CompuServe and BackWeb Bring Mars Directly to Your Desktop

Pathfinder Probe Provides Actual Images from Mars' Surface

COLUMBUS, OH, (July 2,1997) -- CompuServe (Nasdaq: CSRV) has teamed with BackWeb Technologies to bring images from the surface of Mars directly to the desktops of Internet users, as the Pathfinder probe approaches Mars and prepares for a July 4 landing.

The CompuServe Mars Lander site will provide a variety of information on the Mars mission as well as the ability to download the BackWeb Client software. Following the download, users can select the CompuServe Mars Lander Channel from among the 50 channels currently offered by BackWeb. Using BackWeb's unique Internet push technology, images from Mars Pathfinder, as well as headline news about the mission, will be automatically supplied and formatted to the user's screen as digital wallpaper. The BackWeb Client works in the background to download content directly to the user's desktop during idle online time.

CompuServe is the only online service that has created a mirror site linked to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) web site, providing updates on mission activities and Pathfinder photographs of the Martian surface.

"We are delighted that JPL chose CompuServe to play a major role in bringing this historic Mars landing to members of the Internet community," said Liz Jaggers, CompuServe's producer, science content. "By offering free access to anyone with a browser, we insure that all science enthusiasts can share in the excitement of space exploration. By teaming with BackWeb, users can customize their experience and see history as it unfolds."

CompuServe was chosen as a JPL mirror site because of the proven reliability of its network and the ability to handle an estimated 10 million potential visits per day to the mirrored site. The mirror sites will feature a bird's eye view of the Mars Pathfinder mission operations at JPL via a live video camera feed that is updated every 15 minutes. The CompuServe Lander site will offer additional information on the landing, such as the history of Mars exploration, and will provide direct links to the wealth of information available on CSi. In CSi's Space Exploration Forum (GO SPACEX), for example, CSi members can find, in one convenient location, pictures, videos and official background information from NASA. In addition to information on the landing, provided by JPL and other NASA sources, there are text and graphics files on related topics including other Mars missions and high-resolution photos of Mars taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.

The JPL mirror site is located at http://mars.compuserve.com. CompuServe's Mars Lander site is at www.compuserve.com/mars.

About BackWeb Technologies
BackWeb Technologies is a leading offline Web software company. BackWeb extends the value of technology investments by offering mobile and remote employees offline access to portals, intranets and other Web-based applications and content. The company's products reduce network costs and improve the productivity of an increasingly mobile workforce. At the core of BackWeb's products is its patented Polite® synchronization technology that can distribute large amounts of data even over narrow bandwidth connections. BackWeb® customers include market leaders such as Boehringer Ingelheim, Centocor, Eastman Kodak, GE Healthcare, Guidant, HP, KLA Tencor, Lam Research, Pfizer and more than one hundred other companies. BackWeb also has strategic reseller alliances with software industry leaders: Plumtree, SAP and IBM. The company is headquartered in San Jose, Calif. and Rosh Ha'ayin, Israel. For more information, visit www.backweb.com or call (800) 863-0100.

Statements in this news release, which are not purely historical, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Securities laws, including statements of beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Examples of these statements include, but are not limited to, the ability of BackWeb software to allow customers to gain mobile, disconnected use of their portals and help increase field sales and field service productivity, the integration of BackWeb software with BEA products will help developers extend portal applications for offline use without changing the way they work, and the ability of the resulting applications to help field sales and service organizations realize maximum productivity, cost savings, and process acceleration gains while disconnected from the network. Actual results could differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include unforeseen technological issues related to use of the BackWeb software, deployment issues related to implementation, unforeseen software errors, competitive factors and business and expense factors that may affect the perceived efficiencies from use of BackWeb's products, and the risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in BackWeb's periodic reports and registration statements filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. BackWeb assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release.