VeriSign's Ken Silva Named to InfoWorld CTO 25
Silva was named to the InfoWorld CTO 25 for consolidating 17 production data centers down to five over the past year. Designed to reduce the number of systems and applications required to operate the Internet infrastructure and support company operations, Silva's efforts have saved VeriSign significant time while reducing its carbon footprint. Throughout the consolidation initiative, Silva built a redundant set of equipment and employed strategic virtualization techniques to ensure that services remained available at all times -- not just to internal users, but to VeriSign's thousands of customers worldwide.
By examining and streamlining a wide range of processes -- from code tracking to patch management -- Silva reduced the burden its internal systems place on its IT resources, even as he oversaw VeriSign's ambitious effort to upgrade its global Internet infrastructure. A former NSA executive technical director and well-known security expert, Silva drove the consolidation effort while marshaling his team in the kick-off of "Project Apollo," the company's multi-hundred million dollar effort to upgrade its Internet infrastructure over the next decade. These investments and enhancements will enable VeriSign's computers to handle up to 4 quadrillion lookup requests per day from computers trying to reach those sites -- 1,000 times VeriSign's current lookup capacity.
"Everyone knows that 2009 was an extraordinarily tough year for most organizations, so most IT groups had to hunker down and defer many innovative efforts as revenues dried up and keeping the lights on became the only focus. Despite that environment, some CTOs were able to move forward with innovation, in some cases finding ways to create new opportunities for their business and in others leveraging the economic crisis to make their IT operations significantly better even as they got leaner," said Galen Gruman, executive editor for News and Features at InfoWorld. "The ability to be innovative and cost-effective was very evident in this year's InfoWorld CTO 25 winning entries. These IT leaders combined management savvy, technological insight, and the ability to lead a team to success despite difficult circumstances. This year's honorees reinvented untenable legacies, provided game-changing insight, and managed both their own teams and key organization stakeholders to make their businesses succeed through the use of technology. Our honorees did much more than implement technology well; they brought its use to a new level."
Each year, InfoWorld honors IT executives who have shown leadership both inside and outside their companies. Nominations are reviewed and winners selected by the InfoWorld executive editorial team. The InfoWorld CTO 25 feature, including InfoWorld's expert reporting and analysis, appears online at http://www.infoworld.com/t/leadership/the-best-ctos-2010-618.
About VeriSign
VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN) is the trusted provider of Internet infrastructure services for the networked world. Billions of times each day, VeriSign helps companies and consumers all over the world engage in communications and commerce with confidence. Additional news and information about the company is available at www.verisign.com.
Statements in this announcement other than historical data and information constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause VeriSign's actual results to differ materially from those stated or implied by such forward-looking statements. The potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, the uncertainty of future revenue and profitability; potential fluctuations in quarterly operating results due to such factors as increasing competition and pricing pressure from competing services offered at prices below our prices; the uncertainty of whether Project Apollo will achieve its stated objectives; and increased competition and pricing pressures. More information about potential factors that could affect the company's business and financial results is included in VeriSign's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K. VeriSign undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this press release.
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