MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (December 30, 1997) -- Netscape Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:NSCP) today announced that Knight-Ridder, Inc., a communications company engaged in newspaper and online publishing, business information services, electronic retrieval services and graphics and photo services, is increasing its use of Netscape server software as enabling technology for its Internet and Intranet solutions. The company has currently licensed Netscape Enterprise Server for its web site. Knight-Ridder is also using Netscape Directory Server, Netscape Enterprise Server and Netscape Communicator for its Intranet and is incorporating Netscape Calendar and Netscape Certificate Servers in the next several months as it increases its number of installations.
The country's second-largest newspaper publishing group, Knight-Ridder was among the first publishers to recognize the capacity of the Internet to change the publishing paradigm. It has become one of the first communications companies to venture into online publishing for two reasons: First, the company wanted to tap into the potential readership presented by the growing number of people connected to the Internet. Second, with increasing competition from other online publishing and advertising operations, it wanted to grow its core business of advertising and classifieds revenues.
Knight-Ridder was also one of Netscape's first corporate customers, using Netscape's software to launch its first newspaper Web site - the San Jose Mercury News' "Mercury Center" - in 1994. Since then, the Internet and the role it plays in the publishing business has evolved dramatically. Knight-Ridder now has 30 newspaper Web sites, which represent 34 daily newspapers. Another two sites for recently-acquired papers are under construction. Knight-Ridder has found Netscape software solutions consistently meet its changing Web-based technology needs. Its Web sites run on Netscape Enterprise Server for page management and basic site searching, including current editorial content, and Netscape Publishing System to search and manage its classified ads. Archived information is managed by a combination of third party and proprietary software.
Another important application, NewsHound, uses Netscape Enterprise Server. A type of smart agent, NewsHound is a news search and retrieval system for subjects in which subscribers might be interested. For example a small business might want all stories linked to its market, or a home user might want stories related to a hobby. The subscriber can create a profile of appropriate topics, companies and key words. NewsHound will then search the entire Knight-Ridder network of newspapers and national and international wire services to find articles which correspond to the profile, automatically returning them as email, an email digest or a browsable feature on a Web site.
"Back in 1994, we knew we wanted to publish on the Web, and we saw Netscape as the only company at the time that could help us get there," said Chris Jennewein, vice president of technology and operations for Knight-Ridder New Media. "Moving forward, we see Netscape as the best source for evolving Web technology. Netscape, more than any other software developer, is committed to open systems and has a demonstrated track record of service and support. Its server software is very high performance and very reliable. Again and again, we have found that whenever we wanted to improve one of our products, the latest version of Netscape's server software had the improvement we really wanted."
"Knight-Ridder had the foresight to see the potential of the Web and to find creative ways to harness that power by redefining publishing and reinvigorating its business," said Lori Mirek, senior vice president of marketing at Netscape. "Netscape's mission is to fulfill its promise to Web stakeholders like Knight-Ridder by continuing to produce the highest quality, most innovative Web-based technology. By enabling advanced and flexible searching, web page management and customized news functionality, Netscape software enhances Knight-Ridder's operations and expands subscriber options."
Classified ads represent a large volume of content which must be processed and managed day-to-day. "The sheer number of newspaper Web sites that we operate means any procedure has to be highly reliable. With 31 sites to manage, if two of them are having trouble, you don't get a lot of work done," Jennewein explained. "We've found the Netscape publishing system is particularly well-suited for this." Currently, readers who purchase classified advertising in the paper also have their ads automatically posted on the paper's Web site. Future plans include applications using transaction components of the Netscape Publishing System which will allow readers to purchase online-only classified ads.
In its quest to become more competitive, Knight-Ridder also took a look at how an Intranet could streamline some redundant tasks or processes among its far-flung operations and help them become more efficient internally. For example, previously, each of the 36 Knight-Ridder papers had its own financial operations. The company wanted to centralize them at its Miami headquarters. Also, each newspaper maintained its own customer support centers, where representatives helped customers who wanted to subscribe, had delivery problems, or wanted to pause delivery for a vacation. The company wanted to centralize customer service into two regional call centers. Another challenge was to provide simpler access to legacy data.
"All of these processes challenged the IT infrastructure," said Ricardo de La Fuente, manager for business information services and new technology. "The Intranet model made a lot of sense for our company. We found that we could implement and manage these functions without having to invest in a costly, complex client-server model. One client and a browser provide access to multiple applications."
The company is already reaping the benefits of a ubiquitous browser. Finance users from each newspaper will have access to the requisitioning system and financial applications in Miami using Netscape client software. Using a browser front-end, they will be able to issue purchase orders, requisitions, and authorize approval of purchases. Previously, the CFO of each paper developed a budget using a spreadsheet, and then snail-mailed it to Miami. Now, Knight-Ridder's proprietary internal Intranet application (called Budget Builder) can be available to users immediately.
Other similar applications for customer service, human resources and cost center management are waiting in the wings. Knight-Ridder has already begun to migrate employees from proprietary mail systems to Netscape Directory Server, allowing corporatewide access. Eventually, they also plan to incorporate Netscape Collabra and Calendar Server. According to de La Fuente, "A powerful messaging infrastructure requires powerful calendaring functionality, so that management groups can work together and cooperate. Netscape's Calendar Server and Netscape Collabra will play a key role in those efforts."
Plans are to roll out ten sites by end of 1997, all 36 by mid-1998. Knight-Ridder's Intranet will have 10,000 seats when fully deployed. De La Fuente expects to continue to count on Netscape products for future applications. "Netscape takes advantage of Web technologies in every possible way: from intuitive administration to content management," he points out. "They are really using the power of the Internet."
Jennewein concurs: "Two and a half years ago, all Knight-Ridder newspapers were printed, with the sole exception of the Mercury, which was on AOL. Now they are available both printed and on the Internet. It's a transformation that happened a lot more quickly than anyone could have predicted. We couldn't have done any of this without Netscape's help."
Knight-Ridder is a communications company engaged in newspaper and online publishing, business information services, electronic retrieval services and graphics and photo services. The company publishes 36 daily newspapers in the United States, with a readership of 9.5 million daily and 13.6 million Sunday, and 34 Web sites. News, advertising and information from Knight-Ridder reach more than 100 million people worldwide.
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.
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