BackWeb Debuts Push Application Server

Next-Generation Push Technology Enables Companies, Portal Hosts and Content Providers to Proactively Deliver Information to Any Network, Any Device and Any User

SAN JOSE, Calif. — July 24, 2000 — BackWeb® Technologies (Nasdaq: BWEB), a leading provider of push for e-business solutions, today debuted the BackWeb Push Application Server. BackWeb Push Application Server provides e-businesses with a single communications infrastructure for any application to deliver content to any user on any common data device via BackWeb Polite™ Push, email, wireless, fax, and voice mail. The first-of-its-kind solution incorporates standard CORBA and XML interfaces, and includes a groundbreaking "escalation" capability that pushes and automatically re-routes notifications based on easily definable business logic to the appropriate device or combination of devices until it reaches the intended recipient.

In conjunction with its new product debut, BackWeb today also announced the launch of an industry-wide Universal Push initiative. The initiative, which recognizes the vast advantages of bringing push technology to multiple communication channels and devices, has garnered global support from several companies, including Lucent Technologies EMEA and Hewlett Packard Company.

The BackWeb Push Application Server is a platform for software developers or corporations to quickly create advanced push-enabled applications. Customers and developers can also add custom delivery methods to the Push Application Sever. "BackWeb's Push Application Server dramatically simplifies the challenge of reaching people by giving e-businesses a single, integrated Internet and wireless infrastructure – rather than having to combine multiple device dependent solutions," said Eli Barkat, chairman and CEO of BackWeb Technologies. "The unique escalation feature provides the common link between the Internet and wireless realms by allowing information to automatically 'find' the user. This new product significantly broadens BackWeb's market potential, and introduces exciting new opportunities for e-businesses, portal hosts, application developers and content developers."

Escalation Allows Information to Find the User
The BackWeb Push Application Server's escalation capability uses new BackWeb technology to identify whether a user has received a notification on his or her preferred device, such as a desktop computer. If not, the server reroutes the information and delivers it to the next-highest-priority device of the same user or to the next user in the escalation list. Companies and users can determine the appropriate escalation lists for messages to maximize the chances of receiving information as quickly as possible.

The BackWeb Push Application Server initially will support two delivery methods – standard BackWeb Polite delivery and email – and will incorporate wireless support later this year via the integration of the wireless data delivery framework that BackWeb acquired from Mobix in June. Supported devices will later include handheld computers, cellular phones, pagers, fax machines and voice-mail systems.

The BackWeb Push Application Server can be integrated into any Internet infrastructure or Web site to push-enable applications for e-CRM, B-to-B exchanges, executive communications, and proactive e-business Portals. The broadly scalable server solution employs standard XML and CORBA interfaces, allowing developers to write, integrate and extend their applications via modular, industry standard methods.

Features of the new server include:

Multi-channel push delivery architecture, allowing push delivery to any type of device including PCs, PDAs, mobile phones, pagers, fax, and voice mail;.

CORBA/XML API that allows for publishing and interacting with the Push Application Server in a standard way from all applications;
Scalable targeting engine for sophisticated selection of users, groups and topics of interest;
Data import utilities for synchronizing content databases and user directories;
Administrative interface and function calls in the API for easy administration of the system;
A relational database schema for storing user preferences and push content that interoperates with leading database and Web infrastructures; and
Interfaces for delivery method creation, configuration and maintenance.

The BackWeb Push Application Server will be available in the third calendar quarter of 2000. Pricing, which is available from BackWeb, is based on the number of server CPUs or on the number of clients.

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.