iCAST and Tribal Voice Call on AOL to Open-Up Instant Messaging System; Repeated Blocks to Interoperability Denies Open Communication Among Millions of Instant Messaging Users

Business Wire, April 11, 2000

Business/Technology Editors

WOBURN, Mass. and DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 11, 2000

iCAST, an online entertainment company and Tribal Voice(TM), a leading provider of co-branded instant messaging and interactive communication solutions, call on AOL today to open up the company's instant messaging system. The announcement comes on the heels of AOL once again denying communication between its AIM users and other instant messaging services.

"Interoperability of instant messaging services provides freedom of choice to consumers and is critical to the advancement of a next-generation multimedia Internet," says Margaret Heffernan, president of iCAST. "Instant messaging is one of the most popular and fastest growing online communications technologies today; blocking compatibility among services inhibits its potential and is bad for everyone using the Web."

"Monopolistic behavior stifles innovation and ultimately limits consumer choice and product advancements," says Ross Bagully, CEO, Tribal Voice. "It would be a terrible loss for the Internet and the consumer if the instant messaging market is inhibited in the interest of one company."

Over six months ago, AOL promised to "fast-track" its efforts to allow interoperability and open-messaging. To date, AOL has done little to work with the industry to create an open standard.

The iCASTER(TM) and all PowWow(R) -based instant messaging applications are designed to interoperate with AOL's Instant Messenger (AIM) and Microsoft's MSN Messenger, enabling instant online communication among more than 63 million users. Despite the fact that Tribal Voice used protocols published on AOL's public web site to achieve interoperability between its clients and AIM, AOL has resisted supporting interoperability by blocking PowWow-based clients from this functionality.

This means that AOL's more than 50 million AIM users are effectively walled off from the rest of the Internet's instant messaging users.

Heffernan believes AOL's continuing efforts to put walls around its members should "make the public question whether it is truly committed to an open Internet."

iCAST and Tribal Voice support open and barrier-free communication on the Internet. Both companies believe in providing consumers the most advanced instant messaging technology available and are committed to enabling the Internet's fullest potential as a communications medium. For more information on how you can support interoperable instant messaging on the Internet, visit www.icast.com and follow the links to its petition for interoperable instant messaging. The iCASTER and PowWow applications are supported by and compatible with, instant messaging applications from AT&T, Microsoft, Powermark and others.

About Tribal Voice

Tribal Voice is a leading provider of co-branded instant messaging and interactive communications solutions based on its PowWow technology and a majority-owned operating company of CMGI, Inc. Founded in December 1994 and acquired by CMGI in December 1999, the company is headquartered in Denver, Colo. and maintains development organizations in Colorado Springs, Colo., and Austin, Texas. More than eight million worldwide users participate in over 18,000 communities via PowWow-based software. For more information on Tribal Voice and to download its PowWow client software, please visit http://www.tribal.com or call (303) 244-1790.

Companies interested in working with Tribal Voice to develop their own instant messaging and interactive communications solutions should e-mail sales@tribal.com or call 1-877-4POWWOW. If you are outside North America, please call 303-244-1790.

About iCAST

iCAST (www.icast.com) is a multi-media rich, online entertainment company that champions self-publishing within a personalized, community-oriented environment. iCAST.com empowers individuals with the tools to create, customize and share their personal entertainment passions. It offers original, user-generated and syndicated audio and video content, entertainment news, features and interviews, live and archived events, and more. iCAST and the iCASTER, its downloadable media player, use Microsoft's Windows Media as its preferred streaming media format.

This release contains forward-looking statements based on current expectations or beliefs, as well as a number of assumptions about future events, and these statements are subject to important factors and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this release address a variety of subjects including, for example, the anticipated ability of the iCASTER to interoperate with instant messaging services of AOL and other companies. The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in these forward-looking statements: AOL and other companies may block the ability of the iCASTER to interoperate with other instant messaging services and iCAST's campaign for interoperable standards may not be successful. For a detailed discussion of these and other cautionary statements, please refer to CMGI's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including CMGI's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the most recently ended fiscal year.