France Telecom Teams With Netscape to Provide Business-to-Business E-Commerce Solutions, Offering Companies Purchasing and Sales Solutions on the Net

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., (February 23, 1999) - France Telecom and Netscape Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:NSCP) today announced that France Telecom has adopted Netscape's E-commerce and messaging applications to offer its customers business-to-business E-commerce solutions. The deal confirms France Telecom's commitment to the development of E-commerce between French and European companies, and underlines its willingness to support them as they move towards the Net Economy.

France Telecom and Netscape, leaders in the Net Economy, will be offering businesses powerful, flexible and encrypted E-commerce solutions by the second quarter of 1999. These will be based on the Netscape CommerceXpert solutions including BuyerXpert, ECXpert, PublishingXpert, SellerXpert, TradingXpert and Netscape Application Server. The new solutions will complement France Telecom's existing intranet and extranet products.

"The ability to securely and reliably exchange business-critical transactions and automatically process those transactions using existing systems is fundamental to the success of any Internet commerce solution," said Steve Savignano, senior vice president and general manager of Netscape's Application Products Division. "Netscape's CommerceXpert solutions provide France Telecom with the tools to cultivate a global electronic commerce network, and enable its customers to manage real-time, web-based transaction systems."

France Telecom and Netscape also are putting together a joint team of top-level engineers in order to set up the E-commerce hosting platform based on Netscape messaging technologies. The deal falls within the framework of two years of successful technical and commercial collaboration between the two companies, notably in the domain of the intranet/extranet solutions offered by France Telecom.

To date, more than 6 000 French companies have opted for France Telecom's Global Intranet range, which includes EDI, Web EDI, security, and groupware and intranet packages.

Netscape CommerceXpert is a comprehensive suite of packaged Internet commerce applications that frees enterprises to focus on the business opportunities presented by electronic commerce without the costs of custom software development and maintenance. The CommerceXpert suite supports vital Net Economy business processes including Internet commerce exchange, corporate procurement, online selling and customer information services. CommerceXpert applications uniquely support complex business-to-business transactions across the spectrum of trading relationships, business needs, and commerce requirements.

The Net Economy is witnessing huge growth. Businesses wishing to build and maintain long-term relationships with their clients in this environment need new-generation solutions and services. France Telecom offers its customers the possibility of hosting not only their own E-commerce sites, but also those of their clients or suppliers.

France Telecom will expand the scope of its customers' activities by providing them with the technical capabilities to conduct online marketing, negotiating, purchasing, invoicing and payment for goods or services offered via an electronic catalogue.

The solutions also favor the implementation and development of on-line procedures (electronic VAT, tax returns and other forms) between the administration and these companies. The latter will see huge gains in productivity resulting in reduced costs and turnaround times and a rationalization of procedures. They also will have the means of running their businesses in an innovative way, taking full advantage of the dawn of the Net Economy.

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.

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