Investments

Action Performance Installs the Tumbleweed Email Firewall to Fight Spam and Viruses

Integrated Email Firewall Solution Provided 100% ROI in Six Months

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 9, 2004--Tumbleweed(R) Communications Corp. (Nasdaq:TMWD), a leading provider of secure Internet messaging software and hardware for enterprises and government agencies, announced today that Action Performance Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ATN), the leader in officially licensed motorsports collectibles and memorabilia, has implemented the Tumbleweed Email Firewall(TM) to block spam and viruses, resulting in a quick return-on-investment (ROI) and improved employee productivity.
Prior to implementing Tumbleweed's integrated email firewall solution, Action Performance was losing an estimated $40,000 annually due to spam-related losses in worker productivity. With over 8,000 incoming emails a day and up to 85% considered spam, Action Performance's 500 email users were being forced to devote valuable time to spam management.

The company's IT resources were being drained by anti-spam solutions that were not effective, required long training periods and user intervention, and high levels of administration. Action Performance had a critical need for an email hygiene solution that could be implemented quickly and would require minimal administration and no user intervention. After a quick trial and detailed cost analysis, Action Performance decided that the Tumbleweed Email Firewall was the clear choice. The installation of Tumbleweed's Email Firewall and Dynamic Anti-spam Service (DAS) resulted in an immediate 80% spam capture rate with virtually no false positives.

"We wanted to go with the market leader and built our decision on a return-on-investment analysis," said Scott Frazee, Vice President of Information Technology for Action Performance. "The installation of Tumbleweed's integrated email firewall, anti-spam and anti-virus solution was absolutely painless. Our users didn't suffer any down time, and the solution paid for itself in six months by freeing our staff from having to manage spam."

About Tumbleweed's Email Firewall

The Tumbleweed Email Firewall has been recognized as the #1 enterprise software solution for fighting spam according to Network World (http://www.nwfusion.com/reviews/2003/0915spam.html), and the #1 email firewall software for large enterprises by Information Security Magazine. Tumbleweed Email Firewall protects, filters and secures email traffic at the Internet gateway with an integrated set of anti-spam, anti-virus, anti-hacker, content filtering, email relay, and encrypted messaging capabilities -- minimizing email communications risks and reducing email management costs. Tumbleweed Email Firewall is used by over 400 of the largest, most demanding messaging infrastructures in the world, and is available in both appliance and software editions. Tumbleweed's Dynamic Anti-spam Service (DAS) is an Internet-based subscription service that updates the Tumbleweed email firewall with new heuristic defenses as they are published, similar to the way anti-virus engines work. Tumbleweed's Message Protection Lab develops and publishes the heuristic updates: the Lab is staffed by experts who continually analyze spam to identify new spammer trends and tactics, and create and publish new heuristics to stop them.

"Organizations like Action Performance are realizing the importance of measuring the true costs of fighting spam in the enterprise," said Jeff Ready, Vice President of Marketing for Tumbleweed Communications. "Action Performance justified its purchase of Tumbleweed's Email Firewall and Dynamic Anti-spam Service after determining that it could pay for itself in only six months through improved employee productivity."

About Action Performance

Action Performance Companies, Inc. is a designer and marketer of licensed motorsports products related to the National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), including die-cast scaled replicas of motorsports vehicles, apparel and memorabilia. NASCAR is a motorsports sanctioning body in the United States and sanctions the Winston Cup series of stock car races, which drew approximately 280 million television viewers to its 39 televised events during the fiscal year ended in September 2001 (fiscal 2001). The Company designs and sells products relating to other motorsports, including racing sanctioned by the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA), Formula One, the Indy Racing League (IRL) and the World of Outlaws.

About Tumbleweed Communications Corp.

Tumbleweed is a leading provider of secure Internet messaging software and hardware for enterprises and government agencies. By making Internet communications secure, reliable and automated, Tumbleweed's anti-spam email firewall, secure file transfer, secure email, and identity validation solutions help customers significantly reduce the cost of doing business. Tumbleweed products are used to communicate with millions of end-users and tens of thousands of corporations. Tumbleweed has more than 600 enterprise customers, including 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, and the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Tumbleweed Communications was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Redwood City, California. For additional information about Tumbleweed go to www.tumbleweed.com or call 650-216-2000.

Safe Harbor Statement

Tumbleweed cautions that forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based on current plans and expectations, 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 effectiveness and the return-on-investment characteristics of the Tumbleweed's Email Firewall product and Dynamic Anti-spam Service. 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 15, 2004 and Form 10-Q filed May 10, 2004.

Tumbleweed assumes no obligation to update information contained in this press release, including for example its guidance regarding its future performance, which represents the Company's expectations only as of the date of this release and should not be viewed as a statement about the Company's expectations after such date. Although this release may remain available on the Company's website or elsewhere, its continued availability does not indicate that the Company is reaffirming or confirming any of the information contained herein.

Contacts


For Tumbleweed Communications Corp.
Kendra Boccelli, 978-499-0844
kboccelli@mac.com

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