Chris Woodfield wrote:

IIRC, Verisign operates every gtld-servers.net server,

That's correct: VeriSign Global Registry Services operates the name servers and ancillary equipment at all 13 com/net/org name server sites, which are distributed throughout the world.

Does Verisign use the same hardware and OS on all of these servers, or are the vendors distributed?

We are in the process of diversifying all aspects of the com/net/org name server constellation: name server software, name server hardware and OS, and network hardware and OS. Our goal is to eliminate the possibility of a single hardware or software defect affecting all the sites. Matt -- Matt Larson <mlarson@verisign.com> VeriSign Global Registry Services