Bill Baumel, Experienced Venture Capitalist, Joins RWI Group as General Partner; New Partner Positions RWI Group to Grow and Maximize Value of RWI Group Funds.

Business Editors

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 15, 2000

RWI Group, an early-stage venture capital firm with a portfolio of over 35 leading technology companies, today announced that Bill Baumel has joined the firm as a General Partner.

Bill will focus on investments in the communications and Internet areas for RWI Group.

Prior to joining RWI Group, Bill was a General Partner at Coral
Ventures, where he led investments in:

--  Integral Access -- Multiple Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) based
    voice and data telecommunications access systems maker of
    business-oriented integrated access devices and central office
    switches that provide twice the bandwidth at half the cost of
    traditional network equipment solutions. Integral's team is
    primarily from Bay Networks (Wellfleet) and Tellabs. Co-investors
    include Ascent Ventures, Bank Boston Robertson Stephens, Canaan
    Partners, Prism Ventures, RWI Group, St. Paul Ventures, and
    Technology Crossover Ventures.

--  Magnet Communications -- On-line corporate banking technology
    provider to financial institutions such as ABN Amro, Bank of
    America, First Union, Royal Bank, Silicon Valley Bank and Sun
    Trust. Magnet's team is primarily from Checkfree. Co-investors
    include Cordova Ventures, Live Oak Equity, and Silicon Valley
    Bank.

--  Optical Solutions -- Optical access telecommunications system
    developer providing up to 155 Mbps of integrated voice, video, and
    data for residential and small business applications over a
    passive optical network. 2000 year-to-date orders already exceed
    $125 million. Optical's team is primarily from ADC, Bellabs,
    Network Systems and Tellabs. Co-investors include Menlo Ventures
    and St. Paul Ventures.

--  PurePacket Communications -- IP CLEC targeting small to mid-size
    businesses with next generation MPLS-based packet network capable
    of providing traditional voice, high-speed data, and bundled
    services, such as ASP, at very low cost. PurePacket's team is
    primarily from Bell South, MCI WorldCom and Media One.
    Co-investors include Prism Ventures and Tredegar Investments.

"We are very excited to have Bill join our team at a time when there are so many extraordinary developments taking place in the communications world," commented Donald A. Lucas, RWI Group's Managing General Partner. "His experience and track record, particularly with early-stage communications companies, speaks for itself and will help us continue to develop leading technology companies."

In addition to Donald A. Lucas and Bill Baumel, RWI Group's team includes Special Limited Partners Donald L. Lucas and Noel Rahn, as well as Associate Jonathan Barek. RWI Group is planning to raise a new fund, RWI Group IV, L.P., during the summer and is targeting $100 million in commitments.

"Bill's vision of the communications market has always been right on target and ahead of the pack. He was preaching optical access in early 1998 when he convinced me to join Optical Solutions. As our Chairman, he has been an exceptional help in everything from strategy formulation to hiring to providing valuable connections. I would highly recommend Bill to any start-up seeking value-added venture capital," said Roger Weingarth, President of Optical Solutions.

Steve Gordon, President & CEO of Magnet Communications, added "Bill makes things happen. He is a great business confidant for any CEO and has made an enormous contribution to the success of Magnet."

"I take pride in building tomorrow's leaders. RWI Group's partners have financed and built some of the most successful technology companies of the past decade, including Advanced Fiber Communications, Cadence Design Systems and Oracle. With this team I am positive we will continue to finance and build leading companies," said Baumel.

Prior to joining Coral Ventures, Bill was a portfolio manager of Brinson Partners' $1.5 billion post-venture crossover fund and worked at Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati and Deloitte & Touche in San Francisco. Bill has an MBA with highest distinction from The University of Michigan. While at Michigan, he was also Associate Director of the University's Office for the Study of Private Equity Finance run by Professor David Brophy. Bill received his BS summa cum laude from The Ohio State University.

Bill will work out of RWI Group's Palo Alto office beginning in August.

About RWI Group

RWI Group is an early-stage venture capital firm located in Palo Alto, CA. Primary areas of focus include communications, software, and Internet companies. Since 1995, RWI Group has invested in over 35 leading private technology companies. Representative investments include Cephren, Conduct Ltd. (acquired by Mercury Interactive, NASDAQ: MERQ), Extricity, Intraspect Software, iReady, Novalux, nQuire Software, Pluris, Preview Systems (NASDAQ: PRVW), ProxiNet (acquired by Puma Technology, NASDAQ: PUMA), and RangeStar Wireless. For more information, please visit www.rwigroup.com.