Centigram Delivers Next-Generation Unified Communications Products; Furthers Data/Voice Convergence.

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 8, 1999--

Company Ushers in New Era of Simplified, Unified Wireless, Land

Line and Internet Messaging, Communications and Information Services

Centigram Communications Corporation (Nasdaq:CGRM), a leading global provider of advanced communications solutions, today announced a comprehensive series of unified communications products that will usher in a new era of personalized communications.

Leveraging its expertise with voice messaging, call processing and Internet-enabled text-based messaging, Centigram has created advanced systems that enable the delivery of text-based and multimedia content to mobile phones, and voice messages to PCs and other devices. These new products further the convergence of data network-based content with voice network-based services.

Telecom carriers, network service providers and Internet content providers can all use Centigram's new unified communications systems to open new markets and deliver cutting-edge services.

"Centigram has many years of experience developing voice- and fax-based products and services that exploit data network-based technologies," said Bob Puette, CEO and President of Centigram Communications. "Moreover, as a longtime supplier of advanced communications products to telecom carriers, we are intimately familiar with quality of service concerns and the circuit vs. packet switching technology issues that have been a barrier to true telecom/data network convergence.

"Centigram's new generation of unified communications products fully leverages this hard-won knowledge, allowing telephones and PCs to work together better than ever before. In fact, because the company is ideally situated to lead the developing market for unified communications, developing cutting-edge software applications that enable Telco and service providers to deliver data/voice communications will now be the primary focus for Centigram Communications."

Centigram's new products enable carriers to offer services that simplify users' lives by integrating email, fax and voicemail, voice and Internet, and wireless and landline telephone services. New product offerings include:

-0-

--   PC-based Unified Messaging through a family of integrated
     voicemail, fax and email products;

--   One person/one number services through call forwarding (Smart
     Forwarding);

--   Internet and Telephony Integration through a family of Web-based
     Internet call management products;

--   Internet and Wireless Integration through a new generation of the
     company's popular Short Message Service Center (C-SMSC);

--   Extensions to the company's Series 6 services platform that
     support multi-service integration.

Centigram's products are targeted at a wide range of global carriers and service providers, including long-distance carriers, wireless companies, BOCs, PTTs, independent Telcos in emerging and deregulated markets, cable companies, next-generation Telcos, ISPs, CLECs, Internet Portals and independent Internet-based service providers.

"Premiere selected Centigram's leading-edge Series 6 platform as one of the systems that supports our Orchestrate unified messaging services," said Boland T. Jones, founder, chairman and CEO of Premiere Technologies, Inc. "Orchestrate allows customers to Web-enable all of their communications -- including listening to e-mail over the phone and checking voice mail over the Internet."

"Convergence applications which facilitate the unification of voice, wireless and Internet networks will be strong drivers of market growth," said David Schwartz of Dataquest. "Traditional telecom carriers have been promising these services for years, and it is the allure of these services that is causing carriers to upgrade their wireless and wireline networks and converge their voice and data networks.

"At the same time, quickly evolving technologies -- such as voice over IP, IMAP email and the newest generation of mobile phone hardware -- are making possible a host of new advanced data network-enabled services. Companies that have expertise in both the carrier space and data networking will be well-positioned to lead this emerging market."

Products announced today include:

Unified Inbox

Centigram's Unified Inbox provides users with access to voicemail and fax mail messages from any standards-based email client application, such as Microsoft Outlook, Netscape Communicators or Qualcomm Eudora. Voice and fax messages are automatically converted to digital files and forwarded to the user's email system, where they can be played/viewed, stored, forwarded, shared with groups and deleted using any PC or email device.

With IMAP4 message synchronization technology, Unified Inbox allows users to access and manage their voicemail messages from either a telephone or PC, without losing information or duplicating effort. For example, a voice message deleted using the PC automatically deletes the message from the voicemail system.

Internet Call Manager

With Centigram's Internet Call Manager, users can make sure they don't miss important calls while surfing the net. Users can monitor incoming calls, see who is trying to reach them, and decide whether to simply let the call go into voicemail, send a pre-recorded message, stop browsing the Web and accept the call, or forward the call to another phone.

Using sophisticated IP call management technology, this innovative product pops an "incoming call" screen on the user's PC showing the caller's name and telephone number. This service does not require Caller ID or Call Waiting, and can be provisioned at a fraction of the cost of a second telephone line.

Short Message Service Center

C-SMSC (Centigram Short Message Service Center) allows carriers to deliver Internet and other real-time content to the mobile user's handset. Wireless carriers and service providers use SMS to send email, stock updates, weather, sports scores, traffic reports and message/fax notification directly to the mobile user's handset.

The new generation of Centigram SMSC scales to support up to 240,000 subscribers on a single Series 6 platform, and allows multiple Series 6 platforms with C-SMSC to be interconnected to provide additional scalability. Other new features include subscriber-to-subscriber email, Internet-to-subscriber email, and email delivery to the handset.

Smart Forwarding

Centigram Smart Forwarding enables subscribers to receive calls to their home telephone number on their mobile phones or work phone. For example, subscribers can specify home, work and mobile telephone numbers, and the service will forward calls to that line when there is no answer at the primary number. Unlike traditional call forwarding systems that are housed within the carrier's voice switches and are very costly and difficult to deploy, Centigram's Smart Forwarding is designed as a service node on the carrier's telephone network.

The Series 6 Platform

Centigram's Series 6 Platform enables wireless and wireline telecommunications service providers to deploy advanced communications services. Based on a scalable, standards-based architecture, the Series 6 system enables carriers to seamlessly add new capacity and additional features, without having to change existing equipment. The Series 6 system supports a comprehensive range of capabilities, including Internet-enabled multimedia messaging, Short Message Service (SMS) and mailbox-on-demand services.

Practical Details

Smart Forwarding is available immediately, and Unified Inbox and the next-generation of the Series 6 platform will be available within 90 days. Internet Call Manager and the next-generation of C-SMSC will be available early in 2000.

Centigram Communications Corporation

Centigram Communications Corporation (Nasdaq:CGRM) is a leading global provider of Internet-enabled call management and unified communications services to mobile and landline telecom service providers.

Leveraging its expertise in voice messaging, call processing and IP-enabled multimedia messaging, the company is delivering next-generation communications services that enable the transmission of voice, text, and multimedia content to wireless and wireline phones, PCs and other devices. The Company delivers these services on the highly integrated Series 6 platform and the Centigram Short Messaging Service Center.

Centigram is headquartered at 91 East Tasman Drive, San Jose, Calif., 95134. Phone [phone], fax [phone], or Web http://www.centigram.com. Centigram has sales and support offices in North America, Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Australia.

Note to Editors: Centigram is a registered trademark of Centigram Communications Corporation. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.