NETSCAPE ANNOUNCES NETSCAPE CERTIFICATE SERVER TO ENABLE COMPANIES TO
ENCRYPT ENTERPRISE COMMUNICATIONS AND DATA

NEW SERVER SOFTWARE FILLS OUT NETSCAPE'S ENTERPRISE SECURITY OFFERING BY
ALLOWING INTRANET USERS TO ISSUE THEIR OWN DIGITAL IDS

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (April 22, 1996) -- Netscape Communications
Corporation (NASDAQ: NCSP) today announced Netscape Certificate Server,
easy-to-use Web server software that makes it easy for organizations to
safeguard their private online communications and manage their own
certificate authority service over Intranets. Netscape Certificate Server
issues, signs and manages public-key certificates so organizations can
enable users of compatible software products such as Netscape Navigator
client software and Netscape SuiteSpot server software to authenticate
communications over the Internet using the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) open
protocol for Internet security. The new server software fills out
Netscape's enterprise security offering by inexpensively enabling
SSL-based security technology throughout the company's leading open
Internet software platform.

Public-key certificates, or digital IDs, are a digital authentication
mechanism similar to a driver's license or employee badge that can be used
to verify someone's identity on the Internet. Certificates are a stronger
form of authentication than user name and password and are appropriate
when running Internet applications such as encrypted electronic mail and
single user log-on to multiple Web servers. A certificate authority is an
entity that attests to the identity of a person or an organization and
issues certificates attesting to that identity. Netscape Certificate
Server enables corporate MIS departments and others to act as their own
certificate authority so they can generate, revoke, renew and otherwise
manage certificates for Internet clients and servers.

"As corporations continue to adopt the open standards of the Internet for
enterprise computing solutions, they need a mechanism to protect the
mission-critical data and private communications running on Intranets and
the Internet," said Eric Hahn, senior vice president of enterprise
technology at Netscape. "Netscape Certificate Server is a vital addition
to the Netscape SuiteSpot family of servers, enabling customers to manage
their own certificate infrastructure. With the addition of this
technology, customers using the Netscape software platform can establish
the identity of an employee or email recipient via certificates before
communications begin."

Designed by Netscape and VeriSign, Inc., Netscape Certificate Server uses
the X.509v3 open standard for certificate content encoding and the SSL 3.0
protocol to enable encrypted communications, message integrity and
authentication via public-key certificates. SSL is the most widely
deployed security communications technology on the Internet. It offers
three crucial security services in Netscape Certificate Server: message
privacy using encryption, message integrity and authenticated parties via
public-key certificates.

In conjunction with the announcement of Netscape Certificate Server, a
number of other companies have announced they plan to offer X.509v3- based
products and services to Netscape customers. These partners include GTE,
Key Witness, Northern Telecom (Nortel) Secure Networks, VeriSign, Inc. and
Xcert Software Inc.

"We are pleased to offer certificate services for Netscape's full line of
Internet software, including Netscape clients, servers and commercial
applications," said Stratton Slavos, chief executive officer of VeriSign,
Inc. "As one of Netscape's early partners in the certificate business, we
are committed to offering the highest quality certification services for
Intranets and the Internet based on the X.509v3 standard."

Netscape Certificate Server is cross-platform Web server software that is
based on open Internet standards including HTML, HTTP, X.509v3, SSL 3.0,
lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP), and public key cryptography
standards (PKCS). As a result, companies can run Netscape Certificate
Server in heterogeneous computing environments using existing hardware
platforms and operating systems to issue certificates to compatible
applications. Netscape Certificate Server also features:

* Encrypted remote administration - System administrators can use the easy
point-and-click interface of Netscape Navigator in conjunction with HTML
forms and JavaScript scripts to manage Netscape Certificate Server from
remote computers on the network. The administration server that accesses
Netscape Certificate Server uses SSL 3.0 to ensure the remote
administration is encrypted and authenticated.

* Certificate data publishing - Netscape Certificate Server publishes
certificate data to Netscape's newly announced Netscape Directory Server
and other LDAP-compliant directory services, allowing corporations to
distribute and replicate certificate data across the entire enterprise.

* Remote queries over the Internet - Netscape Certificate Server allows
Internet client software to request data, including a user's certificate
or a certificate revocation list, over the network using standard Internet
protocols such as HTTP. It works with Netscape Directory Server so users
can look up another user's email name and receive that user's public key
to send encrypted Internet email.

* Open standards based certificate management - Netscape Certificate Server
supports open standards that allow organizations to manage their
certificate infrastructure over the network using such standards as
X.509v3, LDAP, PKCS, HTTP, and HTML.

Netscape Certificate Server is scheduled to be available on major UNIX
platforms and Microsoft Windows NT in the third quarter of 1996. The
product will be offered as part of future versions of Netscape SuiteSpot.
Individual pricing for Netscape Certificate Server is expected to be $995.
Final pricing will be announced at the time of the product's release.

VeriSign, the only company focused 100 percent on digital authentication
products and services, provides its customers with the confidence
necessary to conduct electronic commerce worldwide. VeriSign's Digital IDs
play a key role in ensuring the privacy and authentication of electronic
transactions and communications. VeriSign was founded as a spin-off of RSA
Data Security. The company is working with its investors including
Ameritech, Visa and Kleiner Perkins and partners such as Netscape to open
the digital marketplace to all consumers. For more information, contact
VeriSign at 415/961-7500, or visit their Web site at http://verisign.com.

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 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.

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 415/528-2555 (corporate customers) or
415/528-3777 (individuals).
 
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