TOKYO--September 20, 2000--Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (President and CEO: Ichiro Taniguchi), as part of its expansion into the Internet service business, has signed an agreement with Inktomi Corporation (California, US; CEO: David Peterschmidt) under which the partners will enter the portal service and network cache business.

  In conjunction, a new company named Traffic One Communications Corporation will be established by Mitsubishi Electric on October 2nd for the purpose of expanding business in this sector.

Aims and Contents of Tie-up

(1) The building of network infrastructure is failing to keep pace with the rapid growth of the volume of traffic between Internet users and content servers, and there is strong pressure from both users and Internet service suppliers for greater traffic efficiency and faster access.

(2) In conjunction with the growth of the electronic commerce market (e-marketplace, etc.), the establishment of portals specializing in particular areas has become an efficient means of developing electronic commerce.

(3) In order to expand Mitsubishi Electric's Internet service business, the new company will be using search engine[1] and cache technology[2] supplied by Inktomi Corporation, which is top in the traffic efficiency/access speed and specialist portal field, in developing portal services and cache services.

(4) Inktomi will provide its accumulated operational know-how and related technology to Mitsubishi Electric and both companies will cooperate in expanding their portal service and network cache businesses.

New Company Business Areas

(1) Portal service business

Search/directory services will be offered to portal operators. Specific search and directory services, capable of pre-selecting sites to suit user needs, will also be offered.

(2) Network cache service business

Cache server sales: The new company will act as a reseller of Inktomi's Traffic Server network cache platform.

Traffic Server value-added software sales: The new company will sell management software, content conversion software, and software that limits end users' Internet content access as Traffic Server value-added software.

Content delivery software sales: The new company will act as a reseller of Content Delivery Suite^™, a content delivery and management solution product developed by Inktomi.

(3) Content delivery service

Through the provision of services capable of efficient delivery of content, using cache functions, the new company will help ISPs to improve the efficiency to recruit more new users and increase traffic. It will also provide services for the efficient delivery of content such as moving images, music and games, using search and cache technology.

Service Features

(1) Portal service business

Responding to the demands of businesses that operate portal sites, robot searches will be conducted for Internet documents and search databases will be constructed.

  The search/directory services to be provided by the new company are made possible by using Inktomi-developed Search Engine and Directory Engine applications. For example, by adopting this service and providing value-added services to their users, specialist portal site operators will be able to enhance loyalty to user sites and keep their customers.

(2) Network cache business

Inktomi network products such as Traffic Server, Media-IXT™ and Content Delivery Suite^™ will be sold to data center businesses and companies that possess data centers.

  These products to be distributed by the new company as core technology for the efficient management, tracking and delivery of content, and for high-quality streaming media delivery services, will be installed on servers at data centers. This will allow data center user companies to improve the speed and stability of access to and data delivery of content and applications via their own sites, and to provide more accurate and up-to-date information.

Outline of New Company

(1) Company name: Traffic One Communications Corporation

(2) Location: Zenitaka Annex Building, Kojimachi 1-4-4, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Japan)

(3) Representative: Akira Kanda, President

(4) Date of establishment: October 2nd, 2000

(5) Capital: 450 million yen (completely financed by Mitsubishi Electric)

(6) Sales target: Approx. 1.5 billion yen in fiscal 2001

(7) No. of employees: Approx. 10 (by March 31, 2001)

(8) Commencement of business: October 2000

David Peterschmidt, President and CEO of Inktomi Corporation comments:

"Today's announcement represents a milestone for Inktomi as we continue to expand our reach in Asia Pacific providing essential Internet infrastructure technology to service providers, e-businesses and corporations throughout the region. As one of the world's most influential corporations with extensive distribution channels, Mitsubishi will enable us to gain significant momentum in this emerging market for our Network Products and Search Solutions technologies."

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About Inktomi Corporation

Based in Foster City, Calif., Inktomi develops and markets scaleable software designed for ISPs, content delivery and hosting providers, Web portal and commerce sites, wireless operators and global enterprises. Inktomi's business is divided into Network Products, comprised of the Traffic Server network cache platform Content Delivery Suite and associated value-added service; Search Solutions, consisting of Inktomi Web, Custom, Enterprise and Site Search Products; Commerce Solutions; and the Wireless area. Inktomi's customer and strategic partner base today includes such leading companies as America Online, British Telecommunications, Excite@Home, Intel, iWon.com, Merrill Lynch, Microsoft, Nokia, RealNetworks, Sun Microsystems, and Yahoo! The company has offices in North America, Asia and Europe. For more information visit www.inktomi.com.

About Mitsubishi Electric Corporation

With more than 75 years of experience in providing reliable, high-quality products to both corporate clients and general consumers all over the world, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (FTSE: 6503q.l) is a recognized world leader in the manufacture, marketing and sales of electrical and electronic equipment used in information processing and communications, space development and satellite communications, consumer electronics, industrial technology, energy, transportation and construction. With operations in 36 countries, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation recorded consolidated group sales of over US$35 billion in the year ended March 31, 2000. Additional information on Mitsubishi Electric Corporation is available at global.mitsubishielectric.com.

Copyright © 2000 INKTOMI CORPORATION. All Rights Reserved. Inktomi, Traffic Server, Content Delivery Suite, Media-IXT™ and the tri-colored cube logo are all trademarks or registered trademarks of Inktomi Corporation in the United States and other countries.