Jump to content

Neustar

Organization
Type Commercial
Focus
  • Identity resolution
  • Marketing data
  • Fraud and risk
  • Communications services
Country
City Reston
Founded 1998
Ownership TransUnion
Websites
Recognitions

Neustar is an American information services and technology business owned by TransUnion. Its current activities are centered on identity resolution, marketing, fraud and risk, and communications services. TransUnion acquired Neustar's marketing, risk and communications businesses for $3.1 billion in December 2021 and has since integrated much of the former Neustar portfolio into its broader business products.[1] Some services continue to be identified as "powered by Neustar", particularly within TransUnion's TruAudience, TruValidate and TruContact product families.[2]

Neustar historically had a much broader role in Internet infrastructure and telecommunications. It was a major registry and registry services provider, operated the UltraDNS platform, and administered important North American telephone-numbering systems. Those businesses have since been divided among several companies: Neustar's domain-name registry business was sold to GoDaddy in 2020, while its security business was separated in 2021, renamed Vercara in 2023, and acquired by DigiCert in 2024.[3][4][5]

History[edit | edit source]

Neustar's origins are in the telecommunications numbering work of Lockheed Martin. Its predecessor, the Communications Industry Services unit, helped develop the Number Portability Administration Center (NPAC) during the introduction of local number portability in North America. Neustar was incorporated in Delaware in 1998 to acquire Lockheed Martin's number-portability business, completing the transaction in November 1999.[6] The separation was connected to regulatory requirements that numbering administration remain neutral as Lockheed Martin expanded its telecommunications interests.

During the following decade Neustar expanded from numbering administration into Internet infrastructure, messaging and information services. It became publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange in 2005. Major acquisitions included UltraDNS in 2006, which expanded Neustar into managed DNS infrastructure, and TARGUSinfo in 2011, which strengthened its identity and information-services business.

Neustar also became an important participant in the domain-name industry. Its registry activities originated with NeuLevel, a joint venture with MelbourneIT created to pursue new TLD opportunities. NeuLevel's proposal for .biz was selected by ICANN during the 2000 proof-of-concept expansion, and Neustar later became the sole operator of the registry. It subsequently operated or provided technical services for TLDs including .us, .co, .tel and .travel.

In 2015, Neustar acquired Bombora Technologies, the parent company of ARI Registry Services, for approximately AUD $118.5 million. The acquisition substantially expanded its back-end registry portfolio, including services for new gTLDs, geographic TLDs and .Brand registries.[7]

A private investment group led by Golden Gate Capital, with participation from GIC, agreed to acquire Neustar in December 2016 for approximately $2.9 billion. The transaction closed on August 8, 2017, taking Neustar private.[8]

Domain name registry business[edit | edit source]

By the late 2010s, Neustar was one of the larger providers of back-end infrastructure to the TLD market. In addition to operating major registries, it provided managed registry services to a large portfolio of generic, geographic and brand TLDs and participated extensively in the New gTLD Program.

Neustar was also active in ICANN implementation discussions surrounding the 2012 Round. It contributed to debates over application batching and, together with other registry providers, participated in development discussions around the Trademark Clearinghouse, Sunrise registrations and the use of signed trademark data.

In April 2020, GoDaddy announced that it would acquire Neustar's entire registry business. The transaction was completed in August for approximately $216 million.[9] At the time of the announcement, the business supported more than 215 TLDs and approximately 12 million registered domains. Its portfolio included .biz, .co, .in, .nyc and .us, as well as managed services for more than 130 brand TLDs and 70 generic TLDs.[3]

The acquired operation became GoDaddy Registry. Neustar consequently ceased to operate the registry business with which it had been associated throughout much of its ICANN history.

Numbering and communications[edit | edit source]

Neustar was historically closely associated with administration of the North American telephone-numbering infrastructure. It operated the U.S. NPAC and served as the North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA) and Thousands-Block Pooling Administrator.

