GUIDE TO WHAT'S NEW:
NETSCAPE COMMUNICATOR


OVERVIEW

This guide provides a comprehensive look at the new enhancements in Netscape Communicator Standard and Professional Editions. Netscape Communicator was designed to create new standards for open email, groupware, and browsing software. This guide is organized to help you understand what product components and features assist users to:


WHAT IS NETSCAPE COMMUNICATOR AND HOW DOES IT WORK?

Netscape Communicator is a single product providing a complete set of tools that users need for effective everyday communication. It is comprised of eight tightly integrated components that provide the communication, information creation, and data access infrastructure used when accessing Communicator. These components are not sold separately by Netscape as separate applications; rather, together they provide a rich set of services optimized for today's business and Web users. They include:

How does the integration work across these components? Click on a hyperlink and Netscape Navigator's browsing engine takes you there - whether to a Web document or to a discussion group posting. Compose an email message, discussion group posting, or an HTML document, and Netscape Composer provides the authoring engine. Select a name in the Personal Address Book, and you can send email, post a discussion group message, or initiate an Internet phone call - all from within the same interface. Any way a user wants to structure their everyday work and communication, Communicator provides the right combination of components and functionality to get it done quickly and easily.


THE RESULT OF CUSTOMER RESEARCH AND INDUSTRY EXPERTISE

In addition to the larger trends shaping the industry, a lot of customer research also shaped the enhancements in Netscape Communicator. This research included:

Equally important as new customer research was having the in-house expertise to understand and meet the challenges of developing a product like Communicator. Netscape's acquisition of Collabra in the fall of 1995 added a team of experts who brought a body of groupware and messaging knowledge to the collective brainpower of the already successful Navigator engineering team. Their intimate understanding of this market and these customers did much to influence the direction of the messaging and discussion group technology that's now an integral part of Communicator. The spring 1996 acquisition of InSoft introduced experts in the real-time collaboration field to the Communicator team. Already familiar with customer needs in this increasingly important area, they moved quickly to integrate their findings with the rest of the team. Finally, the recent addition of the CS&T calendaring team rounded out the Communicator group's knowledge of customer needs and challenges in the group calendaring and scheduling arena, particularly at the enterprise level.

With all this behind it, it's easy to see why Netscape Communicator offers customers a huge step forward, regardless of what they're trying to do or how they're trying to communicate.


NETSCAPE COMMUNICATOR

COMMUNICATOR: INTEGRATED AND EASY TO USE

COMMUNICATOR: WORK SMARTER AND FASTER

COMMUNICATOR: COMMUNICATE WITH ANYONE


NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR

Netscape Navigator is the premier Internet and intranet browser. Based on HTTP and HTML, it is the cornerstone of Netscape Communicator's capability to access the wealth of information and network applications available on the World Wide Web, FTP sites, and more.

NAVIGATOR: INTEGRATED AND EASY TO USE
The Netscape Navigator user interface, used by millions of customers, has been updated and revised - based on hundreds of customer visits and usability tests - to help users more intelligently navigate through it as well as the Web or corporate intranet. (Note that some of the UI featured here is not yet final.)

NEW, SMARTER INTERFACE
Netscape Navigator 4.0, along with all of Netscape Communicator, features an updated, streamlined user interface that includes the removal of some of the less-used or unnecessary buttons (such as Open), all new icons, a customizable button bar, revised menu items, and more.

MAKING IT EASIER


NAVIGATOR: WORK SMARTER AND FASTER
A large part of building a browser that makes users more efficient is about creative solutions to Web limitations for designers; a better, smarter platform that developers can build on; and more intelligence built into the product, so users' experience with additional product functionality is secure and seamless.

Users downloading an applet requesting any of the above privileges will be presented with a dialog box outlining the requested access and presenting the applet's credentials (its digital signature). The user can then approve or not approve the applet's request. If the user does not approve the request, the applet can continue to run but cannot perform the denied actions.

NAVIGATOR: COMMUNICATE WITH ANYONE
Netscape Navigator will include certain defaults that make it easier than ever to communicate with others and create compelling, consistent content.


