News Analysis: One in the eye for the great dictator

Microsoft might get its feathers ruffled if browser rival Netscape?s efforts to regain ground succeed

Netscape chief executive Jim Barksdale made a bold statement last week when he insisted ?we?re not beaten yet?, as he outlined the latest goal in the company?s ongoing browser war with software behemoth Microsoft.

Netscape has set itself a target of signing a further 500 corporate customers ? each with 500 users or more ? in the US this year. But the connectivity specialist is also looking way beyond the browser for its future revenues.

While admitting that it is entirely possible for both Microsoft and Netscape to produce statistics that ?prove? each firm?s lead in any particular market sector, Netscape executives at a special briefing in Mountain View, California, made great play of what they claim is a 70 per cent share of the corporate market. The company works with 200 corporates.

Netscape remained as reticent as ever about releasing detailed information about the revenue raised from its installed base, but added that its ambition was to have 100 million copies of the Navigator browser on the market by the end of this year. There are currently some 65 million copies in circulation.

The company hopes that this number will be pushed up courtesy of an extensive marketing campaign, dubbed Netscape Everywhere, which will involve a promotion with more than 100 million copies of Netscape client software being sent out to homes, schools and businesses.

This is all part of a move by Barksdale to position Netscape as an enterprise software company ? a crucial strategy if the company is to prove that there is life beyond the browser. ?Most end points of the network are in businesses, not homes,? said Barksdale in his opening address at the briefing held last week.

The connectivity specialist intends to focus as much on its competencies in intranets, servers, email and electronic commerce as it will on its core browser product.

Barksdale claimed that the intranet software market would potentially be worth $10 billion a year by the turn of the century, and as much as twice that if revenue from electronic commerce and Web advertising is taken into account. ?The strategy we are rolling out today doubles the size of our target business market,? he said.

According to Barksdale, Netscape is now engaged in a three-pronged enterprise strategy. The first element of this was put in place last year with the introduction of Netscape Communicator and Netscape Suitespot, which enabled the company to make significant inroads into the corporate intranet market.

But Netscape now wants to build on this initial success by working towards linking businesses together via the internet as the second phase of its strategy, with a third phase of connecting business partners to users of the internet as a means of distribution and product or service delivery.

The company also intends to gain a foothold in the professional services market, a move that, in theory, would place it head-to-head against the big six US players, which include Andersen Consulting. Heading this initiative is Randy Favero, vice president of professional services at Netscape, who was recruited from IBM?s support and services division.

Favero has already increased Netscape?s consulting staff from about 60 in the early part of this year to a current total of 135 in the US, and he plans to have 600 people in place by the end of this year. ?When customers look for the best implementation of our technology, they will look to us,? he said.

But for Netscape to achieve its long-term goals, it needs to amend its channel strategy. There are already some changes afoot in the company?s sales strategy. One of the things the company has put in place on this front is the Netscape Solution Expert channels programme, which offers channel partners training in design and deployment of intranet applications and electronic commerce systems.

Last week, meanwhile, Netscape launched Netcenter, which will offer downloads of software as well as building on the success of Netscape?s home page, which currently registers more than four million hits each day.

?We have a marvellous asset in our Web site,? said Barksdale. ?It is time we took more advantage of that as a mechanism to complement the reach and utility of Netscape software.?

The company is also set to push its Actra electronic commerce subsidiary further into the spotlight, as it seeks to increase revenue derived from business-to-business transactions. As proof of this growing trend, Netscape signed a strategic partnership with Canadian telecoms company Bell Canada, which will see the two companies offering a global electronic network for conducting such transactions.

Netscape will work with the telco to develop a value-added network in Canada ? to be called the Bell Business Network ? which will enable businesses to buy and sell products and services over the internet. The electronic data interchange transaction network component will be provided by Actra?s e-commerce products.

The battle has now begun, as Netscape begins its domination strategy to head off any threat from Microsoft in the browser war and the pressure mounts in this fiercely contested battle.