For Immediate Release

STARNINE SHIPS WEBSTAR SERVER SUITE 4.0

— A Full Suite Of Servers For The Mac, including Web, FTP, Proxy and
Now Mail — A Complete Business Infrastructure in One Easy-to-Use
Application —

BERKELEY, Calif., June 23, 1999 — StarNine Technologies, Inc. today
announced it’s now shipping WebSTAR Server Suite 4.0, a monumental
upgrade to the highly acclaimed and widely-used WebSTAR(R) software
for the Mac(tm) OS. Beyond a spectacular two-fold increase in Web
serving traffic capacity, WebSTAR Server Suite 4.0 includes a new,
feature-packed SMTP/POP/IMAP mail server with remote, Web-based email
access; new Lasso(tm)-based database publishing from Blue World
Communications(tm); integrated and improved SSL encryption and
authentication; and dozens of other enhancements. With this release,
the product has officially been renamed from “WebSTAR” to “WebSTAR
Server Suite,” highlighting that the Web, FTP, Mail and Proxy servers
can run as a single installation with unified secure remote
administration. Available today directly from StarNine at
(http://www.starnine.com/), WebSTAR Server Suite 4.0 is priced at
$599 (see Upgrade, Education and WebSTAR Second Suite pricing below).
StarNine today also announced special promotional pricing on
third-party products for WebSTAR users (see related releases, dated
today).

“This dramatic upgrade transforms WebSTAR into a complete server
solution,” said Scott Steward, president of StarNine. “With one
installation any organization can create their Internet presence and
provide email and intranet services as well. It’s amazingly simple to
get up and running, yet it’s feature-rich and quite extensible.”

“Eight domains linked with twenty-five databases: flawless
operation,” commented beta-tester Trevor Jacques. “Customer support
is friendly, rapid, and excellent. StarNine is one of the best
software companies with which I have done business; and it just keeps
getting better.”

“WebSTAR has always built on Web serving technology — adding FTP,
Proxy, and HTTPS/SSL components to enhance the Web serving
experience,” explained Eric Zelenka, product manager for WebSTAR.
“But now, with the new SMTP/POP/IMAP email server and the other core
technology improvements, WebSTAR has truly become a full, complete
Internet Server Suite. The new name reflects how far WebSTAR has
evolved.”

Completely New WebSTAR Mail Server
The new WebSTAR Mail server is a powerful, complete SMTP/POP/IMAP
email server which includes Web-based, remote access to email. Also
included is support for multiple domains, advanced relay blocking and
allow/deny security for the prevention of unsolicited “spam” email.
WebSTAR Mail also includes an LDAP server for sharing the email
directory of local users. WebSTAR Mail’s next generation IMAP server
is compatible with POP and IMAP email clients such as Eudora Pro(tm),
Microsoft(R) Outlook(tm) Express and Netscape(R) Communicator(tm) to
support advanced capabilities such as remote server-based email
storage and content synchronization.

Faster, New Database Publishing, Better SSL and More The WebSTAR Web
server’s traffic capacity is increased 130% and the data transfer
rate is increased 550%, resulting in greatly improved download
speeds. The new WebSTAR Lasso Publisher gives Webmasters an easy,
point-and-click turn-key solution for publishing FileMaker(R) Pro and
ODBC data sources on the Internet or an intranet. The WebSTAR Lasso
Publisher is based on a subset of Blue World’s Lasso Web Data Engine,
which provides the full suite of professional features Web
application developers require to build and serve powerful, secure
database-driven Web applications (see related release dated 3.29.99).

Previously included as a second application, the WebSTAR Web server’s
SSL encryption and authentication capabilities are now fully
integrated and have been updated to support both SSLv2 and SSLv3
including multiple certificates, IP addresses and advanced encryption
options. WebSTAR Server Suite 4.0 also fully supports the new,
recently approved HTTP 1.1 specification with support for pipelining
and persistent connections. Over one-hundred other improvements and
fixes have been made to the WebSTAR Web server, RAM cache management,
WebSTAR FTP, WebSTAR Proxy and much more. For complete information on
these enhancements see (http://www.starnine.com/webstar/).

Overview of WebSTAR Server Suite 4.0
Designed for ease of use, WebSTAR Server Suite 4.0 features high
performance Web, FTP, Mail and Proxy servers all integrated in one
application with secure IP-based remote administration. The WebSTAR
Web server features Virtual Host support for serving of multiple Web
sites, integrated SSLv2 and SSLv3 support for encrypted and
authenticated eCommerce transactions, Server-Side-Includes for
dynamic content, Lasso-based FileMaker Pro and ODBC data source
publishing, and support for Plug-Ins, CGIs, Java Servlets and
WebObjects. WebSTAR FTP provides easy-to-use file sharing and content
management capabilities, user-level access controls, support for
MacBinary II and III, limiting of folder content sizes on a per
user-basis, resuming of FTP file transfers, “log-on,” “log-out,” and
folder messages.

The new WebSTAR Mail server is a powerful, complete SMTP/POP/IMAP
email server, with LDAP for shared local directories, plus support
for multiple domain and user accounts, remote Web-based email access,
advanced relay blocking and allow/deny security, server-based email
storage and remote content synchronization. The WebSTAR Proxy server
increases network security and accelerates Internet access by locally
caching frequently visited sites, thus also reducing network
bandwidth demands. In addition, WebSTAR Proxy supports upstream Proxy
servers and has a security architecture for controlling access to and
from specific hosts and Web sites.

Pricing and Availability
WebSTAR Server Suite 4.0 is available today directly from StarNine.
Current WebSTAR 3.x customers can upgrade to WebSTAR Server Suite 4.0
for $199. Upgrades from 2.x are $299, and upgrades from 1.x are $399.
WebSTAR Server Suite 4.0 is priced at $599 for new customers.
Education institutions are eligible for a 20% discount. Registered
users of WebSTAR Server Suite 4.0 can buy additional new licenses of
WebSTAR Server Suite 4.0 for $399.

Customers who ordered WebSTAR 3.x after April 15, 1999 will be
eligible to obtain an upgrade to WebSTAR Server Suite 4.0 either
completely free via electronic download or for a nominal cost for a
CD-ROM and printed manual, plus shipping and handling. A 30-day fully
functional evaluation of WebSTAR Server Suite 4.0 can be found at
(http://www.starnine.com/webstar/).

WebSTAR, the Defacto Standard for the Mac OS First released in 1995,
WebSTAR is the defacto standard for Web serving on the Mac OS.
WebSTAR has won numerous industry awards and is estimated to
currently serve over 1,000,000 Internet and intranet sites.

About StarNine
Located in Berkeley, California, StarNine is a leader in the
development of Internet server software, content creation tools and
email connectivity products. Awarded numerous honors for its WebSTAR
Web server software, StarNine also publishes ListSTAR list server
software, StarNine Mail and Mail*Link Internet email gateways.
StarNine’s new WebSTAR Server Suite 4.0 is a complete business
infrastructure in one easy to use application. StarNine Technologies,
Inc. is a privately held corporation, wholly owned by Platinum Equity
Holdings (http://www.peh.com/). Further information on StarNine may
be obtained by calling 800/525-2580, accessing StarNine’s Web site at
http://www.starnine.com/, or sending info@starnine.com.
Media Contact:
Naomi Pearce
Pearce Communications
510/528-0824
mailto:naomi@pearce.com