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Idiom Worldserver Chosen By Lycos To Globalize Tripod

Idiom's Unique Web Site Globalization Solution Expected to Cut Engineering and Maintenance Cost and Reduce Time of Deployment

CAMBRIDGE, MA - June 16, 1999 - Idiom Technologies, the pioneer provider of Web globalization solutions, today announced that Lycos (NASDAQ:LCOS), a leading Web portal and Internet company, has selected Idiom WorldServer(TM) to assist Lycos in enabaling its Tripod online community Web site for the fast-growing international audience. Tripod provides publishing tools for creation of top-notch online environments, fast-growing interactive community and wide-ranging e-commerce opportunities. Lycos will implement Idiom's WorldServer technology to effectively build and manage language- and geographic-specific versions of Tripod. WorldServer will enable Tripod to leverage its constantly evolving home page building engine and tools across multiple sites while tailoring each site to a specific region.

"Lycos is experienced in launching and running international Web sites. We know first-hand the challenges of manually re-engineering a complex site to support foreign languages and the maintenance that follows," said Eric Gerritsen, VP of International Business Development at Lycos. "Idiom WorldServer offers an effective solution to creating dynamic, multi-language Web sites. We expect WorldServer to significantly reduce our time to market and engineering costs, ease management and updating of the sites, and allow us to easily add new foreign language sites in the future."

According to International Data Corporation, 60% of Internet users will be outside the United States in 2002. This growth in international Internet use is an opportunity for extending brand awareness and doing business globally over the Web. To take advantage of this opportunity, companies must build and manage international Web sites of a quality comparable to that of their domestic sites. Businesses require solutions that allow them to leverage functionality and content across geographies while providing flexibility to effectively address each target audience.

"Working with Tripod--a top 10 Web site--is a unique opportunity for Idiom to demonstrate the effectiveness and scalability of our WorldServer globalization technology," said Eric Silberstein, founder and CEO of Idiom Technologies.

The WorldServer Solution
The size and complexity of Web sites, combined with a lack of foreign language support in many Web architectures, makes it difficult to cost-effectively introduce and maintain multilingual sites. WorldServer, which works with best-of-breed tools and technology, improves quality and reduces the cost of globalization. WorldServer addresses three critical aspects of globalization: translation, process and delivery. WorldServer tracks and manages translation-related resources, provides a feature-rich translation environment, and supports XML services that simplify delivery of dynamically generated global pages.

About the Companies
Founded in 1995, Lycos, Inc. (NASDAQ:LCOS) owns The Lycos Network, the second most visited hub on the Internet, combining all aspects of community, leading Web navigation resources and cutting-edge business and consumer e-commerce solutions. The Lycos Network, a unified set of properties that delivers mass reach and diversity of audience and programming, is composed of best-of-breed services: Lycos.com, Tripod, WhoWhere, Angelfire, MailCity, Guestworld, HotBot, HotWired, Wired News, Webmonkey and Suck.com. Headquartered near Boston in Waltham, Mass., Lycos, Inc. maintains U.S. offices in New York City, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Mountain View, Calif. and Williamstown, Mass. International offices are located in Germany, Italy, France, Japan, the UK, Spain and The Netherlands.

Located at www.tripod.com, Tripod equips Web users with personal-publishing tools and services to create top-notch online environments with ease. Tripod provides fast-growing interactive community, stimulating content, and wide-ranging e-commerce opportunities to over 3.6 million members worldwide. Tripod is headquartered in Williamstown, Mass.

Idiom Technologies is the world's first provider of end-to-end Web globalization solutions. Idiom enables companies to tailor Web sites, linguistically and geographically. WorldServer, Idiom's flagship product, allows businesses to rapidly deploy and efficiently manage high-quality global Web sites. Headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., Idiom was founded in January 1998 by a team of Harvard alumni led by Eric Silberstein . Idiom's personnel combine expertise in Internet technology and knowledge of cultural and linguistic issues. Idiom Technologies is funded by Greylock, North Bridge Venture Partners, and Sigma Partners. For information, call (617) 456-3000, visit http://www.idiominc.com or email to info@idiominc.com.