British Telecommunications PLC Selects BackWeb to Reach Employees with Vital Information

SAN JOSE, Calif., — December 1, 1999 — BackWeb® Technologies (Nasdaq: BWEB), the leading provider of push for e-business solutions, today announced that British Telecommunications PLC (BT) will use BackWeb technology to proactively deliver critical information to departments across its organization. BT purchased a site license for BackWeb Foundation as part of the telecommunications giant's broad knowledge management initiative.

BT will initially use BackWeb's push for e-business solutions to deliver personalised time-sensitive, business-critical information to employees throughout its organization. With BackWeb's attention management tools, BT will be able to ensure that its communiqués are read and acted upon. The company plans to deploy BackWeb's Priority Internet communication platform to several departments, including its call centers, service desks and service centers.

"With BackWeb's push for e-business solutions, BT is able to deliver vital information to the right people at the right time," said Jerry Thompson, general manager of BT's corporate Internet business. "BT now has the ability to further automate time-consuming processes and to create an efficient Internet communication infrastructure. This allows us to instantly reach employees at every level, and in any location."

With BackWeb's patented Polite™ push technology, BT can deliver multimedia-rich digital packages of any size or format, including audio, video, graphics and html. BackWeb's Polite Agent™ avoids disrupting the customer by using only available bandwidth and politely delivering information and files without impacting network or system performance. Flash notifications can be set for minimum, medium or maximum priority, depending on the urgency of the message.

"British Telecommunications is known for implementing cutting-edge technology to remain at the forefront of global communications products and services," said Eli Barkat, CEO of BackWeb Technologies. "With BackWeb, BT continues to enhance its ability to quickly and effectively meet the information demands of its employees and customers."

About BT Internet and Multimedia
BT Internet & Multimedia Services is one of the UK's largest provider of on-line services for consumer and business use. Its product portfolio includes:

BT Internet - providing a range of Internet services.
btclick.com - free internet access service with no registration, fixed term contracts or monthly subscriptions.
BT Internet PC – Internet access package including PC, installation, tuition, delivery and free weekend access.
Talk21 - free email address service.
A wide ranging portfolio of e-business solutions and Intranet services.

Joint venture initiatives of BT include:

LineOne, a web-based service offering internet connection and online UK focused content. A joint venture between BT and United News & Media.
BiB, a joint venture between BT, BSkyB, HSBC and Matsushita - providing digital interactive television services.
Excite UK, a joint venture with US internet portal, Excite Inc.

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.