Global Manufacturer Netstal Maschinen AG Selects BackWeb To Streamline Field Service Operations

Offline Access to Key Business Information Will Boost Service Reps Efficiency

San Jose, Calif., April 5, 2004—BackWeb Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: BWEB), announced today that Netstal-Maschinen AG, a global manufacturing company based in Switzerland, has selected the BackWeb® Offline Access Server™ to provide offline access to key product maintenance information to its field service reps and external partners. The BackWeb Offline Access Server was chosen to complement Netstal's document management system, allowing field service representatives to access critical product information while they are in the field and disconnected from the network.

Offline access to key product maintenance and technical documentation has been a requirement since Netstal-Maschinen AG equipped its field service reps with laptops. "When our employees or partners are working at a customer site, they need to have all relevant information available immediately and reliably and it has to be up-to-date," said Robert Isler, CIO of Netstal-Maschinen AG. "Automatically updating applications like document management and information databases on employee's laptops is the only way to give them what they need in this scenario."

In order to optimize its IT landscape and minimize cost of ownership, Netstal maintained a pure SAP-based environment for its critical business processes. Because the document management system in SAP's product lifecycle management (PLM) module does not offer offline access, BackWeb was chosen to provide this important capability. BackWeb Offline Access Server is being used to offline-enable a custom Web application developed by SAP Consulting Switzerland that connected into SAP's PLM module. Using the combined BackWeb and SAP application, field service reps can search for and access documents whenever necessary. BackWeb Offline Access Server will provide a central access point to this critical information when offline.

"Working with BackWeb is a strategic corporate initiative that will enable our field service reps to more quickly and effectively respond to service requests," continued Isler. "The integration of BackWeb's solution has been quick and painless. We expect the deployment to be equally quick and painless, and deliver significant ROI and business benefits. Additionally, looking at the cost of ownership of the total IT landscape, BackWeb will give us the significant benefit of having only one SAP-based solution fulfilling the needs of our users, regardless of whether they are internal, external, mobile or office based. Plus, we saved the cost of developing and maintaining a separate application for offline access; we now simply use the SAP PLM based application online and – via BackWeb – offline."

"Similar to our other recent customer wins, Netstal recognized that BackWeb could extend the value of their IT investments and infrastructure by enabling field service reps to more effectively resolve customer issues," said Erez Lorber, CEO of BackWeb. "Netstal was drawn to the business value associated with providing the same online and offline user experience for its field service reps and we expect to have Netstal installed and achieving tangible business benefit within weeks."