Carnegie International Corporation Enters Hospitality Industry With Acquisition of Paramount International Telecommunications.

BALTIMORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 2, 1999--Carnegie International Corporation (OTC BB:CAGI) said today that it has completed the acquisition of Paramount International Telecommunications, Inc., of Vista, California, for a combination of cash and preferred stock.

The acquisition completes a transaction announced December 15, 1998, when Carnegie and Paramount signed a Letter of Intent.

Paramount, founded in 1994 and previously privately-owned, serves hotels and other businesses, primarily in 0+/- call auditing and international one-plus sectors. Carnegie is a holding company specializing in Internet, telephony and telecommunications products, services and distribution, including Electronic Commerce (E-Commerce) and Electronic Digital Interchange (EDI).

Lowell Farkas, Carnegie's president and CEO, said Paramount would remain in Vista and operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary, with what he called "its excellent management team and professional staff" in tact. He said Michael Eberle, Paramount's president, will remain the company's senior executive along with David Moody as chairman, David Paton as executive vice president, and Kay Eberle as secretary/treasurer.

"Paramount's technology and customer base will ease Carnegie's entry into the hospitality industry with MAVIS(tm), our voice-activated automated attendant and voice mail/message system," Farkas said, noting that MAVIS would be sold to the hospitality industry through telephony-oriented distributors in the U.S. as part of Carnegie's overall marketing and distribution strategy.

Farkas said Paramount is expected to generate revenues in excess of $20 million in 1999, "which will have a significant impact on Carnegie's basic earnings per share." He said this will not have an immediate substantial dilutive impact due to the contractual purchase in convertible form.

Speaking for Paramount, Michael Eberle said management and staff is "happy to be part of the growing group of Carnegie companies. The marriage of Carnegie and Paramount," he said, "should provide both companies with increased technological capabilities and products with enormous market potential in the overall telephony industry and specific application and appeal in the hospitality sector."

Intelligent Voice-Activated Communications with MAVIS

Introduced in 1998, MAVIS (for Multi-Language Automated Voice Independent System) is a voice-activated auto attendant that communicates intelligently with callers. Using advanced, proprietary voice recognition software, it answers incoming calls, recognizes names or departments requested, and directs calls accordingly. The MAVIS interface is available in English and foreign languages supported through licensed Lernout & Hauspie (NASDAQ:LHSPF) software and Dialogic CPU telephony cards.

Farkas said that Carnegie has just completed the first U.S. shipment of its MAVIS to ALLTEL (NYSE:AT) distribution centers, its U.S. distribution partner, and will demonstrate MAVIS in ALLTEL's booth at the Computer Telephony Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center this week.

Other Acquisitions Nearing Completion

Farkas said today's move "is another synergistic step in Carnegie's overall plan to acquire companies with leading-edge technologies and compatible marketplaces. Our goal," he said, "is to have Carnegie companies sell to their customers as well as to each other."

Farkas also said Carnegie is nearing completion on several other acquisitions including PCNet, Inc., of Trumbull, Connecticut, a pioneer and leader in Electronic Commerce Electronic Digital Interchange leader, and TeleResources, Inc., of Oak Brook, Ill, one of the nation's foremost telecom resellers and the No.1 Comdial(R) (NASDAQ:CMDL) dealer in the U.S.

Carnegie International Corporation is a holding company specializing in Internet, telephony and telecommunications products, services and distribution, including E-Commerce and EDI. Carnegie's primary wholly-owned subsidiaries include: RomNet Support Services, Inc., an Internet, e-business and technical support services company based in Boston; Profit Through Telecommunications (Europe) Ltd. (PTT), a telecommunications software company providing business solutions utilizing proprietary speech recognition, touch tone and bar code responses to send and/or receive information; ACC Telecom of Columbia, Maryland, a leading reseller of equipment and business telephone systems from Comdial (NASDAQ:CMDL), SONY(R) (NYSE:SNE), and Sprint(R) (NYSE:FON), and Voice Quest, Inc., of Sarasota, Florida, a developer and provider of speech recognition and voice mail technologies and products. On December 28, 1998, Carnegie became a fully reporting company under the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934.

Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a "safe harbor" for forward-looking statements. Certain information included in this Press Release (as well as information in oral statements or other written statements made or to be made by Carnegie International Corporation) contain statements that are forward-looking, such as statements relating to the future anticipated direction of the telecommunications industry, plans for future expansion, various business development activities, planned capital expenditures, future funding sources, anticipated sales growth, and potential contracts. Such forward-looking information involves important risks and uncertainties that could significantly affect anticipated results in the future, and accordingly, such results may differ from those expressed in any forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of Carnegie International Corporation. These risks and uncertainties included, but are not limited to, those relating to development and expansion activities, dependence on existing management, financing activities, domestic and global economic conditions, change in Federal or state laws, and market competition factors.

MAVIS is a trademark of Carnegie International Corporation. Other trademarks are properties of their respective owners.