Growth of Netcenter Portal Site Surges With Rise in Membership, Traffic, and Downloads

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., (October 5, 1998) - Netscape Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:NSCP) today announced that it has seen marked growth in registration, traffic, and software downloads on its highly popular Netscape Netcenter portal since the new Netcenter site went live at the end of June. Netcenter registrations are rising rapidly, with at least 850,000 new members registering in September alone, representing a 112 percent increase in its monthly registration rate since the end of June. In the same period, traffic on Netcenter increased steadily, with a 46 percent increase in daily page views during the last three months.

In addition, domestic client software downloads have dramatically increased by at least 66 percent from the end of June to mid-September, with the total number of worldwide downloads from June to September reaching more than 17 million. The increase in registration, traffic and downloads demonstrates momentum for the recently announced "Project Turbo," Netscape's aggressive internal campaign to make Netcenter the fastest growing Internet portal.

"Since the launch of the enhanced and redesigned Netcenter site on July 1, we have seen Netcenter momentum increase with each consecutive month," said Mike Homer, executive vice president and general manager of Netscape's Netcenter Division. "Our growth rates in the first three months since the site expansion was introduced have established us as the fastest growing portal site on the Internet. As part of our Project Turbo initiative, we are committed to continuing to bring new customers to Netcenter, offering leading-edge content, smart tools and services such as Smart Browsing that empower consumers to take charge of their Internet experience."

In addition to the new channel content and the easy-to-use services on Netcenter, consumers have been quickly adopting the new Netscape Smart Browsing feature of Netscape Communicator 4.06 and 4.5. Smart Browsing, one of the most popular services that receives millions of hits daily, allows consumers to type simple Internet Keywords or pull down a list of 'What's Related' links to quickly find the web sites and services they want. Some of the new ways that Smart Browsing will continue to make the Internet easy to navigate include: broad improvements to the quality of the What's Related links; the addition of timely topical keywords, such as "Mark McGwire" or "Starr Report"; the handling of typos for hundreds of the most frequently-visited web sites, and the clean up of mistyped URLs. In all of these cases, the Internet Keywords service sends the user to the site that best fits what they typed.

Netscape Netcenter is Netscape's leading portal site that provides users with a home base on the Internet. From Netcenter, users can navigate the Internet, access a broad range of
consumer and business content and services and communicate with others online. The site includes seventeen content channels, a set of leading-edge services including the new
Netscape-branded Search, Netscape Contact, SmartUpdate, Software Download, Member Directory, My Netscape personalization service, and WebMail.

Netscape Communications Corporation is a leading provider of software and services for businesses that want to transform the way they create and keep customers in the emerging Net Economy. The company offers a full line of enterprise software solutions, professional services, and a leading Internet portal to help companies build, buy or outsource Internet applications that drive revenue growth, build customer loyalty, and create new levels of business efficiency. 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 650/937-2555 (corporations) or 650/937-3777 (individuals).

Netscape, Netscape Navigator, Netscape Certificate Server, Netscape ONE, SuiteSpot, and the Netscape N and Ship's Wheel logos 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.