Critical Path And U S WEST Sign Multi-Year Agreement To Deliver Advanced Internet Fax Services.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 20, 1999

U S WEST Extends Relationship With Leading Provider Of

Advanced Internet Messaging And Illustrates Further

Commitment To The Outsourced Messaging Model

Critical Path, Inc. (Nasdaq:CPTH), a leading provider of business-to-business Internet messaging and collaboration solutions for corporations, Internet service providers (ISPs), Web hosting companies, and Web portals, today announced a multi-year agreement with U S WEST (NYSE:USW) to provide enhanced fax services for the Small Business market.

U S WEST, a leading provider of telecommunications services, currently provides its 25 million customers with access to Critical Path's robust, secure and reliable email service, and will now extend this service to provide outsourced fax services to the company's Small Business Group under the U S WEST brand name.

"The fact that a world class communication company like U S West has chosen to expand its relationship with Critical Path, beyond email services, provides further validation of our ability to offer the most comprehensive Internet messaging solutions," said Doug Hickey, president and CEO of Critical Path. "As the Internet continues to level the playing field between many of today's businesses, Critical Path will be able help U S West provide scalable, high quality fax solutions for their customers seamlessly via the Internet."

This multi-year agreement with Critical Path will enable U S WEST's Small Business Group to provide an outsourced fax service to meet the needs of its small business customers in a 14-state region. Critical Path continues to support U S WEST's vision of bridging voice and traditional telephony functions, such as fax, with the Internet by helping U S WEST establish its own brand identity for advanced Internet messaging services.

U S West's customers will now have access to the most advanced fax service available without having to make additional internal investments in infrastructure and support costs.

"We are always seeking relationships with key category leaders that allow us to simplify the operations of our small business customers so they can focus on running their businesses," said Judi Hand, vice president and general manager of U S WEST's Small Business Group. "With Critical Path U S WEST can now provide best of class Internet Fax capabilities."

"We are excited that U S WEST has chosen to expand its relationship with Critical Path," said Keith Cooper, group president at Critical Path. "The decision to extend and expand their outsource agreement with Critical Path gives U S WEST the flexibility, speed to market, and growth they were seeking in considering options for providing these services."

Critical Path's Vision Illustrated Through Expanded Services

The prevalence of the Internet is driving the need for more Internet-based communication services. As a means to support the growing demands of its broad customer base, Critical Path is developing a full spectrum of Advanced Internet messaging solutions to complement its core email products.

Services such as Internet fax, unified messaging and guaranteed delivery will extend Critical Path's relationships with current customers as evidenced through the US WEST agreement, attract new customers, differentiate Critical Path in the Internet messaging market and provide Critical Path with additional revenue streams. These services also will allow Critical Path to expand its addressable market through a "midsource" strategy, whereby corporate, ISP, Web hosting and Web portal companies can selectively outsource all or portions of their existing messaging functions and take advantage of new messaging technologies without altering their existing IT infrastructure.

Outsourcing and midsourcing applications provide many benefits to customers such as access to the most advanced email and messaging systems available, while reducing the typical infrastructure and support costs, enabling faster time to market and providing scalability to meet business growth. This gives businesses and ISPs of all sizes an alternative to purchasing, deploying and managing messaging applications internally.

About Critical Path, Inc.

Critical Path, Inc. (Nasdaq:CPTH) is a leading provider of business-to-business Internet messaging and collaboration solutions for corporations, Internet service providers (ISPs), Web hosting companies, and Web portals. Critical Path has built an industry-leading global infrastructure with data centers connected to key Internet exchange points, and currently reaches millions of end-users through its customer relationships. Critical Path provides reliable, secure, and scalable e-mail, and a flexible suite of enhanced messaging services to partners such as E*TRADE, CompuServe, Network Solutions, U S West, Sprint, and ICQ. Critical Path is headquartered in San Francisco, California, with offices in locations nationwide and in Germany, the UK, and Argentina. More information on Critical Path can be found at www.cp.net.

About U S WEST

U S WEST (NYSE:USW) provides a full range of telecommunications services-including wireline, wireless PCS, data networking, directory and information services-to more than 25 million customers nationally and in 14 Western and Midwestern states. More information about U S WEST can be found on the Internet at http://www.uswest.com.

Note to Editors: Critical Path is a service mark and the Critical Path logo is a trademark of Critical Path, Inc.

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).