Internet allies Netscape, KPMG join forces to build Internet beachhead >BY By CHRIS BUCHOLTZ, Intelligence & Software Editor

In a move that could help technology from Netscape Communications Corp. break into carrier environments, consulting firm and integrator KPMG announced that it will incorporate Netscape technology into its future Internet solutions.

The two companies formalized an 8-month-old partnership last week with the announcement of KPMG's new status as a preferred global systems integrator. KPMG will use Netscape technology to develop Internet and intranet solutions.

"Netscape is somewhat stretched right now because people tend to associate 'Internet' with Netscape," said Robin Palmer, the partner in charge of KPMG's Electronic Commerce Project. "It can be very hard to judge opportunities from the altitude they're working at right now. By partnering with us, they will get the benefit of having someone on the ground to spot opportunities as they happen.

In the first official release under the new agreement, KPMG will deploy Netscape Communicator and Netscape SuiteSpot client-server software to increase internal collaboration capabilities for intranet and knowledge management solutions. The companies are working with Pacific Bell to develop a solution that the carrier can resell to its business customers, Palmer said.

Another key to reaching telecom service providers will be a recently completed white paper based on studies by KPMG on the performance of Netscape server products on the Internet, which should give the companies a useful tool for future telecom sales.

"It's important to analyze what can happen when a server receives 10,000 hits within a certain time period," Palmer said. "The study will allow us to build models of Netscape-based solutions from a performance and capacity standpoint.

The companies believe the partnership will also enable them to get past cultural differences that have limited their penetration of the carrier market. "The carrier perception had been that we just knew about the Internet, but the performance modeling project shows that we understand the issues important to carrier deployment and implementation of the technology as well," said Palmer.

While the carriers' ISP businesses provide a market for the two companies, Palmer said the real opportunity will come in helping carriers evaluate new markets using the Internet. Historically, carriers' technical concerns about operating Internet services have been surpassed only by their confusion in regard to the related economic opportunities. "While many of the carriers are in tune with the ISP marketplace, there are going to be huge opportunities in electronic commerce that many of them have not yet considered," said Palmer. "There's going to be a lot of jockeying among the RHCs to sort these issues out.

The partnership between the two companies will provide each with new opportunities to have a bigger effect on the direction of the carriers' Internet products, one analyst said.

"This is going to do a lot for KPMG's credibility in the carrier market," said David Yockelsen, an analyst at Stamford, Conn.-based market research firm Meta Group. "At the same time, it should help focus Netscape on what is going to be a very important market for them in the near future."