Tumbleweed Named One of Silicon Valley's Fastest Growing Technology Companies

REDWOOD CITY, CA - September 25, 2001 - Tumbleweed® Communications Corp. (Nasdaq:TMWD), leading provider of secure content management solutions for enabling the business Internet, announced today that it has been ranked 25th on Deloitte & Touche's prestigious "2001 Technology Fast 50" Program for Silicon Valley, a ranking of the 50 fastest growing technology companies in the area. Rankings are based on the percentage of growth in revenues for the five-year period from 1996-2000.

Tumbleweed's CEO, Jeff Smith, credits the company's focus on customers and heightened awareness of the risks associated with doing business over the Internet with the company's 6,154 percent revenue growth over the past five years.

"We're pleased to be recognized by Deloitte & Touche, and proud to be listed alongside these other leading companies," said Jeff Smith, Chairman and CEO of Tumbleweed Communications Corp. ``Our growth over the past five years is a result of our vision to enable the enterprise to manage information flow and security applications from a single, policy-based framework while aligning with our customer's spending priorities. Tumbleweed offers a compelling value proposition for organizations that want to combine a comprehensive information security solution with the efficiencies and cost-savings of extending their networks by moving paper-based processes online."

"In an era where technology companies come and go like shooting stars, making the Deloitte & Touche Fast 50 is a testament to a company's leadership and its ability to not only have the right solution for that moment in time, but also the vision that allows growth over five years. Tumbleweed has proven that its leadership has the right stuff to succeed, and we at Deloitte & Touche salute their accomplishments," said Roy Avondet, managing partner Deloitte & Touche.

Tumbleweed's increase in revenues of 6,154 percent over the five-year period of 1996 to 2000 resulted in a Top 25 ranking overall in the Fast 50 for Silicon Valley. The average increase in revenues among companies who made the Fast 50 for this region was 16,522 percent.

To qualify for the Fast 50, companies must have had operating revenues of at least $50,000 in 1996 and $1,000,000 in 2000; must be public or private companies headquartered in the Silicon Valley; and be "technology companies" defined as companies that produce technology, manufacture a technology product, or devote a high percentage of effort to research and development of technology.

Winners of the Silicon Valley Technology Fast 50 along with 21 other regional program winners in the United States and Canada are automatically entered in the Deloitte & Touche Technology Fast 500 program, which ranks North America's top 500 fastest growing technology companies. For more information on the Deloitte & Touche Fast 50 or Fast 500 programs, visit www.fast500.com.

About Tumbleweed
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, JP Morgan Chase & Co., Chevron, Datek Online, the European Union's Joint Research Council, US Food and Drug Administration, John Deere, Merrill Lynch, Nike, Northern Trust, NTT, Salomon Smith Barney, Travelers, United Parcel Service, and seven of the world's largest postal services. Tumbleweed Communications was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Redwood City, CA with offices around the world.

About Deloitte & Touche
Deloitte & Touche LLP, one of the nation's leading professional services firms, provides assurance and advisory, tax, and management consulting services through nearly 30,000 people in more than 100 U.S. cities. The firm is dedicated to helping its clients and its people excel. Known as an employer of choice for its innovative human resources programs, Deloitte & Touche has been recognized as one of the "100 Best Companies to Work For in America" by Fortune magazine for four consecutive years. Deloitte & Touche is the US national practice of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu is a Swiss Verein, and each of its national practices is a separate and independent legal entity. For more information, please visit Deloitte & Touche's web site at www.us.deloitte.com.

About Deloitte & Touche's Technology & Communications Group
The Technology & Communications Group is composed of service professionals who have a wealth of experience serving technology and communications companies throughout the world in areas including Internet, software, semiconductors, cable, media and publishing, communication utilities, networking, wireless, computers and peripherals, and related industries. These specialists understand the challenges that technology and communications companies face throughout all stages of their business growth cycle and are committed to helping them succeed. Deloitte & Touche is a leader in providing strategic, financial, operational, and information technology assistance to its technology and communications clients.

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.