Netscape Communications will continue to dominate the browser marketplace for years to come according to a new 250-page report from Communications Industry Researchers, Inc., (CIR), a market research company. The report, The Future of the Web: The Content, Software and Applications Driving the Growth of the Internet, claims that Netscape's share of the browser usage will remain in the 70-80 percent range for the rest of the decade.

"It is not that we expect Microsoft to fail to in its marketing efforts," says Lawrence Gasman, "it's that our reading of informal usage surveys and other sources suggests that Netscape has a huge lead in this area which will be difficult for Microsoft to take away. While Microsoft browsers are installed on numerous machines as the result of their inclusion in Windows '95 and NT, it is apparently Netscape browsers that are actually being used." The Future of the Web: The Content, Software and Applications Driving the Growth of the Internet argues that the proper measure of market share in the browser area is share of browsers used rather than share of browsers shipped and that, on that measure, Netscape comes out the winner.

Netscape: An Enterprise Network Paradigm?

CIR believes that the browser wars will increasingly be fought in the intranet arena. This is an area where Netscape is far ahead of Microsoft and where Netscape has benefited from its early push in commercial Web server software. Netscape is therefore extremely well positioned to provide a highly functional platform for intranets in the future. Microsoft will never have the dominance of enterprise networks that it did of the desktop.

This means that in the future, manufacturers of enterprise networking equipment (including LANs, switches and servers), along with developers of enterprise networking applications will increasingly have to work within the paradigm that is established by Netscape. Meanwhile, CIR believes that Microsoft will continue to gain market share, but slowly and mostly at the expense of the numerous other browsers on the market. But nothing is certain in the software world and The Future of the Web: The Content, Software and Applications Driving the Growth of the Internet says that its projections could change dramatically if Microsoft makes a major change in its strategic direction of if Netscape makes a major gaffe. There is even the possibility of major changes within the Web browser market, due to a major change in the design and functional requirements of the Web itself.

The future of Web browsers are just one of the many issues considered in The Future of the Web: The Content, Software and Applications Driving the Growth of the Internet, which also analyzes the markets for HTML, VRML, Java, Internet radio, broadband content, Internet telephony, Internet conferencing, servers, search engines, Web publishing, E-mail, programming tools, electronic commerce, Internet-based entertainment and news services and network computers. The report also contains a detailed ten-year forecast of Internet content and software along with strategic profiles of all the major companies active in Internet content and software markets.

The table of contents and executive summary of The Future of the Web: The Content, Software and Applications Driving the Growth of the Internet is available at CIR's Web site. The report is priced at $3,500 in hard copy and is also available in HTML and PDF formats. Further details of this study can be obtained from Robert Nolan at 617-484-2077 or robnol@aol.com.

Communications Industry Researchers, Inc., has been in business since 1979. The company publishes market studies and newsletters, and carries out demanding custom market research assignments on the commercial aspects of new communications technologies.

Web Browser Market Shares

Company Product 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

Netscape Navigator 71% 80% 75% 72% 70%

Microsoft Internet Explorer 4% 7% 13% 17% 21%

Other Various 25% 13% 12% 11% 9%

SOURCE Communications Industry Researchers, Inc.