NetCat is a networking utility.

Netcat is a featured networking utility which reads and writes data across network connections, using the TCP/IP Protocol. It is designed to be a reliable "back-end" tool that can be used directly or easily driven by other programs and scripts. At the same time, it is a feature-rich network debugging and exploration tool, since it can create almost any kind of connection you would need and has several interesting built-in capabilities.

The website mentions that it is a replacement for the old netcat.

AddToMe: does nc(1) on this Wiki refer to the old or the new utility?