Tumbleweed Wins Network Magazine's Best Product of the Year Award

REDWOOD CITY, CA - April 17, 2000 - Tumbleweed® Communications Corp. (Nasdaq:TMWD), a leading provider of secure Internet communication services, today announced Network Magazine selected the Tumbleweed Integrated Messaging Exchange™ (IME™) as the best email server for 2000 in their 13th annual Product of the Year Awards.

Each year, Network Magazine recognizes products that stand out as the best in their class. Products were considered for top performance, top combination of price and performance, ingenious use of a novel technology, expanding the appeal of a solution to a broader audience, and continuous improvement over a lengthy span of time.

"IME adds the highest level of security to an organization's existing email system. It provides reliable delivery and tracking for interactive correspondence, document collaboration, automated transactions, and sensitive e-commerce applications," says Network Magazine.

"We are delighted that Network Magazine has chosen Tumbleweed IME to receive a product of the year award," said Jeffrey C. Smith, president and CEO, Tumbleweed Communications Corp. "With more than 200 person years and 600,000 lines of code in Tumbleweed IME, we're very proud of our achievement. Receiving this prestigious award from an acknowledged group of experts at Network Magazine is terrific recognition for all of us at Tumbleweed."

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.