NETSCAPE EXTENDS SERVER EVALUATION PROGRAM TO ENTERPRISE AND EDUCATION USERS
As part of its expanded server program, Netscape also announced that it will make Netscape Communications Server available next week for free downloading by students and staff in education and charitable non-profit organizations. The move will give users in academic and non-profit organizations free access to the Netscape server for publishing information within their organizations and on the Internet.
The Netscape Server Test Drive program, begun in May 1995, gives individuals and organizations wanting to publish information on the Internet or on corporate TCP/IP networks an easy way to try Netscape's server products, which offer high performance, easy configuration and maintenance, and enhanced customization capabilities. Users can also test the security features of Netscape Commerce Server, which includes the Secure Sockets Layer open protocol for conducting commerce and secure communications over the net.
"In the month since we began the Test Drive Program, hundreds of people have taken the opportunity to try Netscape servers for Internet communications and commerce," said Mike Homer, vice president of marketing at Netscape. "With the availability of our servers for Windows NT, we have broadened the program to include users on private TCP/IP networks who want to experience for themselves the performance, security, and reliability of Netscape servers for internal applications. The expanded program also enables education and charitable non-profits to freely use Netscape server technology for sharing information within and beyond their organizations."
Netscape servers are available immediately for downloading from Netscape's home page. The servers can be easily downloaded onto any site connected to the Internet, including locations behind firewalls. All downloads use the HTTP protocol and can be done using Netscape Navigator. Users who download servers can get information about the products, receive technical support information, and take part in technical discussion groups all online from Netscape's Server Central location on the Netscape home page.
Netscape Communications Server 1.1 and Netscape Commerce Server 1.1 allow companies or individuals to easily set up and maintain servers for electronic publishing and commerce applications on the Internet or corporate IP networks. The servers, available for UNIX and Windows NT, offer increased performance over other HTTP-based servers by reducing response times and making efficient use of available processor power and communications bandwidth. The Netscape Server Application Programming Interface (NSAPI) lets the servers be easily extended or integrated with custom applications or complementary products such as relational databases or full text search engines. The servers support open standards and provide an intuitive, self-documenting configuration and management user interface for easy set-up and maintenance.
Netscape Communications Server is designed for organizations that want to deliver multimedia content to various audiences, such as customer support information to existing customers, online marketing materials to potential customers, product development plans across company departments, or corporate policies to employees. It includes basic access authorization, which requires a user to specify user name and password to gain access. The server can dynamically scale to handle heavy loads or be extended to incorporate new features and functionality using the NSAPI.
Netscape Commerce Server, in addition to the above features, adds SSL to enable secure commerce to be conducted over global networks. Netscape Commerce Server is designed for online transactions and electronic data exchange, enabling users to send sensitive documents over networks in a secured manner. Users who download the server for evaluation can get the complete experience of using a secure server by obtaining a secure server certificate from a certificate authority such as VeriSign, Inc., the new RSA certificate services venture.
Users in education and charitable non-profits can use Netscape Communications Server for no charge. All other users may choose to purchase the servers from any of Netscape's OEM or reseller partners including Digital Equipment, Silicon Graphics, or Sun Microsystems, or direct from Netscape. Netscape Communications Server has an end user price of $1,495 for UNIX versions or $795 for the Windows NT version. Netscape Commerce Server has an end user price of $5,000 for UNIX versions and $2,995 for the Windows NT version. Users evaluating Netscape Commerce Server must also purchase a signed digital certificate from a certificate authority such as VeriSign. Netscape servers for Windows NT are available for both Intel x86 and Digital Equipment Corporation's Alpha hardware platforms.
Netscape Communications Corporation is a premier provider of open software to enable people and companies to exchange information and conduct commerce over the Internet and other global networks. The company was founded in April 1994 by Dr. James H. Clark, founder of Silicon Graphics, Inc., a Fortune 500 computer systems company; and Marc Andreessen, creator of the NCSA Mosaic research prototype for the Internet. Privately held, Netscape Communications Corporation is based in Mountain View, California.
Additional information on Netscape Communications Corporation is available on the Internet at , by sending email to info@netscape.com or by calling 415/528-2555.
Netscape Communications, the Netscape Communications logo, Netscape,
Netscape Navigator, Netscape Communications Server and Netscape Commerce
Server are trademarks of Netscape Communications Corporation. NCSA Mosaic
is a trademark of the University of Illinois. All other product names are
trademarks of their respective companies.