WASHINGTON, DC - September 5, 2002 - Bantu, Inc., the leading provider of secure, Web-based instant messaging and presence solutions, today announced that the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH), a nationally acclaimed public health institution, and Whitney, Bailey, Cox & Magnani, LLC (WBC&M), a leading engineering firm, each deployed the Bantu Instant Messaging (IM) and Presence Platform to enhance their Citrix® NFuse® Elite access portals with real-time messaging and presence awareness.

Both JHSPH and WBC&M have large numbers of staff and other users who need to continually collaborate with one another on various projects, even though they are scattered over multiple locations. In order to facilitate better collaboration, both organizations identified secure IM and presence as critically important additions to their portal infrastructure. By integrating Bantu into their NFuse Elite portals, JHSPH and WBC&M not only gained secure enterprise IM, but also enhanced their existing portal applications with presence. The Bantu Content Delivery Agent (CDA) delivers direct access to the contact list and a directory with integrated active presence information - providing single-click access to real-time communications directly from the portal directory.

"Keeping users connected to one another and providing access to a centralized set of applications is critical to our business," said Pegie Lynch, Vice President, Information Systems for Whitney, Bailey, Cox and Magnani, "With four locations and a highly mobile workforce juggling multiple projects, we are using NFuse Elite with Bantu presence and real-time messaging to ensure timely access to information and make effective use of time and resources, creating a single, interactive view of the business."

JHSPH and WBC&M also selected Bantu because integration and deployment within NFuse Elite was simple and fast. Using a combination of Microsoft Web Parts and XML as part of Citrix's CDA architecture, Bantu's CDA quickly plugs into NFuse Elite, enabling customers to be up and running in minutes.

Ross McKenzie, IT Director of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, decided to install the Bantu CDA as part of the NFuse Elite migration project at Johns Hopkins. "JHSPH has been realizing the benefits of the Bantu platform for almost two years. When we made the decision to migrate to the NFuse Elite platform, it was important to determine what impact the migration would have on our Bantu users - the simple installation and configuration of the CDA made for a very smooth transition."

"Instant Messaging and presence are fast becoming must-have tools for collaborative business," said Barry Davis, vice president of Business Development for Citrix. "Bantu has done an outstanding job of embracing the Citrix Business Alliance program, proving the value of delivering an integrated, business-grade instant messaging solution as part of NFuse Elite with successfully deployed customers."

"Business has recognized that IM and presence are important tools for saving time and money," said Larry Schlang, President and CEO of Bantu. "By securely integrating Bantu as an application in the NFuse Elite access portal, or in any other applications, enterprises will realize the added benefit of keeping users connected to the portal while eliminating the risks associated with consumer IM offerings."

For additional information and to purchase the Bantu CDA, contact your authorized Citrix reseller or Bantu, Inc. www.bantu.com, 1-(800) 515.2432, bizdev@team.bantu.com

About Bantu, Inc.: \ban' too\ 1 : Ancient root language of the African people; 2 : Washington, D.C.-based leader in secure, business-grade Instant Messaging and Presence solutions. The Bantu IM & Presence Platform enhances communication and collaboration in industries such as financial services, telecommunications, government and education. Bantu is secure, platform-independent, interoperable, and it easily integrates into any application or service. Bantu's customers and partners include Blackboard, Citrix, The George Washington University, Johns Hopkins University, SAIC, Sprint and the U.S. Army. (www.bantu.com)

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Bantu is a trademark (™) of Bantu, Inc. Citrix®, NFuse® and Citrix Business Alliance™ are registered trademarks or trademarks of Citrix Systems, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. All other product and company names mentioned are the property of their respective owners and are mentioned for identification purposes only.