Will Take Up to 15 Percent Equity Position

WALTHAM, Mass., and OSLO, Norway, December 17, 1999 — Lycos, Inc. (NASDAQ: LCOS), the fastest growing Internet portal and the world’s largest online community, today announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire stock and warrants to purchase up to 15 percent in Fast Search & Transfer (FAST), a leading Internet search technology provider based in Oslo, Norway and traded on the OTC market. As part of the agreement, Bob Davis, president and CEO of Lycos will join FAST’s board of directors.

Dell Computer Corporation also agreed today to acquire stock and warrants to purchase approximately 4 percent in FAST.

“We are pleased to be making this investment in FAST,” said Bob Davis, president and CEO of Lycos. “FAST is powering several of our popular services, so today’s announcement is a natural extension of an already successful relationship. By offering FAST’s services to our users, Lycos continues our tradition of deploying best-of-breed technology.” FAST is a strategic provider of various search technologies to the Lycos Network, including MP3 search, multimedia search, music hosting and FTP search. Lycos and FAST recently launched the Listening Room, as part of the Lycos Music launch, to enable aspiring bands to upload their music to the Web in MP3 format, and host and maintain the audio files, all for free. In November, the companies launched Lycos’ RichMedia Search, the largest integrated multimedia database on the Web with more than 17 million files. Earlier in the year, Lycos and FAST launched Lycos’ MP3 search, one of the world’s largest searchable databases of MP3 audio files on the Web, and FTP Search, the world’s biggest and most popular file download site. Under an additional service agreement, Lycos plans to add other FAST technologies to its arsenal of powerful search tools moving forward.

“Having a major high-growth portal like Lycos as a strategic investor and a customer allows us to gain additional market insight and expose many more people to our market-leading technology,” said Thomas Fussell, chairman of Fast Search & Transfer. “Over the past year, Lycos products based on FAST technology have proven to be extremely successful, and Lycos knows that it can depend on FAST to deliver products that perform. While our competitors try to become portals, or turn their attention to other product areas, FAST will continue its singular focus on delivering the world’s best search technology to major portals, ISPs, media companies, content sites and corporations.”

The Lycos and Dell investment is subject to FAST shareholder approval and is expected to close in January.

About Fast Search & Transfer ASA
Fast Search & Transfer ASA (FAST) develops and markets advanced and innovative search, real-time filtering, and multimedia solutions for the Internet and corporate markets. The company performs research and development out of its corporate headquarters in Oslo, Norway, and in Trondheim, Norway, while sales, marketing, customer support, field engineering, and operations are run from the US headquarters in Boston and the San Francisco, CA, office. The products includes the world's largest and most scalable search engines for structured and non-structured text, high-capacity real-time content filters for instant personalized information delivery, and state-of-the-art image and video compression for high-quality multimedia applications and the printing industry. FAST is traded on the OTC market in Oslo, Norway. For more information about FAST, visit http://www.fast.no.

About Lycos, Inc.
Founded in 1995, Lycos, Inc. is a leading Web media company and owner of the Lycos Network, one of the most visited hubs on the Internet reaching one out of every two Web users. The Lycos Network is a unified set of Web sites that attracts a diverse audience by offering a variety of services, including leading Web navigation resources, homepage building and other Web community services and a comprehensive shopping center. The Lycos Network is composed of premium sites: Lycos.com, Tripod, WhoWhere, Angelfire, MailCity, HotBot, HotWired, Wired News, Webmonkey, Suck.com, Sonique, Quote and Gamesville.com. Lycos.com (http://www.lycos.com), “Your Personal Internet Guide,” is dedicated to helping each individual user locate, retrieve and manage information tailored to his or her personal interests. Headquartered near Boston in Waltham, Mass., Lycos, Inc. is a global Internet leader with a major presence throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia and Latin America.

© 1999 Fast Search & Transfer ASA - Fast Search & Transfer, FAST, "All the Web, All the Time", The World's Biggest Search Engine, FAST Search, and the FAST four-colored logo are trademarks of Fast Search & Transfer ASA. All rights reserved. FAST disclaims any proprietary interest in the marks and names of others. Fast Search & Transfer International AS is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fast Search & Transfer ASA.