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Nissan Virtual Auto Showroom

PRESS RELEASE


NeXT SOFTWARE FUELS NISSAN'S VIRTUAL AUTO SHOWROOM

WebObjects Allows Customers to Test Drive a Car Using Any Browser

Redwood City, Calif.--November 25, 1996-- NeXT Software, Inc. announced today that Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. used WebObjects(TM) software to create an Internet virtual showroom for browsing their vehicle product line. Nissan's virtual showroom is powered by WebObjects Enterprise, NeXT's award-winning web application development environment. The Nissan web site, at http://www.nissan.co.jp (for direct showroom access go to http://showroom.nissan.co.jp -- in Japanese), allows customers to conduct detailed searches on a variety of car models and options. In addition to basic guidance to find a favorite car based on features, price or type, customers can now create personalized comparison charts of two or three cars detailing the vehicle's differences in price and specifications. Customers simply complete a series of preference questions, and in seconds they can manipulate their way through multiple views of selected cars as if they were actually in the showroom kicking the tires and checking under the hood.

For years, car sales have been a combination of advertising and product promotion to support individual salespeople. Customers bombarded with information need a way to sort through the options. Nissan's dynamic web site lets customers take their time, do extensive research and make informed purchasing decisions.

"Nissan's interactive web site is the industry's prototype for experimenting with methods to disseminate information, to understand consumer needs and to quickly offer them quality products at a competitive price," said Tatsumi Nagayama, Manager of Digital Communications at Nissan. "The level of complexity involved in creating our virtual showroom pushed the Internet and technology to the limit. Using WebObjects, we have achieved success."

Nissan was one of the first businesses with an online presence in Japan. Its first site went online in December 1994 and has grown to be one of the most popular sites in the country. Before using WebObjects, Nissan relied on static HTML pages and CGI scripts to keep the site up-to-date. NeXT's WebObjects enabled Nissan to integrate detailed vehicle information stored on a Sybase database with custom business logic to build an interactive site that provides the latest product information. Unlike most of the other web development tools available, WebObjects supports localization, enabling customers to utilize their native languages, such as Japanese, within dynamic web applications. In the future, Nissan plans to integrate other manufacturers' databases so customers can compare cars from different companies.

"NeXT provides our customers with the tools and technology they need to rapidly develop web applications at any level of complexity," said Steven P. Jobs, Chairman and CEO of NeXT Software. "We are excited that Nissan's demands for a rich web application were satisfied by WebObjects. It is a pleasure to see our customers move from idea conception to deployment so quickly."

WebObjects Standard Features
The award-winning WebObjects product family provides an application server environment for rapidly developing dynamic web applications while enabling access to existing corporate data and applications. WebObjects is designed to work with existing infrastructure to enable corporations to expand the reach of their systems to the Web without having to rewrite data and applications. Organizations swiftly gain competitive advantage by using WebObjects to develop Internet, corporate Intranet or business-to-business web applications. Many organizations, including Club Med, Dell Computer Reebok International Ltd., and The Sharper Image currently use WebObjects to power their web applications.

NeXT Software, Inc.
NeXT delivers an open development environment for building custom applications for both the World Wide Web and the Enterprise. NeXT's development software adds value to today's business by shortening the development cycle, working with an organization's existing technology, supporting current and emerging standards, and enabling organizations to grow and change with ease. Providing its customers with a combination of award-winning software and professional services, NeXT delivers real-world solutions.

NeXT Software, Inc. is headquartered in Redwood City, California, and has offices in North America, London, Paris, Munich, and Tokyo.

For more information call 1-800-TRY-NeXT.


Press and Analysis Inquiries:

Nicole Overson
NeXT Software, Inc.
415-780-3731
nicole@next.com

Trademark Info:

NeXT, the NeXT logo, WebObjects, Objective-C, OPENSTEP, and WebScript are trademarks or registered trademarks of NeXT Software, Inc. All other trademarks mentioned belong to their respective owners.

Last modified 97-01-09. Copyright 1997 NeXT Software, Inc. Proprietary Notices.

See Also
OPENSTEP: Welcome
Netscape and NeXT Team
Nissan Virtual Auto Showroom
CyberSlice Press Release
Top NeXT Engineer Faces a Big Task: Make Apple Bloom
Apple/NeXT Merger Details
Apple Enterprise: Alliances
Apple Enterprise: Sales Inquiry Form

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