BackWeb Unveils ProactivePortal Server v2

Continued Successful Execution of Critical Milestones in Portal Market Strategy

SAN JOSE, Calif.—Apr. 30, 2002— BackWeb Technologies (Nasdaq: BWEB), the leading provider of ProactivePortal™ technologies for the enterprise, today announced it has achieved another critical milestone in the execution of its portal market strategy: the release of version 2 of its ProactivePortal Server product. The company celebrates this release with the announcement of two recent ProactivePortal Server customer wins from the manufacturing and software security industries.

"BackWeb continues to experience increasing momentum since its launch in the portal market," said Eli Barkat, chairman and CEO of BackWeb Technologies. "The launch of version 2 of the ProactivePortal Server and the recent announcement of our first two customers further validates the successful execution of our portal strategy. Industry analysts and leading portal vendors from IBM, SAP Portals and Plumtree have confirmed offline access and notification as must-haves for maximum portal usage and ROI. Their position is further endorsed by our recent customers."

The ProactivePortal Server is an enterprise solution that provides offline access to critical portal content and creates an offline user experience analogous to the online experience. The newest version uses BackWeb's unique tagging language (OTML) to enable offline access that is resilient to changes in the application user interface without any reconfiguration of the existing portal. Some of the new capabilities include the ability to integrate with any portal framework, the ability to fine-tune the information received offline through personalized subscriptions and the ability to leverage BackWeb's patented Polite® Delivery technology to ensure a scalable and transparent networking experience.

Version 2 will build on the current version's network sensitive delivery methods, byte-level updating, notifications and closed-loop interaction reporting. These features enable users to automatically download content during network idle time, while ensuring that only the changes to previously published documents are delivered to subscribers. Users are also made aware of new critical information through the use of Flash Alerts and publishers can track interaction with content, allowing corporations to measure and assess the usage of their portals. In addition, this version will work in tandem with BackWeb's patented Polite Neighborcast® technology to seamlessly deliver content over wide-area-networks (WANs) to remote users.

"Enterprise portals are quickly becoming ubiquitous and essential tools for improving productivity, sales and employee retention. The ability to access critical portal content in offline environments is also becoming essential for mobile users and will become a staple for implementations," said David Yockelson, Senior Vice President of Electronic Business Strategies, META Group. "Astute companies have begun to recognize 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 can achieve success more quickly in today's ever-changing business climate."

The two recent customers include: Owens-Illinois, the largest manufacturer of glass containers in North America, and a leading provider of Internet security software. Both companies chose to implement ProactivePortal Server in the first phase of their enterprise portal deployment and both deemed the product as critical for maximizing portal adoption and usage. By increasing productivity and providing up-to-date critical information, each company expects to increase its portal return-on-investment.

Owens-Illinois, a BackWeb® e-Accelerator™ customer and one of the world's leading producers of glass and plastics packaging products, has chosen to implement the ProactivePortal Server to enhance the capabilities of its new enterprise portal. Using BackWeb's notification and offline portal capabilities, Owens-Illinois will be able to accurately monitor and assess the productivity of its manufacturing plants by sharing critical information, including plant efficiency levels. The provider of Internet security software has chosen BackWeb technology to offline enable the sales section of its corporate portal. The software company expects to increase productivity of key personnel by providing offline access to critical content.

Version 2 is available immediately and is priced at $100 per user. Please call 800-863-0100 for more information about this product.