Leading Healthcare Enterprises Use Tumbleweed MMS

Tumbleweed MMS offers healthcare organizations complete Internet email management solution that meets proposed HIPAA encryption regulations

REDWOOD CITY, CA - September 13, 2000 - Tumbleweed® Communications Corp. (Nasdaq:TMWD), a leading provider of advanced email solutions for business communications, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Glaxo Wellcome, Baxter International, Catholic Healthcare West, Tufts Health Plan and Health First in Florida have chosen Tumbleweed Messaging Management System (MMS)™ to secure, monitor and manage the email communication stream between their employees, partners and patients on the Internet.

Tumbleweed MMS is a set of email management products that enables these healthcare companies to protect sensitive data on the Internet. Each of these enterprises can use MMS to set and implement policies for Internet email by applying content control, encryption, access control, attachment management, virus scanning and digital signature policies that are administered centrally and universally across their enterprise.

"At Health First we see a need to comply with government regulations surrounding Internet communication, and we also see an opportunity to strengthen ties with our customers and partners via the Internet. We needed the means to responsibly manage our email communications stream now and as it grows. We chose Tumbleweed Messaging Management System (MMS) because it provides the most complete email management solution on the market today," said Rich Rogers, CIO of Health First. "With Tumbleweed MMS we can centrally define and enforce compliance with our own and with the government's policies for Internet email usage, without taxing either our end users or our vital IT resources."

"With the proposed strict patient privacy standards mandated by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), healthcare organizations are seeking reliable, comprehensive security frameworks that will comply to these standards," said Gary Mattson, Senior Network Security and Encryption Engineer, Catholic Healthcare West. "Tumbleweed MMS offers Catholic Healthcare West a complete online communication solution that complies with HIPAA proposed regulations, and at the same time allows us to centrally create policies to manage and control the flow of Internet email communications while still remaining transparent to our end-users."

"Each of our healthcare industry customers has built a sophisticated communications network with patients and partners. And every day, each of our customers uses this communications network to transmit sensitive information," said Jeffrey C. Smith, President and CEO, Tumbleweed Communications Corp. "Using MMS, our customers may protect, manage and oversee their information assets traveling over the Internet, comply with federal security regulations and safeguard their enterprise from harmful content."

About Tumbleweed Communications Corp.
Tumbleweed is a leading provider of solutions for managing secure communication and collaboration to enable the business Internet. Tumbleweed's robust policy-based framework empowers organizations to safely share and protect critical information, increase customer loyalty and privacy and dramatically reduce costs. Tumbleweed is trusted by 1,000 blue-chip customers including American Express, Chevron, Datek Online, the European Union's Joint Research Council, First Union Wachovia, John Deere, Merrill Lynch, Nike, Northern Trust, NTT, Salomon Smith Barney, Travelers and US Food and Drug Administration. One hundred of the Fortune 500 are Tumbleweed customers. Tumbleweed Communications was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Redwood City, Calif., with offices around the world.

Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected, particularly with respect to the security features of Tumbleweed's products and the activities of any third party. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "may," "will," "should," "potential," "continue," "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," and similar expressions. For further cautions about the risks of investing in Tumbleweed, we refer you to the documents Tumbleweed files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, particularly Tumbleweed's Form 10-K filed March 30, 2001 and Form 10-Q filed November 13, 2001. Tumbleweed assumes no obligation to update information contained in this press release.