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Sun-Netscape Alliance Announces New iPlanet(TM) Brand and Marketing Campaign

Introduces New Web Site for Implementing E-Commerce Solutions

    MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., and PALO ALTO, Calif., July 21 /PRNewswire/ -- The
 Sun-Netscape Alliance (Alliance) today announced iPlanet(TM) as its new
 product brand and unveiled an international marketing campaign designed to
 further momentum and increase awareness of the Alliance among business and
 information technology (IT) audiences. The marketing campaign is a three-fold
 initiative kicking off today with a new Web site at www.iplanet.com. The
 campaign will also go online and feature a new print ad starting tomorrow in
 the Wall Street Journal. Together, the web site and marketing campaign will
 showcase the Alliance's breadth of experience and leading Internet
 infrastructure and e-commerce software solutions for the Net Economy.
     "The iPlanet brand represents the explosive change underway in the world
 of business as electronic commerce spawns today's Internet-based, 'Internet
 planet,'" said Susan Catalano, senior director of marketing for the
 Sun-Netscape Alliance.
     In the next few years, analysts project a threefold increase in the number
 of Internet users and more than 20-fold increase in the value of commerce
 spending per year.* The advertising tagline, "iPlanet: Run with it,"
 underscores the combined expertise of Sun and Netscape to put the power of the
 Internet into customers' hands -- building and running many of the most
 successful e-commerce sites in the world.
     "The new brand will create a strong and unique identity for the Alliance
 that helps to further define its scope and vision for the future of the Net
 Economy," Catalano said.
     The www.iplanet.com Web site is the new home site for the Alliance as well
 as a portal for planning and implementing e-commerce initiatives. The site
 includes a Net Economy Information Center that provides e-commerce information
 and commentary from experts in the field. Initially, it will feature a guide
 from the Patricia Seybold Group titled "Creating and Sustaining Customer
 Relationships on the Web" as well as an article from one-to-one marketing
 journalists Don Peppers and Martha Rogers titled "Want Loyal Customers? Create
 Lasting Relationships." Based on Netscape Custom Netcenter portal software,
 the Web site will also include daily stock feeds and CNN technology news.
     The Alliance's new advertising campaign, created by advertising agency
 Lowe & Partners (San Francisco), will appear in national and international
 business publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Business Week
 and The Economist. The online campaign, targeting business and financial Web
 sites, will be managed by Left Field, San Francisco. In addition to the
 advertising, the visual design and logo for the brand will also appear in
 product packaging and collateral materials for all collaborative products from
 the Alliance, to be released at various times over the next year.
     The iPlanet brand name takes effect immediately and prompted a renaming of
 the former iPlanet product from Sun Microsystems. That product is now called
 iPlanet Webtop.
 
     About the Sun-Netscape Alliance
     America Online, Inc. and Sun Microsystems, Inc. formed the Sun-Netscape
 Alliance to provide easy to deploy, comprehensive enterprise and e-commerce
 solutions to business partners and other companies competing in today's Net
 Economy. The alliance product portfolio provides customers with the industry's
 most scalable, integrated infrastructure software and a family of production
 ready e-commerce applications. The products are offered on the industry's most
 widely available product platforms, including DEC, HP, IBM, Linux, SGI,
 Microsoft Windows, and Sun. The alliance software product portfolio includes:
 messaging and calendar, collaboration, web, application, directory, and
 certificate servers. The alliance also offers a family of production-ready
 applications for e-commerce, including commerce exchange, procurement,
 selling, and billing.
 
     About America Online, Inc.
     Founded in 1985, America Online, Inc. (NYSE:   AOL), based in Dulles,
 Virginia, is the world's leader in interactive services, Web brands, Internet
 technologies, and e-commerce services. America Online, Inc. operates:  two
 worldwide Internet services, America Online, with more than 17 million
 members, and CompuServe, with approximately 2 million members; several leading
 Internet brands including ICQ and Digital City, Inc.; the Netscape Netcenter
 and AOL.COM portals; and the Netscape Navigator and Communicator browsers.
 Through its strategic alliance with Sun Microsystems, the Company develops and
 offers easy-to-deploy, end-to-end e-commerce and enterprise solutions for
 companies operating in the Net Economy.
 
     About Sun Microsystems, Inc.
     Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision, "The Network is The
 Computer(TM)," has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq:   SUNW) to its
 position as a leading provider of high quality hardware, software and services
 for establishing enterprise-wide intranets and expanding the power of the
 Internet. With more than $11 billion in annual revenues, Sun can be found in
 more than 150 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://sun.com .
     NOTE:  Netscape and the Netscape N logo are registered trademarks in the
 United States and other countries of Netscape Communications Corporation, a
 subsidiary of America Online, Inc. Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun Logo and
 iPlanet are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and
 other countries.
     * International Data Corporation (IDC), June 1999
 
 

SOURCE  Sun-Netscape Alliance