TOKYO and MOUNTAIN VIEW, California (November 13, 1997) -- Netscape Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: NSCP) today announced that it has increased its international presence to include new offices, localized client and server products and increased presence and support in leading markets to support the growing adoption of Netscape's Internet, Intranet and Extranet solutions worldwide.
In a press conference in Tokyo today, Netscape's executive vice president of worldwide sales and marketing Mike Homer announced that Itsuo Sugiyama joined the company as the representative director and president at Netscape Communications (Japan), Ltd. The appointment of Mr. Sugiyama represents Netscape's increased commitment to the Japanese market, which is Netscape's leading market outside of the United States. Mr. Sugiyama will be based in Netscape's Tokyo office and will be responsible for managing sales, marketing and professional services in Japan. Mr. Sugiyama comes to Netscape from Hewlett-Packard Japan, Ltd., where he worked with enterprise customers since 1973 and brings to Netscape extensive management experience in sales and marketing for high-growth companies.
"We believe Sugiyama's leadership will further enable Japanese corporations to take advantage of our technology for better communication and productivity," said Mike Homer. "His experience in the enterprise market will greatly contribute to our growing success in Japan. Netscape is expanding rapidly throughout the world, with success in delivering solutions to leading global customers. We are committed to providing international customers with localized products that will allow the implementation of Intranets and Extranets for easy collaboration and seamless communication."
Netscape Communicator client software and Netscape SuiteSpot server software are available in over ten languages, including Japanese, German, French, Swedish, Spanish and Korean. Netscape today announced the availability of Netscape Messaging Server 3.0 in Japanese, a scalable mail server based on open standards. Netscape Messaging Server 3.0 is part of the Netscape SuiteSpot server software family and allows corporations to deploy enterprise email solutions for increased productivity and more effective communications. Netscape shipped Netscape Enterprise Server 3.0 in Japanese in September 1997 and is also planning to release Netscape Directory Server 3.0 in Japanese in early 1998, allowing Japanese corporations to deploy leading-edge Intranet and Extranet solutions.
Netscape also opened a European Software Development and Operations Center in Dublin to shorten delivery times for products and services to the European market. The range of activities at this office will include software development, localization, telesales, distribution, technical support, administration and finance. Manus Hanratty was appointed managing director of the Center. Netscape also increased its commitment to international marketing by appointing Linda Lawrence as vice president.
Responding to worldwide demand, Netscape also expanded the Netscape Store International and launched the Netscape World Shop on its Internet site to give users who prefer to shop on the Internet or who are located in countries with limited distribution channels the ability to purchase valid, licensed copies of Netscape client products. Users in more than 165 countries now have the ability to purchase and download online licensed copies of Netscape Navigator and Netscape Communicator client software. The Netscape World Shop is part of the 'Netscape Everywhere' initiative aimed at bringing Netscape technology to millions of new users in homes, education and enterprises worldwide. The Netscape World Shop also showcases Netscape's new Electronic Software Distribution (ESD) capabilities, allowing shoppers to purchase and download software products, including subscription services, in an entirely digital environment.
Netscape also furthered its commitment to the Latin American market with the establishment of an office in Brazil and Latin America headquarters in Boca Raton, Florida. Netscape appointed Mario Oliveira as vice president for Latin America and Paulo Roberto as general manager for Latin America. These appointments represent another step toward building a direct presence in this important market. In March of this year, Netscape also announced two new distributors, Dexxa Corporation and Officer Distribuidora S/A in Brazil. These moves enable Netscape to provide added expertise for its customers deploying Internet, Intranet and Extranet solutions in Latin America and create opportunities for relationships in Brazil. In addition Netscape is building local sales, marketing and support infrastructure, including a strong channel system that will focus on large enterprise accounts, electronic commerce accounts and service providers.
Netscape is hosting its first European Developer Conference in Paris, at L'Arche de La Defense, from December 1 to 3, 1997, emphasizing the important role of European developers in delivering its Networked Enterprise vision to businesses. DevCon Europe is designed to be the premier European forum for keeping Internet and Intranet developers and Web masters informed and educated on technologies that are critical for making strategic development decisions. Aimed specifically at technical professionals designing, developing, deploying and managing enterprise Intranets, Extranets and Internet sites, the conference will help attendees acquire the tools and techniques to develop Crossware applications. The conference will feature keynote presentations by Netscape's chief executive officer and president Jim Barksdale, co-founder and executive vice president of products Marc Andreessen and Javasoft's chief technology officer James Gosling. Compaq Corporation, Digital Equipment Corporation, Oracle Corporation, Santa Cruz Operation and Sun Microsystems Inc. are co-sponsoring the European Developer Conference.
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 or by sending email to moreinfo@netscape.com. Corporate customers can call 650/937-2555 while consumers can call 650/937-3777 for more information.
For more information on Netscape Communications (Japan), Ltd. please go to the Web site at http://home.jp.netscape.com/ja/. See http://home.jp.netscape.com/ja/distrib_ja.html for a complete list of distributors.
Netscape's Web site in Brazilian Portuguese is at http://home.br.netscape.com/pt/index.html The Netscape World Shop is available at http://merchant-int.netscape.com/
Netscape, Netscape Navigator, and the Netscape N logo are registered trademarks of Netscape Communications Corporation in the United States and other countries. Other Netscape logos, product names, and service names are also trademarks of Netscape Communications Corporation, which may be registered in other countries.