Internet traffic cops to open Dubai office

Dubai: The information superhighway's traffic cops are setting up shop in Dubai.

Neil Batstone, Enterprise Sales Director for VeriSign, Inc, announced yesterday that the company will be opening an office here in January.

While the company's products may not be as readily identifiable to the average user as Microsoft's, the company is regarded as one of the most trusted in cyberspace. If someone has completed a transaction online, then they're probably dealt with VeriSign, Batstone said.

VeriSign is based in Mountain View, California, and operates a wide array of network infrastructure, including .com and .net, two of the Internet's root name servers.

Root nameservers are the computers that route users to web sites on the internet.

VeriSign also provides a variety of security and telecom services ranging from digital certificates, payments processing, and managed firewalls.

Batstone said the move to Dubai is mainly to help support its existing customers.

"In the last year we've seen a lot of businesses go online. Our intention is to support our customer's as well as we can, although of course we'd like to develop new customers," Batstone said.

"We see the Middle East as a key strategic area," he said. "Like many thinks in the Gulf region, this business is based on trust, and you can't have that without a presence."