VeriSign Speeds Up DNS Updates

VeriSign on Thursday announced it would update the domain name servers for the .com and .net domains every few seconds rather than just twice a day to speed up Web site launches and limit disruption when changing hosting services.

Dubbing the process "rapid updates," VeriSign promised it would dynamically update the .com and .net registry databases, and thus the 13 domain name system (DNS) servers so sites could be registered and populated to the rest of the Web "within minutes."

"Companies that bundle Web and e-mail services with a domain name can now provide their customers with the ability to see their new Web sites almost immediately," said Elliott Noss, the chief executive officer of hosting firm Tucows, Inc., in a statement.

VeriSign also touted the change as a way for firms to react faster to disasters such as denial-of-service attacks, presumably because they would be able to switch domain name to one unaffected by the DoS attack, and have the site up and running almost immediately