venezuela. Since its launch in 1996 UOL has been recognized across the region as the "universe that attracts Latin Americans". With the partnership with VeriSign, UOL will be, once again, leading the path of Internet across the region. The domain registration service is accessible on www.uol.domainnames.com.
"UOL's customers will be able to register in the .com, .net and .org top-level domain names and a range of country-code domains including .com.br, .com.ar and .com.mx," said Kieron James, president of domainnames.com Latin American operations for VeriSign. "Additionally Domain Names incorporating special characters such as ñ , é and ç will be available through our multilingual offering."
In recognition of the low credit card penetration levels in Latin America, VeriSign will offer a fully-localized payment solution to allow customers to buy online using direct bank transfer, boleto bancario or cheque through relationships with Banco Santos.
"This is a strategic agreement that will add value to UOL's interaction with customers," said Claus Vieira, chief operating officer UOL International and chief sales officer. "UOL cares about quality content and we are always looking for new opportunities to offer our users the best Internet experience ever. We expect to have in domainnames.com a complete domain solution, which is of great importance for our customers."
Guilherme Stocco Filho, domainnames.com Latin American business development director, VeriSign, added, "This deal will bring our services to the largest online audience in Brazil and much of Latin America, via UOL's strong presence in the region."
About domainnames.com
Established in 1997, VeriSign's domainnames.com service includes Web-based
domain name registration, e-mail forwarding, Web hosting and full e-commerce
services for businesses and individuals. domainnames.com operates from
offices throughout Europe and Latin America and recently established
offices in Buenos Aires and São Paulo.
About UOL
Universo Online is the largest online service and Internet provider
in Latin America. With 5.4 billion page views in the fourth quarter
of 2000, 13.6 million unique visitors in December, and 11.2 million
registered users, UOL Inc. has consolidated its position as the Internet
leading company in the Latin American region. In Brazil, UOL had 923.000
paid access subscribers in December 2000 in over 200 Brazilian cities.
UOL's operations in Brazil include UOL Brasil online service
(Universo Online, www.uol.com.br ), and BOL portal (Brasil Online, www.bol.com.br),
first and second place in the Brazilian audience ranking, according
to Media Metrix, IBOPE/Nielsen, and IVC (Instituto Verificador de Circulação).
UOL's Latin American portals include Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Venezuela
and Colombia. UOL is also present in the United States and Spain. For
additional information on UOL,
please visit: http://www.uol.com.br.
About VeriSign
VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN) is the leading provider of trusted infrastructure
services to Web sites, enterprises, electronic commerce service providers
and individuals. The company's domain name, digital certificate and
payment services provide the critical web identity, authentication and
transaction infrastructure that online businesses require to conduct
secure e-commerce and communications. VeriSign's services are available
through its web sites (www.verisign.com and www.networksolutions.com)
or through its direct sales force and reseller partners around the world.
Contacts:
VeriSign: Cheryl Regan +1 703 742 4847 cregan@netsol.com
domainnames.com: www.uol.domainnames.com +55 11 3043 6330 guilherme.stocco@domainnames.com
UOL: http://www.uol.com.br +55 11 3168-3200 itemcom@uol.com.br