NETSCAPE MESSENGER

Netscape Messenger is the enterprise-ready, open standards-based mail component of Netscape Communicator. It is fully POP3, SMTP, and IMAP4 compliant, while also supplying the rich features users really want, like searching, rich message composition with HTML, LDAP directory access, and filters.

MESSENGER: INTEGRATED AND EASY TO USE
Netscape Messenger leverages the same ease of use made famous by Netscape Navigator to create a new standard in ease of use for open email. Heavily usability tested, Messenger is not only easy to use, but also leverages the hyperlink navigation model for tight integration of content and functionality with the other Communicator components.

MESSENGER: WORK SMARTER AND FASTER

MESSENGER: COMMUNICATE WITH ANYONE


NETSCAPE COLLABRA

Internet users have long enjoyed the power of one-to-many and many-to-many communication with the community and camaraderie of Internet newsgroups. Netscape Collabra brings the power of Internet newsgroups into the corporate arena, making it easy to share information and create a knowledge base on any given topic that people can access anytime.

COLLABRA: INTEGRATED AND EASY TO USE

COLLABRA: WORK SMARTER AND FASTER

COLLABRA: COMMUNICATE WITH ANYONE


NETSCAPE COMPOSER

COMPOSER: INTEGRATED AND EASY TO USE
Internet users have long known that there are many avenues through which to communicate. Email, discussion groups, and Web applications all play a part in creating an integrated information community. In the spirit of Communicator, Composer empowers all users to transparently create richly formatted information regardless of the communication vehicle they decide to use. Formerly the cornerstone of Netscape Navigator Gold, the HTML authoring tool has now been moved into the core product so even more users can benefit from rich communication via HTML.

COMPOSER: WORK SMARTER AND FASTER
Working smarter and faster means enabling all users in an information community to produce richly formatted content as well as receive it. Netscape Composer builds on the successes of Navigator Gold's editing capability by first improving the features and then integrating the functionality directly into the standard version of Communicator.

COMPOSER: COMMUNICATE WITH ANYONE


NETSCAPE NETCASTER

The explosive success of the Web, popularized by Netscape Navigator's ease of use and ubiquity, has provided millions of users with opportunities to access and share almost limitless resources of information on the Internet.  However, the current "pull" paradigm requires that users manually browse and search for information, bookmark favorite sites, and then visit again for the most up-to-date information while remaining online to view the content.  

In contrast, netcasting is a technology that enables the "push" delivery of information without requiring a user to manually request or search for it. To solve the challenges facing customers using today's "pull" paradigm, Netscape is delivering netcasting technology in Netscape Netcaster, a new component of Communicator that enables push delivery of information and offline browsing. 

NETCASTER: INTEGRATED AND EASY TO USE
Netcaster is tightly integrated with all Communicator components, providing seamless access from the desktop to the most up-to-date information users need.  Netcaster leverages the "point-and-click" ease of use pioneered by Navigator to offer quick access to favorite channels and offline resources.

Channel Properties

Webtop Mode

NETCASTER: WORK SMARTER AND FASTER
With Netcaster, users don't have to browse and search manually for the information they need. By subscribing to information that's delivered to them automatically, users have instant access to the most up-to-date information.

Datasheet


NETCASTER: COMMUNICATE WITH ANYONE
Because Netcaster leverages both the ubiquity of HTML and the cross-platform nature of Communicator, content delivered to Netcaster can be enjoyed by anyone, regardless of operating system. NETCASTER: REDUCED COST OF OWNERSHIP IN THE ENTERPRISE


NETSCAPE CONFERENCE

Netscape Conference is the real-time audio and data collaboration component of Netscape Communicator. It includes full-duplex audioconferencing (allowing both users to speak and be heard simultaneously) that is compliant with the ITU's H.323 standard protocol for desktop conferencing. Unlike audio-only Internet telephony products, Conference also includes collaboration tools such as a chat tool and shared whiteboard for textual and graphical data conferencing.

