Corio Introduces Corio Messaging Solutions; Microsoft Exchange Server and Critical Path to Power Hosted Enterprise Messaging and Collaboration Offering.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN CARLOS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 12, 2000

Corio, Inc. (Nasdaq: CRIO), a leading enterprise application service provider (ASP), today unveiled Corio Messaging Solutions, a hosted suite of messaging and collaboration software. Corio has worked with Microsoft Corp., the provider of Microsoft Exchange Server, the leading enterprise messaging and collaboration applications; and Critical Path (Nasdaq: CPTH), the dominant provider of messaging and collaboration hosting services, to deliver Corio Messaging Solutions to its customers. In establishing agreements with these two market leaders, Corio is able to provide a messaging and collaboration suite that combines richness of functionality with the affordability of the ASP model.

E-mail and group calendaring have become mainstays in intra-company communications. The functional disparities between top flight and second tier messaging and collaboration packages is significant, however. Given the widespread use of these applications, greater functionality of this single application can translate into significant efficiency gains for an entire organization. But various costs can prohibit an organization from upgrading or migrating to a superior product.

Through an agreement between Microsoft and Corio, customers of Corio Messaging Solutions do not have to purchase a Microsoft software license through a third party. Instead, Corio will bundle the license fee into the monthly hosting fee while Critical Path will provide the hosted Exchange service and security features including anti-virus.

"The ASP model continues to evolve with services such as messaging for businesses that need access to great functionality quickly and cost-effectively," said Mark Chestnut, director, Network Solutions Group, Microsoft Corp. "By using Microsoft Exchange Server to deliver these new services, Corio stands to deliver rich functionality in its mission-critical messaging and collaboration services for its business customers."

Trade-Ranger is one of several Corio Messaging customers. Trade-Ranger is a global online exchange for the energy and petrochemical community featuring BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Dow Chemical, TotalFinaElf, Conoco, Equilon Enterprises, Mitsubishi Corporation , Motiva Enterprises, Occidental Petroleum, Phillips Petroleum, Repsol YPF, Statoil, Tosco and Unocal. The company chose Corio's latest solution because of product quality, reliability and scalability. Trade-Ranger also recognized that as their business needs expand, they can look to Corio for additional business applications to automate other areas of their business.

"The fact that Critical Path has been selected by Corio to provide a hosted Exchange service speaks volumes about the reliability, scalability and security our communication infrastructure provides," said Dave Thatcher, president of Critical Path. "This relationship means that companies can reduce costs by leveraging the collective expertise of Corio, Microsoft and Critical Path in order to reap a full range of enterprise-class messaging benefits."

"Companies are reliant on sophisticated messaging and collaboration software to assist in the conduct of business today. By leveraging our strategic relationships with Microsoft and Critical Path, we have assembled an attractive solution that even large companies can implement very quickly at a lower total cost of ownership," said George Kadifa, Corio's president and CEO. "Corio continues to strengthen the breadth of the Corio Intelligent Enterprise. Our solutions cover every functional area of an organization and this reach will continue to be a cornerstone of our strategy going forward."

The components of Corio Messaging Solutions are:

-- Hosted Microsoft Exchange: offers the full functionality of Microsoft
Outlook, which features businesses messaging, collaboration and groupware
services. The groupware capabilities enable knowledge workers at large,
dispersed enterprises to effectively communicate and collaborate.

-- Corio Mail (IMAP4 and POP3 protocols supported): offers e-mail services to
employees securely and reliably via desktop or the Web. Additional functions
include message synchronization and directory capabilities.

About Corio, Inc.

Corio is a leading application service provider, or ASP. Corio implements, integrates and manages the Corio Intelligent Enterprise, a suite of enterprise software applications from leading vendors such as BroadVision, Commerce One, E.piphany, Microsoft, Moai, PeopleSoft, Portal Software, Requisite, SAP and Siebel Systems. Corio is headquartered in San Carlos, Calif., with 15 offices across the U.S. Additional information about Corio is available at http://www.corio.com.

Corio is a trademark of Corio, Inc. All other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS:

Matters discussed in this news release involving expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, intentions, or strategies are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, Section 21E of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and are made under their safe-harbor provisions. Such forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Some of the specific factors that may cause actual results to differ include: our limited history of offering ASP services and the fact that we operate in a new industry with a rapidly-evolving business model; our dependence on third party software vendors for the software necessary to provide our services; our ability to address security and system failure risks; and our ability to adapt our services for rapidly changing technology. Additional risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected are discussed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which reflect management's analysis only as of the date hereof. Corio undertakes no obligation to publicly release the results of any revision to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.