Netscape
Communications Corp. announced today a worldwide agreement under which Citibank will license its electronic commerce and server software to create an e-commerce infrastructure.
Netscape refused to comment on the financial terms on the agreement during a conference call today.
The arrangement provides Citibank with a perpetual license for the use of
Netscape’s CommerceXpert e-commerce applications and server software including Netscape Application Server and Netscape Directory Server.
The Netscape CommerceXpert product line includes: ECXpert for commerce exchange; BuyerXpert for lowering procurement expenses through automation of business purchasing processes; SellerXpert and MechantXpert for online merchandising to both businesses and consumers; and PublishingXpert for selling online information and automating customer service.
Netscape’s Application Server is used in developing custom business
applications, while Netscape SuiteSpot server software is geared for the deployment of intranets and extranets. Both products are designed to allow enterprise customers to build service-ready infrastructures for e-commerce.
Citibank said the flexibility, scalability, reliability, legacy
integration, and cross-platform support of Netscape’s software met the criteria the company was seeking for its e-commerce infrastructure. The bank noted that global reach and time to market were among the other factors that played a role in the decision to go with Netscape.
“Our goal of extending Citibank’s global reach and growing our customer base
depends in large part on launching global electronic commerce products and
services,” said Ed Horowitz, Corporate Executive Vice President of
Citibank, in a statement. “This agreement with Netscape provides us with a set of tools to accelerate the development of these applications for both corporations and consumers.”
“This announcement with Citibank demonstrates the significant customer
momentum behind Netscape’s strategy of enabling enterprises to act as service
providers, delivering a full range of applications as Internet services to
their internal and external customers,” said Jim Barksdale, president and
chief executive officer of Netscape. “Citibank is leveraging Netscape
software for its electronic commerce applications around the world.”