Lumenati Acquires Embark Solutions; Strengthens Digital Media Software Offerings For Broadband Service Providers

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. (BUSINESS WIRE) - Nov 29, 2001 - Interactive digital media technology pioneer, Lumenati, Inc., today announced it has acquired Embark Solutions of Mountain View, California, including its proprietary Flipstream technology, in an all-stock transaction.

The newly merged company will retain the name Lumenati, Inc. This merger signifies a strategic shift for Lumenati and allows the company to offer both immediate and long-term revenue generating subscription-based digital media management solutions for broadband service providers. The agreement, recently ratified by Lumenati’s and Embark Solutions’s boards of directors, marks a key milestone for Lumenati’s chief executive officer Clifford A. Jenks, aimed at strengthening company’s market position. “We are pleased to announce the completion of this merger with Embark Solutions. By combining the two companies, we have strengthened our position in the broadband industry and are now poised to fulfill the needs of current and future broadband customers,” said Cliff Jenks. “With the superb talent and experience of Embark Solutions’ employees, we’ve immediately increased our software development capabilities and can accelerate the speed with which we introduce new products. Lumenati is reinvigorated and is committed to the digital media opportunity with a focus on helping to accelerate the broadband revenue opportunity for network operators.”

Lumenatiís enhanced product portfolio enables broadband service providers to quickly deploy value-added services that provide high margin subscription-based revenue. With the introduction of Flipstream, which offers home broadband subscribers the application to publish personal digital media, including photographs, albums, music collections, and streaming mediaóall directly from their PCóand Lumenatiís Kenza offering, Lumenati provides the broadband industry with two powerful solutions for current and future broadband users.

As a part of the merger, Lumenati has named William Price as its chief operating officer, a new addition to Lumenatiís executive organizational structure. Price formerly served as the chief executive officer and president of Embark Solutions where he oversaw the development of Flipstream and service strategies for broadband service providers. Prior to Embark, Price held leadership roles with Infinity (a SunGard Company), RealNames Corporation, and was with Morgan Stanley. Price is a distinguished graduate of Kellogg Graduate School of Management and holds a degree from Harvard College.

ìEmbark Solutions is delighted to join forces with Lumenati. We share similar customer, partnership, and end users targets. We share a vision of the industry requirement for subscription-based value added services. Together, we forge a stronger company with greater ability to realize that shared vision and to provide value to broadband subscribers, providers and to investors,î said Will Price. ìMoving forward as a new entity we offer a rich product platform for the future delivery of broadband services.î

In keeping with the terms of the merger, Lumenati also announced today it has appointed two new members to its board of directors. Andy Laursen and Roger Lang, both former investors and advisors to Embark Solutions, have joined Lumenatiís board of directors. Laursen brings a strong track record of designing, building and commercializing technologies. He is a former vice president of development at Phone.com, now a part of Openwave Systems, and led the development team responsible for that companyís innovative wireless Internet products. He also has held various positions with AT&T, Bell Laboratories and Oracle. Lang is an established entrepreneur and investor. He serves as a director for several innovative technology start-up companies. Lang is a founder of C*ATS Software, Inc. and Infinity Financial Technology, Inc., and oversaw its subsequent merger into SunGard Data Systems, Inc.

Both companies, privately held, are funded by venture capital. Lumenatiís investors include Pequot Capital Management, Buchanan Investments and Encore Capital Management, while Embark Solutions had previously received funding from various prominent Silicon Valley angel investors. The merged company is located in California between the companyís corporate headquarters in San Rafael and its development office in Mountain View.

The Lumenati Broadband Solution

Founded in the mid 90s, Lumenati seeks to capitalize on the exploding broadband market by providing value-added consumer broadband services to partnering providers focused on digital media and entertainment. With software offerings built on Microsoft Windows, and compatible with Windows XP, Lumenatiís product offering allows home PC users the opportunity to explore all that broadband has to offer.

With broadband Internet access increasingly becoming the service of choice for home computer users, value-added service offerings meet not only end user functionality requirements, but also the service provider business model requirements to raise revenue per user and take rates.

About Lumenati Products

Flipstream offers broadband service providers a proven subscription-based, broadband dependent application that delivers value to providers and their installed base of subscribers. Flipstream is a revolutionary service that makes it easier than ever to share personal digital media, securely, from the home PC.

Specifically, Flipstream offers subscribers who have residential broadband connections the applications to publish personal digital media, including photographs, albums, music collections and streaming mediaódirectly from their own PCóto family and friends. With Flipstream, publishing a web site or creating an online photo album has never been so easy. Utilizing personal PC publishing applications, Flipstream is a proven broadband application that allows subscribers to fully access and use their personal digital media in the home. Further information regarding Flipstream can be found at www.flipstream.com.

Lumenatiís media-on-demand software platform, code-named Kenza, provides the broadband and PC industries a powerful software platform for aggregating and deploying Internet protocol (IP) television services. Kenza is todayís answer to tomorrowís broadband-broadcast media experience. The software platform is a systems framework for the seamless integration of such third party services as video on demand (VOD), electronic programming guides (EPG) and personal video recording (PVR), and a user interface framework and remote control navigational layer. It is designed to drive up broadband service take rates, and it enables optimal bundling of media and digital entertainment services to lower the cost of modification and change, facilitate the integration of independent services, and provides a platform of choice for easily solving the digital media riddle.

ìLumenatiís merger with Embark Solutions and the continued development of our Flipstream and Kenza product lines positions the company for an exciting future. Lumenati emerges with a highly compelling platform for the delivery of integrated digital media services into the broadband home, and with the right executive, technical and product development teams now in place to make this happen,î said Jenks. ìWe welcome Will, Andy and Roger, as well as the rest of the Embark Solutions team. Together, we offer a compelling broadband and digital subscription service that meets important subscriber and provider needs.î

About Lumenati, Inc.

Lumenati enables broadband providers to rapidly deploy and accelerate the acceptance of subscription- based, value-added services to not only todayís installed base, but also to tomorrowís broadband future. Lumenati provides solutions to the challenge of delivering value-added services that will attract new subscribers, increase revenue from the installed base of subscribers, and most importantly, develop longer-term services that will realize the full potential of the network. The companyís software product portfolio addresses todayís market requirements through a personal PC publishing application that enables subscribers with home broadband connections to publish personal digital mediaóphoto albums, music collections, streaming video and moreódirectly from their PC to friends and family.

Lumenati addresses the future of the broadband industry through an interactive TV-centric software platform that facilitates the rapid aggregation and integration of subscription-based digital media services.

Lumenati is about accelerating broadband revenues for its partner-customers. Pequot Capital Management, Buchanan Investments and Encore Capital Management have provided venture capital funding to Lumenati, Inc. For further information or editorial assistance, please visit www.lumenati.com, or call 415.455.9500, ext. 1146. Note to Editors: All copyrights and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.