Netscape and Sun Microsystems

Mountain View, Calif., April 11, 1995 -- Advancing both companies' Internet leadership, Sun Microsystems, Inc., and Netscape Communications Corporation today inked a wide-ranging agreement for product distribution and technology exchange. The agreement, which builds on a pact made last fall, combines the two companies' strengths in the Internet market to accelerate acceptance of electronic enterprise commerce and increase security over worldwide networks, generating new channels of revenue for global companies. Sun will unveil more details on its Internet thrust at its annual SunWorld conference, May 23 in San Francisco.

Today's announcement brings together Sun's leadership in the Internet server market (56% market share*) and Netscape's dominance in the World-Wide Web and browser market (77% market share**), giving organizations "best of breed" Internet capabilities across the global enterprise. Under terms of the agreement, SunSoft, the software subsidiary of Sun Microsystems, Inc. will integrate Netscape Navigator and Netscape server products into SunSoft's Solaris and Microsoft Windows platforms, strengthening Sun's current Internet-focused product offerings including Netra i, the integrated, business-ready Internet server and FireWall-1, the industry's leading Internet security tool.

Netscape's products bring secure communications, performance and support to companies and individuals who want to create or access information services on global networks. The products offer easy-to-use interfaces for serving and accessing multimedia information on the Internet, including formatted text, graphics, audio and video. SunSoft and Netscape will also work together to develop future technologies and promote open standards, which include IPng (Internet Protocol next generation), SKIP (simple key Internet protocol), SSL (secure sockets layer), and SHTTP (secure hypertext transport protocol).

"For the last decade, Sun has been the driving force behind the Internet, long before the Net was in vogue," said Scott McNealy, chairman, president and CEO of Sun. "With Netscape, we are set to define the direction of doing business over the Internet and generate new revenue channels for global companies to exploit."

"Sun's Internet server presence opens new opportunities for us, "said Dr. James H. Clark, founder and chairman of Netscape. "Netscape will benefit through this combination of Netscape and Sun offerings. It creates a powerful set of Internet solutions for Sun's customer base as well as for companies just coming onto the Internet."

Sun Microsystems, Inc., is a world leader in the design and manufacture of networked computing systems for businesses, including networked workstations and servers, microprocessor and system ASIC design, system software, networking products, post-sales and professional services and support. The company's SPARC-based workstations, multiprocessing servers, SPARC microprocessors and Solaris operating software rank No. 1 in the UNIX industry. Founded in 1982, Sun ranks number 120 on the U.S. "Fortune 500" and number 395 on the "Global Fortune 500." Sun has more than 13,000 employees in 32 offices worldwide and had revenues of $4.7 billion in its 1994 fiscal year.

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 Andressen, creator of the NCSA Mosaic research prototype for the Internet. Privately held, Netscape Communications Corporation is based in Mountain View, Calif.

Netscape Communications, the Netscape Communications logo, Netscape, Netscape Commerce Server, Netscape Communications Server, Netscape Proxy Server and Netscape News 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.