FIFTEEN COMPANIES DELIVER FIRST PLUG-INS FOR NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR API

NEW SOFTWARE COMPONENTS BUILD ON NETSCAPE PLATFORM TO BRING LIVE ONLINE
CONTENT TO USERS

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (January 17, 1996) -- Netscape Communications
Corporation (NASDAQ: NSCP) announced today that 15 companies have created
software components that extend the capabilities of the Netscape Navigator
2.0 platform using the Netscape Navigator Plug-In Application Programming
Interface (API). These companies are among 12,000 commercial and
enterprise software developers and creative and design professionals
building on the Netscape open software platform as part of the Netscape
Development Partners Program. The new Plug-Ins, developed in just four
months since the API's introduction, are available immediately from the
Netscape Plug-In Clearinghouse on the Netscape Web site.

The Netscape Navigator Plug-In API allows developers to extend the
functionality of Netscape Navigator 2.0, available in beta on the
Internet, with native support for new data types and additional features.
Plug-Ins appear as additional capabilities of Netscape Navigator and can
add multimedia capability such as streaming audio and video, VRML-based
3-D graphics, and animation to Web sites. They can also increase the
Internet's functionality for business applications by providing document
publishing, spreadsheet, time management, and word-processing capabilities
within Netscape Navigator. Additionally, utility Plug-Ins enable OLE
objects, VBXs, and OCXs -- Microsoft's object component architectures for
application integration -- to be embedded in Netscape Navigator. These
utilities provide the framework for easily porting existing client/server
applications to the Internet using the Netscape platform.

"Building a Plug-In is much simpler than building an OCX, so Windows and
Macintosh developers are moving quickly to use the Netscape Navigator
Plug-In API to take existing applications, viewers, and utilities and
integrate them into the Netscape platform," said Donna Simonides,
developer relations director at Netscape. "These 15 Plug-Ins are the first
of many that will change the face of the World Wide Web by enabling Web
site creators to include on their pages a variety of live content and data
types supported by Netscape's popular Internet platform."

The following are the first multimedia viewer Plug-Ins available:

 Shockwave for Director by Macromedia enables more than 250,000
 Macromedia developers to bring true multimedia to the Web. Microsoft
 Windows and Macintosh users seamlessly interact with Director
 animations, games, commercials, clickable links to URLs (Universal
 Resource Locators), sound, and more - all from within Netscape
 Navigator.

 VDOLive by VDONet compresses video images without compromising
 quality on the receiving end. The speed of the user's connection
 determines the frame delivery rate: with a 28.8 kbps modem, VDOLive
 runs in real time at 10 to 15 frames per second.

 Real Audio by Progressive Networks provides live and on-demand
 real-time audio straight from a Web site into Netscape Navigator.
 Real Audio enables users to view HTML documents in one frame
 while streaming audio to another with the Netscape Navigator frames
 technology.

 ToolVox for The Web by Voxware allows content creators to stream
 high quality, high compression (53:1) speech audio from their
 Web pages without the need for an audio server.

 WebFX by Paper Software, a high performance 3-D VRML platform which
 lets users fly through VRML worlds on the Web and run interactive,
 multi-user VRML applications written in Java. The WebFX Plug-In
 features 3-D text, background images, texture, animation, morphing,
 viewpoints, gravity, and Real Audio streaming sound.

 VR Scout VRML Plug-In by Chaco Communications, an extremely fast
 VRML viewer that lets users fly through 3-D graphical scenes and
 uses multithreading to enable users to view scenes while they
 are downloading.

 WIRL by VREAM lets users experience interactive virtual reality
 within a Web page. Fully supporting VRML, WIRL extends VRML with
 support for object behaviors (such as motion, rotation, gravity,
 weight, elasticity, throwability, and sound), logical cause and
 effect relationships, multimedia capabilities, and links to Windows
 applications. WIRL also lets users customize virtual worlds from
 within Netscape Navigator. Users can select an object such as
 alogo, make it spin, change its color and texture, and even assign
 a URL to the object.

 Corel Vector Graphics CMX Viewer enables content creators to use
 smoothly scalable, high resolution vector graphics files that
 often are significantly smaller than normal raster based GIF or
 JPEG files.

 Lightning Strike by IION, an optimized wavelet image codec, or
 compression-decompression algorythm, that provides higher compression
 ratios, smaller image files, faster transmissions, and improved
 image quality than typical raster file formats.

The following are the first business-related Plug-Ins available:

 Adobe Acrobat "Amber" Reader, a free version of Adobe Acrobat
 software that allows users to easily download, view, and print
 fully-formatted, professional quality documents right in Netscape
 Navigator. Adobe Acrobat supports the Adobe Portable Document Format
 (PDF), a standard, cross-platform file format widely used on the
 Internet for distributing visually-rich documents.

 Envoy Plug-In by Tumbleweed Software lets users view documents
 on the Internet exactly as designed. It preserves fonts, graphics,
 and document layout in a compact format ideal for Web publishing.

 Formula One/NET by Visual Components, the first Excel-compatible
 spreadsheet with built-in Internet functionality. Worksheets
 can include live charts, links to URLs, formatted and editable
 text and numbers, and calculations with formulas.

 EarthTime by Starfish Software lets users tell time around the
 world at a glance - without leaving Netscape Navigator. EarthTime
 displays the local time and date for eight geographic locations
 of the user's choice from a database of over 350 world capitals
 and commercial centers.

The following are the first Plug-In utilities available:

 OpenScape Toolkit by Object Power a component-based rapid application
 development (RAD) Plug-In for building enterprise applications
 for both the Internet and corporate networks or Intranets.
 Applications built with OpenScape's Visual Basic-compatible scripting
 language can contain OCXs and OLE objects. With OpenScape, existing
 enterprise applications can be easily migrated to the Netscape
 platform.

 OLE Control Plug-In by NCompass lets users embed OLE controls as
 applets created using standard programming languages and development
 tools like Visual C++, Visual Basic, and the Microsoft Windows
 Game SDK.

The Netscape Navigator Plug-In API marks a new era in software distribution
in which software is delivered to users when they need it. As a result,
developers can use cutting-edge technology to create exciting content
without fear that Web users will not be able to find the Plug-Ins needed
to view a page. When users access Web pages containing a media type that
Netscape Navigator does not natively support, the Netscape Navigator
prompts them to download the right Plug-In, automatically jumping to the
Netscape Plug-In Clearinghouse on the Netscape Web site (at....
     http://home.netscape.com/comprod/products/
            navigator/version_2.0/plugins/index.html )
and offering a link to the appropriate Plug-In. The user downloads the
software needed and is immediately able to view the page -- without ever
leaving Netscape Navigator or reconfiguring the computer.

The Netscape Navigator Plug-In software development kit (SDK) contains the
necessary tools and documentation to develop Plug-Ins for supported
platforms and is freely available on the Netscape Web site at...
     http://home.netscape.com/comprod/
            development_partners/plugin_api/index.html
Developers can receive technical support for the Netscape Navigator Plug-In
API through the Netscape Development Partners Program. Information about
the program is available on the Netscape site or by sending electronic
mail to "devinfo@netscape.com". Additional Plug-Ins will become available
with the release of the final version of Netscape Navigator 2.0 later this
month.

Netscape Communications Corporation is a premier provider of open software
for linking people and information over enterprise networks and the
Internet. The company offers a full line of Netscape Navigator clients,
servers, development tools, and Netscape Internet 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.

Find out more about Netscape at info@netscape.com, or call 415/528-2555.
 
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