WASHINGTON, DC and DANVERS, Mass- June 11, 2002 - Bantu, Inc., the leader in secure, business-grade instant messaging (IM) and presence management solutions, and Sumaria Systems, Inc., provider of IT services to large government clients, today announced a partnership whereby Sumaria will deliver the Bantu Instant Messaging and Presence platform to its customers and prospects. Under this partnership, Sumaria will be certified as a Bantu solutions partner equipped to provide its customers with consulting, deployment and integration services.

"An ever increasing number of our customers have defined enterprise class instant messaging as a key technology initiative," said Harry Hewitt, Vice President, Sumaria Systems Montgomery Operations. "Our government and commercial clients recognize presence-based, real-time messaging as a cost effective way to improve communication and collaboration across the enterprise. With Bantu, we are able to offer these solutions, while satisfying security and management concerns."

Bantu's robust security features and flexible integration options will enable Sumaria to quickly and effectively deliver secure, integrated messaging and presence to their clients.

"Bantu's instant communication platform combined with Sumaria's consulting and integration services will help Sumaria customers improve collaboration, increase productivity and speed business decisions by enhancing existing applications with real-time messaging and presence," said Larry Schlang, CEO, Bantu. "Together, Bantu and Sumaria will enable customers to extract additional value from existing technology investments by making them real-time."

Under the alliance, the companies will jointly participate in sales, marketing and development initiatives centered on real-time collaboration. In addition, Bantu will train Sumaria professionals to implement and manage the Bantu platform.

About Sumaria Systems, Inc. Sumaria Systems, Inc. is an award-winning Information Technology (IT) and Acquisition Management services company headquartered in Danvers, Mass. Since its inception in 1982, Sumaria has provided a wide variety of IT services to the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and additional government agencies. Sumaria's geographic network of offices provides a full-range of services and local capabilities to our clients, including value-added software engineering, systems integration, and networks solutions that enhance client productivity and support client cost savings through technological efficiencies and service outsourcing. (http://www.sumariasystems.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)