Press Release

NeXT Software Announces Use of WebObjects on Nissan Web Site

11/27/96

NeXT Software Fuels Nissan's Virtual Auto Showroom; WebObjects Allows
Customers to Test Drive a Car Using Any Browser

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE) -- NeXT Software, Inc. announced
today that Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. used WebObjects 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 open software development environments 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 please visit NeXT's web site at http://www.next.com
or call 800/TRY-NeXT.