CONFERENCE: INTEGRATED AND EASY TO USE
Netscape Conference is tightly integrated with the Netscape Messenger, Netscape Composer, and Netscape Navigator components of Communicator, making real-time collaboration from the desktop a natural form of communication for the enterprise.

CONFERENCE: WORK SMARTER AND FASTER
A robust array of collaboration tools - including a speakerphone, whiteboard, chat, collaborative browsing, and file transfer - provide rich interactive capabilities. Netscape Conference includes all the features and functions users expect in a telephone, combined with the power of their computers.

CONFERENCE: COMMUNICATE WITH ANYONE
Netscape Conference eliminates the "first-telephone problem" of having nobody to talk to by supporting open, international standards and providing multiplatform support for conferencing.


NETSCAPE CALENDAR
(Available only in Professional Edition)

Netscape's customer research has shown that enterprisewide calendaring is a consistent and key requirement for a complete corporate groupware suite. Netscape Calendar is Communicator's cross-platform calendaring and scheduling component. Calendar is optimized for enterprise use and can scale to support more than 100,000 users, while also being feature rich. For example, it includes the capability to update a schedule offline as easily and effectively as when connected with Netscape Calendar Server.   

CALENDAR: INTEGRATED AND EASY TO USE  
Netscape Calendar is an extremely powerful calendaring and scheduling system that offers users the most flexibility to implement how they like to work.  It is integrated with the Communicator menus for easy access from any component, and vCalendar support provides seamless calendar support from any web page. 

CALENDAR: WORK SMARTER AND FASTER  
An important part of any enterprisewide calendar and scheduling system is its capability to help users manage their schedules more effectively, while also making it easier to help others plan and manage their calendars accordingly.  Calendar has powerful support for repeating meetings - users can modify individual meeting times, location or invitees for a specific meeting, and send file attachments. 


CALENDAR: COMMUNICATE WITH ANYONE 


NETSCAPE IBM HOST ON-DEMAND
(Available only in Professional Edition)

An important objective of Netscape Communicator in the enterprise is to help organizations leverage their host data access. Communicator Professional Edition's Java-based Host On-Demand is jointly developed with IBM, ensuring premium host connectivity to any 3270-based mainframe host system. Now users will be able to access legacy data easily through a more familiar Web browser user interface.  

IBM HOST ON-DEMAND:  HOST SYSTEMS DATA ACCESS 


NETSCAPE AUTOADMIN
(Available only in Professional Edition)

Few would argue that some of the most important considerations of software use within the enterprise is its distribution, installation, and management. Combined with Netscape Mission Control (formally Netscape Administration Kit), Netscape AutoAdmin allows Communicator to be centrally managed, distributed, and updated.

AUTOADMIN: REDUCING TOTAL COSTS AND SIMPLIFYING IS ADMINISTRATION
Managing software installation and configuration is all about helping IS reduce their cost of software ownership by providing enhanced administration capabilities, guidelines, and tools to reduce support calls. AutoAdmin works by having Communicator query a central, server-side configuration file (created with Mission Control) during launch. The configuration file contains JavaScript instructions for client preference information as well as software download instructions. Setup and administration of AutoAdmin requires use of the administration tools contained in Netscape Mission Control. For an extensive list of what IS administrators can control with Mission Control, please refer to its Feature Guide.


 NETSCAPE MISSION CONTROL 4.0

(Available separately from Netscape Communicator)

Netscape Mission Control (formally Netscape Administration Kit) is an easy-to-use collection of tools and guidelines that allow an administrator to customize, distribute, install, and administer Netscape Communicator Standard and Professional Editions. When combined with Netscape Communicator, Netscape Mission Control reduces the total cost of ownership by enabling centralized management of configurations settings and distribution of software updates throughout the enterprise.

Introduction | What's New | Evaluation Criteria | Competition | Fact Sheet

| Overview | Navigator | Messenger | Collabra | Composer | Netcaster | Conference | Calendar | AutoAdmin |
| IBM Host On-Demand | Mission Control | Product Info | Demos | Plug-ins & Extras | Press | How to Buy |


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