Software.com and Tumbleweed Announce Strategic Alliance for Secure Internet Business Communications

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. and REDWOOD CITY, Calif. - October 16, 2000 - Software.com Inc. (Nasdaq: SWCM), a leading developer of carrier-scale Internet infrastructure software for communications service providers, and Tumbleweed® Communications Corp. (Nasdaq:TMWD), a leading provider of advanced email solutions for business communications, today announced an alliance for delivering highly scalable, secure messaging solutions for business communications on the Internet.

The alliance will benefit service providers who require messaging solutions that offer extremely high levels of security for meeting the needs of their customers. With this alliance, service providers will be able to tap lucrative wholesale opportunities in such industries as banking, healthcare and law, which demand the highest levels of secure communications.

The joint solution is made possible through the integration of Software.com's highly scalable market-leading InterMail messaging platform and Tumbleweed's secure messaging products, including: Integrated Messaging ExchangeT (IMET), a platform and set of applications for creating secure email channels between a business and its customers, partners and suppliers and Messaging Management System (MMST), a set of email management products that protect sensitive data on the Internet.

The integrated suite of messaging enables a heightened level of security to ensure that messages are delivered as intended and not intercepted. Service providers can further leverage the security capabilities with Software.com's LDAP-enabled Software.com" Directory for managing subscriber data and classes of service. This functionality provides a great deal of flexibility in segmenting messaging by security requirements within organizations.

"Our customers are seeking secure communications capabilities that can easily integrate with the InterMail messaging platform," says John MacFarlane, Software.com's founder and CEO. "Tumbleweed's messaging products, which process 30-million secure messages per day, are the ideal solution. With our alliance, we can deliver the most broadly used, secure communications platform and email management services available today."

"Software.com has built the industry's most reliable and scalable infrastructure for communications services providers - and the 116 million users at Software.com customers like AT&T and Sprint PCS test that platform every day," said Jeffrey C. Smith, president and CEO, Tumbleweed Communications Corp. "Software.com's success shows that email has become the backbone of business communications, and the company's strategy shows that they know exactly what it takes to build out the best communications infrastructure for the 21st century. We are delighted to provide the secure communications and management solutions to integrate with their InterMail platform."

Software.com and Tumbleweed will jointly market the integrated solution to current and potential customers.

About Software.com
With more than 116 million seats licensed, Software.com is a leading supplier of carrier-scale Internet infrastructure software for communication service providers worldwide. Software.com provides the scalable platform that enables service providers to deploy next-generation business and consumer Internet services, including email, directory, IP unified messaging, mobile mail and mobile instant messaging.

In addition, Software.com has established strategic relationships with Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Nortel Networks and Telcordia Technologies (formerly Bellcore). Founded in 1993, with headquarters in Santa Barbara, California, the company has regional operations in the U.K., Germany, the Netherlands, Japan, China and Australia. Visit www.software.com for more information or in the US call 805.882.2470.

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.