Worldtalk Supports LDAP Protocol; Open Directory Server Consolidates Multiple Directory Structures Including Netscape SuiteSpot Servers for the Intranet

Business Wire, June 17, 1996

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 17, 1996--Worldtalk Corporation (Nasdaq: WTLK), a leading vendor of Network Application Routers for messaging, groupware and directory services integration, announced today the immediate support of LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) as a directory access protocol to its X.500-based NetJunction Open Directory Server. Worldtalk LDAP support will allow LDAP-compliant software such as Netscape Navigator client software and Netscape SuiteSpot servers for the Intranet to access directory information stored in Worldtalk's NetJunction Open Directory Server.

Worldtalk's Open Directory Server is a "Meta" directory that combines elements from e-mail and groupware directories such as Netscape SuiteSpot, Lotus cc:Mail and Microsoft Exchange, Network Operating System (NOS) directories such as Banyan StreetTalk and Novell's NDS, and corporate databases especially those of a Human Resources nature. By exposing LDAP to Open Directory Server, users can access consolidated information from directories and databases through a common information model. This removes the burden of juggling different proprietary directory structures between LDAP clients and servers. Information is fully merged by Open Directory Server and presented to LDAP clients in a consolidated fashion.

"The recent endorsement of LDAP by Netscape and 40 leading companies is a great step forward to solve client and application access to directories. Worldtalk's Open Directory Server's LDAP support compliments this by providing disparate directories with a common directory structure," said Mark Jung, president and CEO, Worldtalk Corporation.

Worldtalk's support for LDAP will also allow Netscape Directory Server to be synchronized with proprietary directories within the enterprise. It allows companies to seamlessly introduce Netscape Directory Server into their network, and automatically integrate it with their existing directories and applications such as Netscape SuiteSpot, Lotus cc:Mail and Microsoft Mail.

"We believe Netscape, with its announcement of the Netscape Directory Server and Netscape Certificate Server, is well positioned to gain marketshare in the directory space, especially for electronic commerce products. Worldtalk will provide the necessary connectivity to this directory from disparate directory systems," added Jung.

"With more and more major companies lining up to support LDAP as the directory standard on the Internet, enterprise customers can be assured of true interoperability between directory servers and applications on corporate Intranets," said Eric Hahn, senior vice president of enterprise technologies at Netscape. "The Worldtalk NetJunction Open Directory Server will provide another way to create a `meta' directory that synchronizes information across multiple directories from multiple vendors."

In addition to LDAP, Worldtalk provides Web Connector, an HTML interface to its X.500 directory, used for web browsers that don't yet support the LDAP protocol. Worldtalk is also planning to support Microsoft's ODSI as an alternate interface to its directory. This will allow several applications and application vendors to use Worldtalk's Open Directory Server as their directory of choice.

"Our Open Directory is being used as the de-facto Intranet directory," Jung said. "Open Directory Server and the Web Connector give Intranet users a secure, robust, and easy to access directory." Worldtalk's Open Directory Server is priced between $9,950 and $34,950 based on number of directory entries. The Open Directory Server can be purchased directly through Worldtalk and its business partners and resellers worldwide.

Netscape Communications Corporation is a premier provider of open software for linking people and information over enterprise networks and the Internet. The company offers a full line of clients, servers, development tools, and commercial applications to create a complete platform for next-generation, live online applications. Traded on NASDAQ under the symbol "NSCP," Netscape Communications Corporation is based in Mountain View, California.

Based in Santa Clara, California, Worldtalk Corporation, is a leading provider of Network Application Router software products that allow corporations to interconnect heterogeneous application networks into enterprise-wide communication backbones. These Routers provide transparent connectivity between groupware applications, centralized access to corporate and Network Operating System Directories, as well as secure Internet connectivity. Worldtalk provides connectivity to the following systems: Microsoft Mail and Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Notes and cc:Mail, Hewlett-Packard Open Mail, Novell GroupWise, and MHS, Banyan VINES Intelligent Messaging and StreetTalk, X.400, SMTP/MIME, CE Software QuickMail, IBM PROFS and SNADS, and DEC All-In-1. -0-

Note to Editors: Additional information on Netscape Communications Corporation is available on the Internet at http://home.netscape.com, by sending email to info@netscape.com. Corporate customers can call 415-937-2555 while consumers can call 415-937-3777 for more information.