CAMBRIDGE, MA, January 17, 2000 General Interactive, Inc., The E-Mail Communications Company, announced today that the Board of Directors have approved and adopted an amendment to its Certificate of Incorporation to change the name of the company to EchoMail, Inc. The name will become effective immediately, and reflects the company's on-going commitment to closely link corporate identity with their award-winning product suite, EchoMail^®.

"By adopting EchoMail as our corporate name, we confirm our dedicated focus on the e-mail medium and closely link our corporate identity with our well-received product suite of the same name", says V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai, chief executive officer, EchoMail, Inc. "We intend to build on our position as a leader in the e-business software market for managing online customer relationships by leveraging our current products and services. Our technological leadership and strong customer base will allow us to expand our market opportunities, extend our brand recognition and enhance our position as a leading provider of a broad range of e-business applications".

The EchoMail product suite provides companies with a comprehensive solution for optimizing the use of e-mail to support both inbound and out bound communications. EchoMail affords buyers of its hosted application service the opportunity to outsource their information technology infrastructure for customer relationship management ("CRM") and enables them to reduce start-up investments in hardware, software and services.

"Over the next six months, we intend to introduce new applications and enter new markets," says Shiva. "To aid us in implementing this part of our strategy, we plan to leverage our existing technologies and engage in cooperative efforts with our customers to identify, develop and market new e-mail-based e-business solutions".

CRM applications, fueled by the explosion of e-mail communications, are becoming critical to e-commerce success. Forrester Research predicts that the typical online consumer will participate in eight to ten commerce-related exchanges via e-mail per week by 2001. International Data Corporation projects that the volume of business-to-customer transactions will reach $178 billion in 2003.

"EchoMail is designed to enable businesses to use their incoming e-mail messages to enhance the value of their customer relationships and increase the effectiveness of their on-line business strategies," explains Bruce Padmore, chief technology officer, EchoMail, Inc. "In the past two years, we have seen exponential growth in the volume of e-mail correspondence between businesses and customers. The growth is expected to continue as companies begin to implement CRM tools in their e-commerce infrastructure to meet customer demands for better service".

About EchoMail, Inc.
EchoMail, Inc.'s. award-winning solutions are helping people around the globe communicate with their customers. President and founder, V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai, known throughout the industry as "Dr. E-Mail", pioneered the early development of e-mail technology and intelligent messaging solutions. Primary markets include customer-focused enterprises such as electronic commerce, high technology, financial services, government, retail and the entertainment industry. Their Creative and Strategic Services Division, under the direction of. Zoe Helene, includes both artists and information technology consultants who work together to provide a broad spectrum of services to support clients in deploying inbound and outbound e-mail communication solutions.

For more information about EchoMail, visit the company's World Wide Web site at http://www.echomail.com or contact EchoMail, Inc., 66 Church Street, Cambridge, MA 02138; phone (617) 354-8585, ext. 215; E-Mail: Press@EchoMail.com.