Netscape Communications Corp. yesterday rolled out a new hosting and messaging software aimed specifically at Internet service providers and telecommunications companies that will allow carriers to host large Web sites and e-mail systems for corporate customers.
Today, companies don't have the resources or staff to host their entire Web site, or even e-mail system, on their own, said Jim Barksdale, Netscape's chief executive officer and president at a press conference here today. Instead, large and small companies are going to begin outsourcing these functions to Internet service providers (ISPs), including telcos that act as ISPs, in order to make running their every day business easier, he said.
"They (the ISPs) can do it better collectively than we (companies) can do it individually," he said. Companies increasingly need more professional hosting support for their sites and messaging services. "It's no longer acceptable to be cute and funny on the Internet," Barksdale said, as corporate Web sites and messaging systems have to be continuously available and reliable in order to be effective.
Netscape is betting on just such an outsourcing trend with today's announcement of Netscape Messaging Server Hosting Edition 4.0 (server software for offering hosted e-mail services), Netscape Messenger Express (a Web-based e-mail solution) and Netscape Delegated Administrator (software allowing companies control over their hosted sites).
With large-scale hosting in mind, Netscape increased the reliability and scalability of its Messaging Hosting product in the 4.0 release to support 500,000 individual users, or 50,000 corporate users, per mid-size server, said Todd Goldman, product manager at Netscape. In addition, the company launched Messenger Express, a Web-based e-mail client that allows users to get access to their mail via any Web browser. This product fits well within the context of Netscape hosting software, because ISPs can offer companies global e-mail coverage, either for a fee or for free, if Web advertising is used, Goldman said.
The other product announced today, Delegated Administrator 1.0, allows companies to get a private view and administrative control over a hosted Web site or messaging system. The product will work with Messaging Hosting Edition 4.0, and also with Netscape's Enterprise Server for Web hosting.
Netscape says it is focusing on the ISP hosting market because it is already a lucrative one, and shows every sign of growing rapidly in the coming years, according to Barksdale. Right now, about 75 ISPs and telcos worldwide, 50 percent of which are in Europe, use Netscape products to offer hosting services, he said. Some of these users are France Telecom SA, Swisscom AG, Royal PTT Nederland NV (KPN) in the Netherlands and Fabrik Communications Inc. in San Francisco.
In other news, Netscape said it has signed a deal with 3M Corp. that will allow ISPs, which use Netscape's Navigator and Communicator browser products, to customize the look and feel of the browsers they offer to their customers. Instead of having to personalize them themselves, ISPs can now do it more quickly and easily, using Netscape's existing software kit.
ISPs will go to Netcenter, Netscape's online portal site, fill in a form with their company information and logo, and hit send. In a few days, a sample CD of the personalized browser client, configured according to the ISP's information, will be sent out. If the ISP wants to order a mass amount of the CDs at any time after that to send to its customers, 3M will turn the printing around "in a matter of weeks," according to Goldman.
Netscape Messaging Server Hosting Edition 4.0 is expected to ship in the fourth quarter 1998 in the U.S., while Netscape Delegated Administrator and Netscape Messenger Express will be available in the first quarter of 1999. The products will be added to Netscape SuiteSpot Hosting Edition, which starts at US$39 per seat. International availability for the products has not been determined.
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