Critical Path's Directory Solutions Deliver Mega-Scalability for eBusiness.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

Enterprises, Service Providers and eBusinesses Leverage

Mega-Scalability to Support Rapid Growth and Reduce IT Costs

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 23, 2000

Critical Path Inc. (Nasdaq:CPTH), the leading provider of Internet messaging infrastructure, today announced that the company's InJoin Directory products are delivering Mega-Scalability to businesses worldwide. Enterprises, eBusinesses and Service providers continue to embrace the Mega-Scalability capability of Critical Path directories, as demonstrated by directory deployments at DIGICERT, EDS, PriceWaterhouseCoopers beTRUSTed, Global Crossing, and Britain's Royal Mail ViaCode. Mega-Scalability is Critical Path's ability to scale virtually hundred's of millions of relationships and transactions without limits, while maintaining the highest levels of performance. Mega-Scalability enables businesses to experience unmatched levels of IT security, maximize investments in legacy technologies and expand market opportunities globally.

Paramount to the success of eBusiness resides the need to manage millions of transactions, messages and mailboxes, be it a service provider adding new services, enterprises delivering secure eCommerce, or eBusinesses linking customers, vendors and partners. In order to accomplish this in a cost-effective and secure manner, a company's directories must be able to scale at a very rapid pace, especially during times of tremendous growth, without degradation in performance.

"Critical Path's directories are proven products that can be delivered independently or as part of our integrated portfolio of messaging infrastructure solutions. Through large scale deployments around the world we have proven that our directory products are capable of addressing the stringent demands of not just companies, but entire countries," said Doug Hickey, CEO of Critical Path. "While other businesses are focused on very narrow markets for directory solutions, Critical Path is committed to offering directory products that allow the greatest interoperability and scalability for the worldwide marketplace today".

Mega-Scalability Proven

In proving that Critical Path's Mega-Scalability capabilities are serving entire countries, not just companies, Critical Path's Directory server has been selected by DIGICERT, the first Malaysian Certificate Authority. DIGICERT required a high-performance, Mega-Scalable directory to serve a secure repository for the digital certificates in the country's PKI system. These digital certificates will enable users to experience secure transactions over open networks while receiving the same levels of confidentiality, integrity, authenticity and non-repudiation that exists in the paper-based world.

Recent studies show that PKI encryption will grow significantly as digital certificates become more widely accepted. According to recent figures, released by the IDC, corporate spending on PKI technology is expected to reach $1.3 billion by 2003, up from $122.7 million in 1998. Critical Path's Directories are compatible with all of the major PKI vendors, including Baltimore, Entrust, RSA, VeriSign and Xcert, allowing Critical Path to form the foundation for the growth of the PKI industry.

Delivering On The Markets Core Needs

Critical Path's directories simultaneously deliver on four key characteristics that have proven to be the most critical characteristics for directory products:

Mega-Scalability -- The explosion of eBusiness requires

companies to provide customers, partners, and vendors with

access to authorized information, dramatically increasing the

number of relationships and transactions companies are

required to handle, thereby drastically increasing the demand

on a company's infrastructure. Critical Path directories

deliver Mega-Scalability using industry standard LDAP for

universal access; X.500 for proven scalability using

distribution and replication; and a directory-specific object

database for storing all types of business-critical

information needed to organize an eBusiness environment.

Reliability -- Companies need to ensure directory information

is not lost, corrupted, or jeopardized which would affect

mission critical operations such as; ensuring positive

identification through PKI, and to manage proper authorization

levels. Critical Path works closely with customers and

partners to ensure that each directory release meets the

highest standards of dependability and resilience required to

address the electronic economy's increasing reliance on

directory services.

Availability -- When IT systems go down, businesses grind to a

halt and revenue is lost. Critical Path has engineered and

evolved its directories to deliver "glass-house" availability

that helps current customers in the financial services,

telecommunications and enterprise markets stay in business 24

hours a day, 365 days a year.

Performance -- Not only must directories have the capacity to

scale to hundred's of millions of users, they must be able to

handle hundred's of millions of users and hundred's of

millions of transactions simultaneously, regardless of the

geographic distribution of people and information. Using

features like chaining and replication, Critical Path

directories are delivering the highest real-life performance

levels currently available for enterprises, service providers

and eBusinesses.

About Critical Path, Inc.

Critical Path Inc. (Nasdaq:CPTH) ignites the power of information for eBusiness by providing the Internet messaging infrastructure upon which the new economy is built. The company is a single resource that powers the flow of mission-critical information through an integrated portfolio of secure messaging, directory, integration, and collaboration solutions. Critical Path's technology strengthens all aspects of the eBusiness value chain by providing the messaging infrastructure that fuels customer's new and existing eBusiness initiatives. Critical Path is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices worldwide. More information on Critical Path can be found at www.cp.net.

Critical Path and the Critical Path logo are the trademarks of Critical Path, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their holders.

The statements in this press release relating to matters that are not historical are forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from these forward-looking statements. Risks and uncertainties facing Critical Path are described in its prospectus dated June 1, 1999 and with its periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (www.sec.gov).