For Immediate Release

Netopia Announces Version 3.0 Of Its Web Site Platform
for Vertical Portals and Online Industry Associations

Company to Expand Strategic Alliances in Key Vertical Markets
by Helping Partners Increase "Portal Stickiness"
and Community Development

ALAMEDA, Calif., March 23, 1999 - Netopia, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTPA), a
market leader in helping small businesses establish their Internet
presence, today announced a major strategic initiative to generate
new alliances and licensing agreements with vertical portals and
industry associations utilizing the new 3.0 Netopia Site Server
platform.
Netopia Site Server 3.0 (NSS) is the core technology for "No Assembly
Required" Web Site building services, the easiest way to create
powerful, feature-rich web sites. Aligning with Netopia, partners can
offer professionally designed web sites to their members, visitors
and constituents, significantly augmenting their Internet service
offerings by integrating portal content with member web sites, thus
increasing portal traffic and "stickiness" (longer, more frequent
visits).

This unique revenue-generating business model enables vertical
portals to focus on promotion and community development while Netopia
handles all aspects of web site creation, web site hosting, and
customer support. Netopia also plans to broaden its private label
licensing program for organizations interested in controlling every
aspect of their web site services. The combination of these offerings
will dramatically facilitate the creation of new vertical market
portals and related Internet Communities.

"Portal success and stickiness is clearly based on providing unique content
and specialized services to vertical market niches," said Alan
Lefkof, president and CEO for Netopia, Inc. "Since our introduction
of Netopia Virtual Office web sites on Netscape's Netcenter portal in
July '98, we have developed over 30 vertical market solutions. We can
now help vertical portals in these market areas expand their
value-add as well as their underlying access to capital markets by
enhancing community loyalty and quality."
Target Markets
The NSS 3.0 platform is designed specifically with three types of vertical
portals in mind:

Professionals - those portals targeted towards lawyers, real estate
agents, doctors, accountants, consultants and other professionals.

Special Interest Groups - for example investment and religious
groups, sports enthusiasts, outdoorsmen, gardeners, animal breeders
and numerous other avocations.

Demographic Communities - examples include college students, senior
citizens, women owned businesses, teens, ethnic groups, and gay and
lesbian
communities.

Customized Vertical Market "Content Packages" for Member Web Sites
"Content Packages" are built using three main customizable components:

1) Look and feel web site designs specific to each vertical market -
The designs include style of web site navigation, colors, text fonts,
banner ad
placement, and branding specific to the portal, association or interest group.

2) Pre-populated vertical market content - For example, real estate content
packages include links to online mortgage calculators, FAQs on buying
and selling homes, and tips on applying for a mortgage. The content
package for financial planners includes retirement tips, definitions
of financial terms, and links to online brokerage sites.

3) Pre-selected functionality built into the web site - Each content
package has a variety of built in functionality tailored to specific
industries. The travel agent package includes an online calendar for
listing departure schedules and discussion boards for travelers to
exchange
stories and travel tips. The securities analyst package has a web
page for clients to download files based on their password security.

Netopia has developed content packages for dozens of industries,
portals and interest groups who can easily expand upon these packages
to offer an even broader range of web sites further tailored to their
community. For instance, a legal portal can start with Netopia's
lawyer content package and then offer member web sites more specific
for individual legal disciplines such as divorce lawyers, securities
lawyers, litigation lawyers, etc.

The Complete Web Site Solution
NSS 3.0 offers a host of features and services specifically designed
to assist community members, constituents and visitors in creating
and promoting their web site. Some of the features available to every
web site
are:

Internet Domain Name: With a unique Internet address such as
www.yourname.com a web site owner will establish a 'Net identity' and
centralization of all online communications (both email and web site)
under
one easy-to-remember domain. A custom URL provides prestige for your
business, easy recognition on the Internet and independence from the
Internet service provider.

Calendar of Events: The online calendar stores and displays ongoing
events. For example, college portal member web sites can list class
schedules, athletic events, and other relevant dates.

Discussion Groups: Discussion groups allow more effective
interaction between members of a special interest group. A gardening
site can use discussion groups for web site visitors to exchange
planting tips, horticultural insights, and How-to information on
building a greenhouse.

File Uploading and Downloading: Web site owners and visitors to the
site can exchange any type of file. As an example, a recruiter could
post job descriptions and applications, and applicants can upload
copies of their resume to the recruiter's web site. All file
exchanges can be password protected for security.

Web Site Security: Web site owners can secure any page of their web
site so that only specific individuals can access certain areas. NVO
allows for secure transfer of sensitive documents.

Product Catalog: A business can create an online catalog or
brochure to provide detailed information about the products they
sell. This information can include descriptions, features, colors,
prices, and also pictures of the products.

Custom HTML Pages: More advanced web site owners can supplement
their Virtual Office web sites with HTML pages that they create with
any web site-authoring tool.

Vertical portals and industry associations interested in offering
private labeled versions of Netopia's web site platform can contact
Tom Spadafore via phone at 510-814-5123 or email at
spadafore@netopia.com.

About Netopia, Inc.
Netopia, Inc. is a market leader in providing small, growing
businesses with their Internet presence, including new generation web
site services and high speed Internet connectivity solutions.
Netopia's innovative products and unique customer support provides
users with "What the Internet
Experience Should Be." The Company has been successful in helping millions
of Internet and Intranet users increase their productivity. With the
Netopia Virtual Office platform, the Company has established web site
services with Netscape (NASDAQ: NSCP), Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU), and
McAfee (NASDAQ: NETA). With its Netopia Internet Router family,
Netopia has established strategic partnerships with hundreds of ISPs
including France Telecom (NYSE: FTE), Telecom Italia, Earthlink
(NASDAQ: ELNK), Bell Atlantic (NYSE: BEL), PSINet (NASDAQ: PSIX),
UUNet (NASDAQ: WCOM), Concentric Network (NASDAQ: CNCX) and Verio
(NASDAQ: VRIO). Headquartered in Alameda, California, Netopia's
common stock is traded on The Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol
"NTPA." Further information can be obtained via phone 510-814-5100,
fax 510-814-5021 or Internet at http://www.netopia.com.

Andrew Lavin and Rita Blomberg - A. Lavin Communications 212-290-9540 or
ritablomberg@alavin.com.