That was the word of the day as the company held its first major strategy session since it started giving away its popular Internet browser and looking for other sources of revenue.

Company officials outlined a plan in which its seemingly disparate "enterprise software" and "Internet portal" businesses would converge into what they called an "ecosystem" for businesses operating in the Net economy.

"There is a big convergence between what historically were looked at as software businesses and what historically were looked at as portal businesses," Marc Andreessen, Netscape co-founder and executive vice president of product and marketing, told a group of financial analysts and journalists in San Francisco.

Buzzwords aside, the plan is essentially to combine the product and services businesses. That way, Netscape hopes itcan serve all the needs of companies seeking to convert from "brick and mortar" into "virtual" businesses, capable of reaching exponentially more customers.

Netscape, whose Internet browser was a key factor in the growth of the World Wide Web, was forced earlier this year to start giving away its browser for free due to competition from Microsoft Corp's browser.

Since then, it has focused on enterprise software, which refers to a vast array of products allowing Internet communication between individuals and corporations; and the Netcenter portal, its Web site that delivers Internet search functions, content and a multitude of services from E-mail to software downloads.

This multi-pronged strategy has confounded many people who said Netscape was trying to master too many different businesss.

Thursday, Andreessen explained that the strategy was rooted in a fundamental change in the software industry in which software products had little value unless they were supported by services on theInternet.

"It's getting harder and harder for a software company to just give people software," he said, citing the example of the tax-preparation software company Intuit. He said Intuit inreasingly gets its business from customers who come to its Web site, rather than those who buy its software in a store.

Netscape is trying to position its Netcenter portal as a place where businesses will go to get the software they need to operate on the Internet.

In effect, its software business will support its Netcenter business, and vice versa.

"We don't have one dime coming from our browser business anymore," Netscape president Jim Barksdale said. "The enterprise software and the portal businesses are coming together."

Although the Netscape Netcenter Web site competes with popular consumer services like Yahoo!, Excite and Licos, it also aggressively targets business consumers by offering relevant content and software.

As part of the new strategy, Netscape aims to make Netcenter the most popular Internetportal by the year 2000 through a vast offering of business and consumer services.