NETSCAPE INTRODUCES NETSCAPE SUITETOOLS FOR DEVELOPING AND MANAGING INTRANET APPLICATIONS

'BEST OF BREED' TOOLS FAMILY INCLUDES PRODUCTS FROM NETDYNAMICS, NETOBJECTS, NETSCAPE AND SYMANTEC

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (December 11, 1996) -- Netscape Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: NSCP) today introduced Netscape SuiteTools, a comprehensive family of tools for developing and managing Intranet applications, interactive content and Web sites with Netscape ONE, the open network environment. Netscape SuiteTools, available directly from Netscape, includes the award-winning Netscape LiveWire Pro development environment and products from NetDynamics, NetObjects and Symantec. Netscape SuiteTools provides best-of-class products that complement the Netscape client and server software line and enable corporations building and integrating Intranet applications to easily purchase and create a complete solution for deploying and managing Web sites.

Netscape also unveiled a new online tools guide called Tools for Netscape ONE. This guide, available on the Netscape DevEdge Online Internet site, organizes more than 40 Internet tools into over a dozen categories, such as Java applet development tools, HTML authoring tools and database connectivity tools. This online guide provides a single centralized source to help Netscape customers and corporate developers find information on Internet tools and vendors.

"Developers need a broad range of powerful tools to build and manage cross-platform Internet and Intranet applications," said Rick Schell, senior vice president of the client and platform division at Netscape. "Netscape saw that need and created Netscape SuiteTools to provide a single-source solution for the thousands of corporate developers who want to focus their energies on developing applications."

Netscape SuiteTools was created to offer customers, especially enterprise developers, a range of leading tools that address their needs for creating dynamic content and building applications that employ Java, JavaScript and HTML and integrate with relational databases. These products support the Netscape ONE platform and supplement Netscape's line of client and server software solutions for Internet and Intranets. Netscape SuiteTools also enables developers to build applications fueled by Netscape SuiteSpot servers that are accessible using Netscape client software, on a broad range of operating environments. Developers will also be able to use Netscape SuiteTools to customize the reusable business applications available, at no charge, through the Netscape AppFoundry program.

Netscape SuiteTools includes:

• NetDynamics, a Java-based enterprise database application tool for developing Intranet applications and extending existing corporate applications to the Web. NetDynamics includes two parts: a development studio which allows corporate developers to use Java to leverage their existing skills, and a high performance application server which makes those applications immediately available to industry-standard Web browsers

• NetObjects Fusion 2.0, a visual, site-oriented Web site development tool unveiled today. NetObjects Fusion combines automated site building with professional-quality design and data publishing. Available for Windows 95, Windows NT and the Macintosh, NetObjects Fusion has won PC Magazine's Editors Choice award, won several competitive reviews and is being used by thousands of site builders.

• Netscape LiveWire Pro, a development environment and site management tool. Netscape LiveWire Pro takes advantage of server-side JavaScript to provide an easy-to-use solution for database connectivity to Intranet applications. LiveWire Pro comes with a copy of the INFORMIX Online Workgroup database and includes Netscape Site Manager for graphically managing, reorganizing, and verifying Web sites.

• Symantec Visual Cafe Pro, a powerful visual RAD tool for developing Java applets and applications and quickly connecting them to existing databases. With Visual Cafe Pro, developers on Windows 95 and NT and Macintosh can quickly build sophisticated applications utilizing any of up to 100 pre-built Java Beans components. New technologies -- including two-way programming, live Java controls, Java layout management and advanced Java debugging -- dramatically shorten the development process. Visual Cafe Pro also incorporates Symantec's dbANYWHERE Workgroup Server technology to provide distributed database access from anywhere on the Web to most popular databases. This is further facilitated by the inclusion of dbAWARE controls and a Form Wizard which helps developers create Java forms on the Web in a matter of minutes.

"Netscape SuiteTools will make premier tools for developing Java-based applications readily available to Netscape's enterprise customers," said Jon Kannegaard, vice president of software products at JavaSoft, a business unit of Sun Microsystems. "The proliferation of these tools will accelerate the creation and adoption of robust network-centric applications built on Java for Intranets and the Internet."

Netscape SuiteTools, in conjunction with many of the tools listed on the "Tools for Netscape ONE" online guide, makes it easy for developers to use best-of-breed tools to build standards-based Internet and Intranet applications. With support from more than 50 industry leaders, Netscape ONE provides a powerful platform for the deployment of network-centric applications.

"Symantec is pleased to work with Netscape to provide the most comprehensive visual Java database development solution to web developers," said Mansour Safai, general manager of Symantec's Internet Tools Division. "With the signing of these agreements, we will work together with Netscape to further integrate Symantec's market leading Java development environment with the Netscape ONE platform."

"Internet and Intranet developers are voting with their mouse-clicks," said Samir Arora, CEO of NetObjects. "They have chosen NetObejcts Fusion as the fastest way to develop a professional, standards-based Web site. They are also rallying around the Netscape ONE platform as a robust, open standards-based environment. Therefore, as a key part of Netscape SuiteTools, NetObjects Fusion offers Intranet site builders a new level of productivity in one total solution."

"Netscape's SuiteTools is a significant advance in delivering complementary, best of breed solutions for moving businesses to the Web, and we are very excited to be selected as a key element of it," said Zack Rinat, president and CEO of NetDynamics. "NetDynamics, in combination with industry leaders such as Netscape, is committed to 'Web-volutionizing' businesses by enabling them to use the Web to directly impact their bottom line. Our close relationship with Netscape supporting the Netscape ONE platform will help move that vision forward."

Netscape SuiteTools products will be sold individually and are expected to be available from Netscape beginning in the first quarter 1997. Pricing for each tool is expected to be consistent with pricing set by each individual vendor. Netscape LiveWire Pro is also available now and is priced at US$695 as a stand-alone product and at no charge as part of the Netscape SuiteSpot integrated suite of server software for deploying Intranets.

Netscape Communications Corporation is a premier 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, or by sending email to info@netscape.com. Corporate customers can call 415/937-2555 while consumers can call 415/937-3777 for more information.

Netscape, Netscape Communications, the Netscape Communications Corporation logo, Netscape SuiteTools, Netscape ONE and Netscape SuiteSpot are trademarks of Netscape Communications Corporation. All other product names are trademarks of their respective companies.