Liberate Acquires Sigma Systems

SAN CARLOS, Calif. -- Liberate Technologies (Nasdaq: LBRT) today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Sigma Systems Group, the cable industry's leading provider of service management solutions. Under the terms of the acquisition, Liberate will purchase all outstanding shares of Sigma Systems for aggregate consideration of approximately $62 million in cash. Liberate will use Sigma's currently existing cash of approximately $20 million to help finance the transaction. The transaction will be accounted for under the purchase method and the parties expect the transaction to close in the third calendar quarter of 2002. The acquisition of Sigma Systems will extend Liberate's leadership in digital network infrastructure, adding Sigma software's management and delivery of voice and high-speed data services to Liberate's traditional strength in video-based, interactive television services. "Combining Liberate and Sigma forms a powerhouse for the support of digital infrastructures, and we believe gives us broader and deeper technical capabilities than anyone in the marketplace," said Mitchell Kertzman, Chairman and CEO, Liberate Technologies. "This is a significant stage in the evolution of Liberate as a company, which will dramatically increase our ability to help network operators drive revenues per subscriber, enhance customer service and reduce operating costs." The Liberate TV Platform for enhanced television offers the market-proven ability to increase revenue per subscriber and reduce churn for network operators. With the addition of Sigma's solutions, the Liberate software family will also be able to help customers reduce operational costs and enhance customer service through automated service management and delivery. In enabling the "triple play" of video, voice, and data services, the Liberate/Sigma combination facilitates the trend among many network operators to integrate technologies across multiple services to heighten profitability and efficiency. When the customer bases of the two companies are combined, Liberate will list more than 20 top tier cable operators across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific as deployed customers. This customer base will include AT&T Broadband, AT&T HITS, Comcast, Cox, Insight Communications, Rogers and Shaw in North America; @Home Benelux, Telewest, ntl, and UPC in Europe; and @NetHome, GNI, Dream City Multimedia, and SingTel Optus in the Asia Pacific region. Sigma SystemsLiberate Technologies