Escher's demonstration at the Smithsonian Institution live on C-Span

Boston, Mass. - December 22, 1999 - The leading provider of advanced technologies for postal authorities worldwide, Escher Group Ltd, today announced its participation in "America's Millennium: a celebration for the Nation" in Washington, DC during the new year weekend. Escher will join the MIT Media Lab, US Postal Service (USPS), Motorola, Hewlett-Packard Company (HP) and the Envelope Manufacturers Association to showcase futuristic paper-based technologies that can transform postal services for the next millennium. Escher's demonstration will be aired live on C-SPAN at 12:00 p.m. on December 31st.

America's Millennium, a cooperative project of the White House Millennium Council, the Smithsonian Institution, the National Park Service and the National Park Foundation, will honor the nation's past accomplishments and showcase future developments. One of the key themes of the event is "Future Visions," which will explore science, technology and extraterrestrial intelligence, hosted by visionaries such as Neil Gershenfeld, associate professor of media arts and sciences at the MIT Media Lab.

"We are delighted to be invited to participate in such an important and exciting occasion," said a spokesperson for Escher Group. "Escher's vision is to revolutionize the postal industry with cutting-edge technology solutions that will transform and enhance our daily lives. At this turn of the century event, we look forward to showing how these advances will provide a convenient, electronic pathway to the brick and mortar post office."

HP will join Escher Group in demonstrating Escher's RiposteMark™, a revolutionary new technology for generating and authenticating value documents from passports to postage. Both companies will showcase the technology on December 31st at 12:00 p.m. at the Smithsonian Institution's Hirshhorn Museum during the panel demonstration, "Glimpsing Future Technologies," and at 2:00 p.m. at the National Postal Museum. Escher has worked closely with HP, a leader in digital printing technology, to optimize the most advanced printing technology for RiposteMark. HP will use its DeskJet 895C color ink jet printers to print RiposteMark during both events. Escher and HP will continue to work together throughout the year 2000 to develop new opportunities in postal and digital imaging technologies.

With Escher's RiposteMark, enterprise mailers and consumers in Singapore, for instance, can securely purchase and print postage from the Web, choosing from a full selection of colorful postal indicia. Unlike other indicia technology currently available, Escher's solution preserves the philatelic advantages of traditional postage while creating a host of new marketing opportunities for postal authorities and customers.

RiposteMark also contains a unique security element, FiberFingerprint™, which captures and records the naturally occurring texture patterns of each piece of paper. This technology allows fraudulently copied postage to be detected. By imaging the naturally occurring fingerprint inside the security box, Escher binds the indicium to each particular piece of paper. At the America's Millennium event, Wayne Wilkerson, USPS manager of postage technology, will be demonstrating Escher's FiberFingerprint. America's Millennium at the Smithsonian Institution will present lectures, demonstrations and performances throughout the day on Friday, December 31st, Saturday, January 1st, and Sunday, January 2nd. For more information on the schedule, see www.americasmillennium.gov. For more information on Escher Group, see www.eschergroup.com.

The Intelligent Envelope below, featuring Escher's FiberFingerprint technology, will be distributed to all attendees of the events. These will be printed in limited quantity and therefore will have collectable value.

About Escher Group, Limited

Escher Group Limited is a leading provider of distributed transaction processing and data management solutions and services. The company offers a business-to-business XML-based transaction management environment, used in thousands of locations worldwide. Since its introduction in 1993, Riposte®, Escher's flagship messaging solution, has grown to become the market leader in post office counter automation.

Trademarks: WebRiposte and Riposte are trademarks or registered trademarks of Escher Group, Limited in the United States and/or other countries. All other product names mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective owners.

Contact Information:

Escher Group Limited
information@eschergroup.com