3COM USING NETSCAPE TECHNOLOGY TO FORGE GLOBAL INFORMATION SYSTEM
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (November 8, 1996) -- Netscape Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:NSCP) today announced that 3Com Corporation (NASDAQ:COMS), a leading global networking company, is using Netscape client and server software as the enabling technology for its corporate Intranet and Internet sites. A Netscape customer since 1995, 3Com now has several Web sites around the world based on Netscape server software, and uses Netscape Navigator as its internal client software. 3Com has licensed 5,700 copies of Netscape Navigator.
A $2.5 billion global company, 3Com must manage an extraordinary flow of information generated internally and externally on a daily basis across a variety of technical platforms. 3Com's Intranet and Internet sites are fundamental to the company's drive to increase information access while decreasing the overall complexity of its technical environment. Using Netscape software solutions, 3Com's Intranet and Internet sites facilitate the company's exchange of information by providing access through a common interface.
3Com's Intranet, based on Netscape Enterprise Server software, is already used by half of 3Com's nearly 6,000 employees. Employees will access 3Com's Intranet to find benefits, company and stock information, order equipment and file expense reports. The cross-platform capabilities of 3Com's Intranet helps newly-hired employees get assimilated quickly in any technical environment. 3Com is now in the process of developing interactive conversation boards containing information from the executive team in text, video and audio clip format.
As a business management tool, 3Com plans to use its Netscape software-based Intranet to access legacy as well as new data in the company's data warehouse. Called 3Info, this mainstream decision support application gives detailed and summarized information regarding sales, products and vendors on a daily basis, using information culled from the company's transaction applications across the world. Authorized users, such as senior management, frequently access the information as they make decisions and adjustments in product mixes, as well as review sales history and volumes by location and business. Soon, applications such as calendaring and scheduling will also be accessible through 3Com's Intranet.
"3Com has 6,000 employees, seven manufacturing sites, 72 sales offices in 31 countries and 12,000 nodes in our network," said Tom Thomas, senior vice president and chief information officer for 3Com. "This large and widespread population of users must communicate with one another and have access to up-to-the-minute information. Our challenge is to reduce and manage time and distance. Using Netscape software, we are able to increase our efficiency and speed up decision making to help grow our business and meet our customer's pervasive networking needs. 3Com's charter is to provide anytime, anywhere access to information. In a high growth business like ours, having quick access to the information in a form that enables us to make the appropriate business decisions is critical to our success. Netscape products are helping us reduce the complexity of pulling that information together from around the world through our Internet and Intranet sites."
Scott Baker, director of architecture and planning for global information systems at 3Com, concurs. "Since we have so many different platforms, we're trying to reduce the overall complexity of our technical environment, and therefore become more flexible and responsive to both internal and external customers," he said. "We see Netscape software's ease-of-use and open architecture as a major piece of that."
3Com recently installed a common set of transactions processing systems, including SAP order management and financial applications, which are now being used globally. Employees will soon access and perform these transactions through the Intranet. 3Com is building these technologies internally to eventually support every function in the company: sales and marketing, customer service organization, manufacturing, engineering, product development, electronic commerce, internal information and systems development.
"Netscape products are helping 3Com build a technical framework to support a business growing at substantial rates," said Mike Homer, senior vice president of marketing at Netscape. "3Com wants to take advantage of its global diversity to leverage the skills and increase the productivity of its employees wherever they are around the world. 3Com also wants to make information from existing and future applications quickly available internally and externally across a variety of platforms. Because of its ability to integrate with databases and internal information systems, Netscape software cost-effectively provides immediate and long-term Intranet solutions to meet these goals."
3Com established its Internet site last year, and is moving to a more formal Web environment as part of its evolving information systems architecture. With its connectivity to the Internet, the company's Intranet is part of 3Com's developing global network computing model. This system is built on 3Com products and will link all divisions, 3Com employees and customers externally. An internal initiative called 3Cii - common infrastructure initiative - will provide a common technical platform to support the applications of the network computing model. Netscape client and server software is an important component of this system's development.
The customer service organization is one of the largest users of the Internet in the company, with tens of thousands of hits a day. Customers are linked to 3Com's Intranet through the company's home page. Using a special password, they have access to 3Com's customer support organization, including product information and technical support. 3Com is also currently developing electronic commerce applications - such as order processing - for use by customers. Since mid-1996, 3Com has been offering Customer Care, a new interactive service which provides customers with problem identification and resolution on universal network issues and problems. Many of 3Com's customers access this service on a daily basis.
3Com Corporation has helped more than 37 million people gain access to critical information through high speed networks. Designed to serve large enterprises, small offices and homes, 3Com products provide a scalable architecture to meet the immediate and long term connectivity needs of today's users. With research and development on three continents, 3Com is one of the data networking industry's largest and fastest growing companies. The company's innovative marketing, sales and support simplify communication, optimize network reliability and protect customer investments.
Netscape Communications Corporation is a leading provider of open software for linking people and information over enterprise networks and the Internet. The company offers a full line of clients, servers, development tools and commercial applications to create a complete platform for next-generation, live online applications. Traded on NASDAQ under the symbol "NSCP," Netscape Communications Corporation is based in Mountain View, California.
Additional information on Netscape Communications Corporation is available on the Internet at http://home.netscape.com, by sending email to info@netscape.com, or by calling 415/937-2555 (corporations) or 415/937-3777 (individuals).
Netscape, the Netscape Communication Corporation logo, Netscape Navigator and Netscape Enterprise Server are trademarks of Netscape Communication Corporation. All other product names are trademarks of their respective companies.