TMWD Tumbleweed Communications Corp (MM)

Tumbleweed(R) Communications Corp. (Nasdaq:TMWD), a leading provider of email security, managed file transfer, and identity validation appliance and software products, announced today that LifePlans, a leader in the Long Term Care (LTC) industry for insurance writers, has implemented the Tumbleweed MailGate(R) Email Firewall and MailGate Secure Messenger(TM) to meet the critical regulatory requirements of HIPAA for privacy and compliance in emails containing protected healthcare information (PHI) by securely encrypting outgoing email messages. LifePlans was founded in 1987 to provide assistance to insurers with the complexities of long term care risk management and to educate the intricacies of the marketplace. Their clients range from regional, highly focused businesses to national, multi-product offering corporations. For businesses like LifePlans, the continuing growth and use of email to share confidential patient related information brought the need for an effective and secure email solution, while reducing administrative and management time. In addition, regulatory requirements such as HIPAA have posed unique technological challenges on today's healthcare industry. To address these challenges, LifePlans deployed the Tumbleweed MailGate Email Firewall(TM) and MailGate Secure Messenger. One of LifePlans' major insurance company partners was already using MailGate Secure Messenger, and the application provided the level of scalability and centralized policy administration that LifePlans required. MailGate Secure Messenger works with the MailGate Email Firewall to inspect outbound email at the network gateway, and automatically redirect messages containing PHI to a secure, encrypted channel. "MailGate Secure Messenger has definitely met the need of our clients and company in terms of email security. Tumbleweed's technical support was absolutely fantastic, we had MailGate Secure Messenger set up in three hours and were sending secure email right away," said Scott Poole, Network Administrator for LifePlans. By implementing the Tumbleweed solution, LifePlans email users are also able to customize Secure Messenger to their specific needs based on MailGate Secure Messenger's policy-based administration capabilities. Additionally, the Tumbleweed MailGate Email Firewall and MailGate Secure Messenger inspect all outbound email at the network gateway and encrypt sensitive messages to meet the stringent HIPAA compliance regulations. "Email has made the exchange of information and ideas both easy and dangerous. Within the healthcare industry, confidential patient information has become extremely vulnerable as it flows throughout cyberspace within emails everyday from healthcare providers to patients and beyond," said John Thielens, CTO of Tumbleweed. "For the healthcare industry, Tumbleweed is not only addressing current compliance related requirements, but we are going beyond that to look at email security solutions that are looking toward the next big threats and how we can protect our customers from them." About the Tumbleweed MailGate Product Suite The Tumbleweed MailGate Suite is a family of products for protecting, filtering and monitoring corporate email. These best-in-breed products enable businesses to manage inbound and outbound traffic, block threats, encrypt messages and optimize network performance. MailGate products include MailGate Email Firewall, MailGate Appliance(TM), MailGate Edge(TM) and MailGate Secure Messenger, each optimized for specific environments and security challenges. -- MailGate Email Firewall: A comprehensive email security offering, with functionality ranging from inbound threat prevention to outbound content filtering, monitoring and encryption. -- MailGate Appliance: A powerful and easy-to-deploy hardened Linux appliance, providing integrated network edge defense, antispam, antivirus, content filtering, policy management, and outbound encryption. -- MailGate Edge: A secure email relay appliance that delivers state-of-the-art network-based email defense against Directory Harvest (DHA) and Denial of Service (DoS) attacks. -- MailGate Secure Messenger: A policy-based, secure message delivery solution that inspects incoming and outgoing mail and dynamically applies user-defined encryption and routing preferences. SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT Tumbleweed cautions that forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based on current plans and expectations as of the date of this press release, and that a number of factors could cause the actual results to differ materially from the guidance given at this time. These factors are described in the Safe Harbor statement below. Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected, particularly with respect to the performance and functionality of Tumbleweed's products. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "may," "will," "should," "potential," "continue," "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," and similar expressions. For further cautions about the risks of investing in Tumbleweed, we refer you to the documents Tumbleweed files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, particularly Tumbleweed's Form 10-K filed March 16, 2006. Tumbleweed assumes no obligation to update information contained in this press release. Although this release may remain available on Tumbleweed's website or elsewhere, its continued availability does not indicate that Tumbleweed is reaffirming or confirming any of the information contained herein. About LifePlans Founded in 1987, LifePlans is a leader in the long-term care industry, providing assistance to insurers with the complexities of long term care risk management, and education on the intricacies of the marketplace. LifePlans serves the vast majority of Long Term Care (LTC) insurance writers in the United States. Their clients range from regional, highly focused businesses to national, multi-product offering corporations. Over the past decade, LifePlans has expanded its core expertise in underwriting, claim and capital management to a variety of long-term care risk management products and services. About Tumbleweed Communications Corp. Tumbleweed provides security solutions for email protection, file transfers, and identity validation that allow organizations to safely conduct business over the Internet. Tumbleweed offers these solutions in three comprehensive product suites: MailGate, SecureTransport(TM), and Validation Authority(TM). MailGate provides protection against spam, viruses, and attacks, and enables policy-based message filtering, encryption, and routing. SecureTransport enables business to safely exchange large files and transactions without proprietary software. Validation Authority is the world-leading solution for determining the validity of digital certificates. Tumbleweed's enterprise and government customers include ABN Amro, Bank of America Securities, Catholic Healthcare West, JP Morgan Chase & Co., The Regence Group (Blue Cross/Blue Shield), St. Luke's Episcopal Healthcare System, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Department of Defense, and all four branches of the U.S. Armed Forces. Tumbleweed was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Redwood City, Calif. For additional information about Tumbleweed go to www.tumbleweed.com or call 650-216-2000. Tumbleweed, the Arrows logo, MailGate, MailGate Email Firewall, MailGate Secure Messenger, SecureTransport and Validation Authority are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Tumbleweed Communications Corp. in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.