BackWeb Announces New Agreement with IBM WebSphere Portal

BackWeb's Offline Access extends the capabilities to IBM's WebSphere Portal

San Jose, Calif. — Jan. 23, 2002 — BackWeb Technologies (Nasdaq: BWEB), a leading provider of ProactivePortal™ technologies for the enterprise, today announced that it has signed a reseller contract with IBM. IBM, a recognized leader in the enterprise software marketplace, will resell the BackWeb® ProactivePortal Server™ for use with IBM WebSphere* Portal.

The relationship encompasses a wide-range of activities including joint sales activities, joint participation in seminars, mutual training of sales and support teams, co-branding collateral materials and creating awareness and demand for the companies' combined solution.

BackWeb ProactivePortal technologies adds offline and online portal solutions for IBM WebSphere Portal. BackWeb's ProactivePortal offline capabilities allow users to remotely access key content, subscribe to critical content for offline and online viewing, to issue proactive notifications to alert users to newly published critical content and to ensure interaction with content via a closed-loop delivery system.

"Enterprise portals have become ubiquitous and essential tools for improving productivity, sales and employee retention. The ability to access critical portal content in offline environments is becoming essential for mobile users and is becoming a staple for implementations," said David Yockelson, senior vice president of electronic business strategies, META Group. "Astute companies are recognizing the urgency of differentiating portal offerings to include offline capabilities, thereby obtaining quantifiable portal ROI through content usage rather than access. Companies that measure their portal ROI against this metric the soonest will be successful in today's ever-changing business climate."

ProactivePortal technologies will now be available to the IBM WebSphere Portal install base. With the addition of BackWeb ProactivePortal Server technology, WebSphere customers will have offline access to portal functionality and the ability to ensure that local content is continuously updated.

"This agreement with BackWeb is an important step in providing our customers the most complete portal on the market," said Larry Bowden, vice president of Portal Solutions at IBM." IBM WebSphere Portal is a single point of interaction with the applications, processes, people, and content for a user. BackWeb's technology now adds the added flexibility to take the portal experience offline."

"We are happy that IBM has chosen to include our ProactivePortal Server product as a component of its WebSphere offering," said Erez Lorber, vice president of business development at BackWeb Technologies. "As a leader within the portal infrastructure marketplace, IBM's selection of BackWeb illustrates the importance of offline access."

About IBM's (NYSE: IBM) WebSphere Software
WebSphere is Internet infrastructure software -- known as middleware -- that enables companies to develop, deploy and integrate next-generation e-business applications, such as those for business-to-business e-commerce. WebSphere transforms the way businesses manage customer, partner and employee relationships. More information about the WebSphere software platform is on the Web at http://www.ibm.com/websphere.