These roles changed before the company's acquisition by TransUnion. In May 2018, responsibility for the U.S. NPAC transferred from Neustar to iconectiv.[10] The FCC subsequently selected Somos to replace Neustar as NANPA and Pooling Administrator, with the transition completed at the end of 2018.[11]

Neustar remains involved in telecommunications information and communications services under TransUnion. Current offerings include telephone-number intelligence, caller identification and branded communications, fraud and validation services, and telecom order-management products within TransUnion's TruContact portfolio.[12] Neustar also remains the NPAC administrator for Canada.[13]

TransUnion acquisition and restructuring[edit | edit source]

TransUnion announced an agreement to acquire Neustar in September 2021 and completed the $3.1 billion transaction on December 1. The transaction principally transferred Neustar's marketing, risk and communications businesses to TransUnion.[1]

Neustar's security business was deliberately excluded. On the same day, Neustar Security Services became an independent portfolio company backed by Golden Gate Capital and GIC.[14] This business included the UltraDNS authoritative DNS platform, DDoS mitigation and application-security services.

Neustar Security Services changed its name to Vercara in April 2023.[4] DigiCert acquired Vercara in September 2024. UltraDNS and the associated security infrastructure therefore no longer form part of Neustar or TransUnion.

Neustar within TransUnion[edit | edit source]

Neustar continues to exist as a name attached to TransUnion legal entities, technology and products, but it is no longer operated as the broad independent infrastructure company represented by its pre-2020 portfolio. TransUnion describes Neustar's former marketing, fraud and communications offerings as part of its unified business-to-business portfolio.[15]

Neustar's identity-resolution technology has also become part of TransUnion's wider technical architecture. The former Neustar OneID platform was incorporated into TransUnion's identity capabilities, and technology and intellectual property acquired with Neustar contributed to the development of TransUnion's OneTru platform.[16]

The modern Neustar name is therefore most accurately understood as a TransUnion information-services business and technology lineage, while its former registry and DNS-security operations continue separately through GoDaddy Registry and DigiCert/Vercara respectively.

See also[edit | edit source]

External links[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 TransUnion and Neustar Announce Transaction Close. TransUnion. December 1, 2021.
  2. ↑ Business Support Services. TransUnion.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 GoDaddy Acquires Neustar's Registry Business. GoDaddy. April 6, 2020.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Neustar Security Services is now Vercara. April 5, 2023.
  5. ↑ DigiCert Completes Acquisition of Vercara. DigiCert. September 23, 2024.
  6. ↑ Neustar 2011 Form 10-K. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
  7. ↑ Neustar Acquires Leading Domain Name Registry Provider Bombora Technologies. Neustar.
  8. ↑ Neustar Form 8-K. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. August 2017.
  9. ↑ GoDaddy Reports Second Quarter 2020 Earnings Results. GoDaddy. August 5, 2020.
  10. ↑ FCC 18-95. Federal Communications Commission.
  11. ↑ Neustar Request Regarding Numbering Administrator Neutrality. Federal Communications Commission. December 2018.
  12. ↑ Branded Communications. TransUnion.
  13. ↑ About the NPAC. NPAC.
  14. ↑ Neustar Security Services Spins Out. Golden Gate Capital. December 1, 2021.
  15. ↑ Neustar.
  16. ↑ TransUnion Technology Transformation Reaches Next Phase with Introduction of OneTru. TransUnion.

North America, according to the ICANN Geographic Regions (ICANN Geographic Regions).

Retrieved from "https://icannwiki.org/index.php?title=Neustar&oldid=1438361"
Semantic properties for "Neustar"
RDF feed
Date foundedStores the date that an object was founded, normalized to the "Month DD, YYYY" format.
+
Has ICANN regionAssociates an object with an ICANN-determined Geographic Region.
NA +
Has affiliated organizationAssociates an organization with another organization connected through ownership, control, acquisition, or another corporate relationship.
TransUnion +
Has cityStores the city associated with an object. This value does not get normalized.
Reston +
Has countryAssociates a page with a country. Territory names are extracted from ISO 3166, "Country Codes".
United States +
Has entity typeSpecifies the primary classification or fundamental type of the page's subject (e.g., Event, Organization, Person).
Organization +
Has focusAssociates an object with a focus theme. Not normalized.
Identity resolution +, Marketing data +, Fraud and risk +  and Communications services +
Has organization typeAssociates an organization with its organizational or legal type (e.g., Non-profit, Government agency, Commercial).
Commercial +