Boehringer Ingelheim Selects BackWeb For Offline Portal Access

Global Pharmaceutical Company to Deliver Corporate Information to Disconnected Employee Base During Initial Portal Phase

San Jose, Calif., July 28, 2003— BackWeb Technologies (Nasdaq: BWEB), announced today that Boehringer Ingelheim, one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies, has selected the BackWeb® ProactivePortal® Server solution to extend the reach of its enterprise portal initiative, called portalUK, to its mobile workforce. ProactivePortal Server was chosen to complement the corporate portal framework provided by Plumtree Software, allowing offline access to content delivered on the portal. Offline access was a very important component of Boehringer Ingelheim's portal plans and is being implemented during phase one of the portal project.

Through portalUK, Boehringer Ingelheim plans to streamline access to enterprise applications and information and allow employees to search for, view and publish data on product development, regulation and sales and marketing, as well as access critical content while disconnected from the network.

BackWeb's solution integrates with the Plumtree Corporate Portal and will allow Boehringer Ingelheim's sales and field employees to access important content and applications while disconnected, with essentially the same personalized user experience that occurs online.

"Businesses today realize that portals are an ideal way to present critical information and improve collaboration and operational efficiencies throughout the enterprise; however, mobile workers who are frequently disconnected from the network often struggle to realize the full benefits of portal implementations," said Eli Barkat, chairman and chief executive officer of BackWeb. "By selecting BackWeb to offline enable portalUK, Boehringer Ingelheim will offer its sales and field force employees a powerful channel of communication and information access and help the company increase the ROI and effectiveness of its portal initiative."

"A major objective of portalUK is to make all relevant applications and information available to the entire UK operation, especially our mobile workers," said Kamy Missaghi, CIO of Boehringer Ingelheim. "Using BackWeb, we will extend the portal to this critical audience, and we're confident that BackWeb's ProactivePortal Server will increase the productivity of our field and sales force employees and the overall success of portalUK."