BackWeb Ships Version 3.0 of Enterprise Push Technology

McAfee to Bundle BackWeb 3.0-Based SecureCast Across All Product Lines

SAN JOSE, Calif., October 7, 1997 -- BackWeb Technologies today announced the release of BackWeb 3.0, the latest version of its client/server push software. This new version brings features and tools to enable customized implementations and controls for channel providers, IT organizations and end users. The beta version of 3.0 was announced in early September. The company also announced that BackWeb, in the form of McAfee (NASDAQ: MCAF) SecureCast, will be bundled across all retail, corporate and OEM McAfee product lines. This will mean an additional 10 million BackWeb Clients distributed through McAfee products alone.

"BackWeb offers the best push solution on the market," said Peter Watkins, Executive Vice President and General Manager of McAfee's Anti-Virus and Security Business Unit. "The success of our SecureCast electronic software delivery implementation, based on BackWeb, has prompted us to bundle it across all of our product lines. There are many companies talking about push software distribution, but BackWeb actually delivers."

Customers currently deploying BackWeb 3.0 include: Baan, Heineken, Lufthansa, Allied Signal, McAfee, the National Institutes of Health, Digital Equipment Corporation, Elle International and 3Com®.

BackWeb 3.0 delivers the tools set needed by enterprises to deploy real world push applications. Using the new BackWeb Client Administration Kit, corporations can customize the push client interface and incorporate corporate UI specifications and enterprise specific controls. The BackWeb Publishing Wizard allows anyone in the enterprise with a browser to publish information, software or files on the push server ñ without programming. BackWeb 3.0 also incorporates real-time IP multicasting technology, making it possible for users to get instant access to important information.

Key new benefits and features of version 3.0 include:

Enterprise Level Controls

* Intranet tools: The BackWeb Client Administration Kit enables IT organizations to customize the BackWeb Client or specify another application to be used as the push client. It also enables organizations to preset certain user channels and lock down certain configuration information.
* Channel Filtering: The BackWeb Proxy Server now supports fine channel filtering and control capabilities, allowing enterprises to enable, disable and time the delivery of information from specific channels.

Departmental Level Controls

* BackWeb Publishing Wizard: With this HTML interface publishing tool, workgroups can publish information, software and files themselves, reducing the need for IT department support. Microsoft® and Netscape® browser users can use publishing templates to submit any kind of information to the push channel. BackWeb provides more than 40 publishing templates with the Publishing Wizard, and channel owners can create their own templates. The Publishing Wizard makes it possible to publish quickly and without programming, potentially reducing the cost of ownership and deployment of push channels.

Flexibility, User Controls

* New Notifier technology: BackWeb 3.0 includes "Announcer" and "Ticker" notifiers which alert users of new information or software, and a filtering functionality which sifts data by channel/watch word, providing greater flexibility to view content.

Connectivity and Communication - Power and Simplicity

* Improved server functionality: Improved server/console communications, channel filtering capability and enhanced plug-in support.
* Bandwidth conservation and real-time data delivery through IP multicast support: V3.0 integrates TIBCO's TIB® technology, as an additional charge option, which has been integrated with BackWeb. For corporations that can make use of this capability, BackWeb broadcasts will require minimal network bandwidth and gives corporate users the ability to deliver mission critical information in real-time. IP multicasting allows each person on the network to receive data/content from a single broadcast copy.
* Connectivity with minimal programming: BackWeb's enhanced hook technology makes it simpler to connect BackWeb Servers to other systems in the enterprise such as databases, commerce systems, and legacy systems.

Open System Architecture

BackWeb V3.0 supports current and past versions of Netscape and Microsoft browser platforms.

Pricing and availability

The BackWeb 3.0 Client is available from the BackWeb web site at www.backweb.com. BackWeb 3.0 Server software is also available now, with pricing starting at $10,500.

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.