July 12, 2007 – (HOSTSEARCH.COM) – Group NBT, the parent company of domain registrar NetNames (http://www.netnames.com) has acquired Envisional Solutions Ltd. (http://www.envisional.com), a provider of online brand protection services. According to the company the acquisition will “enhance and broaden” the range of online brand protection services it offers.
Envisional manages the Internet presence of global brand owners. This includes “monitoring trademark use, highlighting brand infringements, gathering market intelligence and regulating legitimate brand use online”. Envisional has developed a range of technology that identifies images and logos and can search text in any language to establish brand infringements and violations.
NetNames’ acquisition will enable the company to “enforce and extend” its Platinum Service brand protection services, which are currently being utilized by 30% of the companies in Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) 100. NetNames will benefit from “Envisional’s experience and successes in the fields of protection against fraud, piracy and counterfeiting”.
“This transaction is of strategic importance for Group NBT,” explained Chief Executive of Group NBT, Mr. Geoff Wicks. “We have long recognized the requirement to be able to offer our customers a broader range of products, offering them an ability to protect their brands from various types of infringement in the online market. Envisional has very good technology to do this which is currently being used by some significant brand owners.”
NetNames is an ICANN registrar with headquarters in London and offices in New York, Nice, Munich, Madrid, Copenhagen, Zurich and Oslo. Envisional was established in 1999 in Cambridge, United Kingdom, by two British scientists, Chris Swannack and Ben Coppin. The company has 30 staff and a worldwide blue chip customer list.
