BackWeb Delivers Personalized Broadcasting Software on Multiple Platforms

Internet World Booth #381

NEW YORK, N.Y., December 11, 1996 -- BackWeb Technologies today announced the general availability of its personalized broadcasting software for the Internet. The BackWeb Client software is now available for Windows 95, Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 3.11, with a Mac version scheduled for early 1997. The BackWeb Channel Server software is now available for Windows NT, in addition to the currently available Solaris server. The company also announced its plans for an HTTP option for the BackWeb Client and a new BackWeb Proxy Server/Repeater, both scheduled for release in the first quarter of 1997. BackWeb also introduced 20 new Internet content channels in a separate announcement here today.

BackWeb provides easy-to-use software products that enable companies to build broadcast programming channels on the Internet and thereby create one-to-one relationships with users and customers. While early players in the personalized broadcasting category have been content aggregators or platform-specific providers, BackWeb's approach is to give companies the software they need to build their own broadcast channels and regularly deliver rich content and applications, in any format and on any platform, directly to users and customers.

"We are proud to be delivering today on the promise of content push, with client and server software that is ready to use on a variety of platforms," said Eli Barkat, CEO of BackWeb. "BackWeb is the first in this category to deliver real channels, real customers, and real value to consumers."

Based on user testing over the past six months, BackWeb has enhanced its client software to include a new user interface, support for QuickTimeTM and QuickTime VRTM, and performance improvements for faster background delivery. The BackWeb Client already supports Netscape plug-ins and with this release adds support for Java applications and applets. Microsoft's Java Virtual MachineTM will now be distributed with the BackWeb Client so channel owners can be assured of having as many users as possible capable of running Java content and applications. The BackWeb Channel Server also includes support for Java, so that channel owners can specify Java content to be delivered to subscribers who have installed the Java Virtual Machine.

Solutions for the Enterprise
BackWeb also announced plans to support TIBCO's TIBnet family of products, which were unveiled this week at Internet World. BackWeb will integrate the TIBnet protocol into future versions of BackWeb's client and server software, to provide massively scalable solutions in large corporate network environments where millions of users have to receive the same content.

"TIBCO is the first of many alliances BackWeb will make with back-end providers," said Barkat. "We will partner with companies that provide information services, databases, commerce, and real-time architectures, to connect them into the BackWeb platform and thereby give their corporate customers the ability to easily develop automated processes for one-to-one broadcasting of their content and business applications."

Check Point Software Technologies, makers of the market-leading FireWall-1 network security software, today announced immediate secure support for BackWeb's Channel Server software. FireWall-1 users can get the BackWeb Channel Server support by downloading add-on code from Check Point's web server at no charge, and then integrating it into their current FireWall-1 installations. FireWall-1 secures BackWeb's UDP-based delivery technology by maintaining a virtual connection on top of UDP communications. BackWeb uses a UDP-based protocol because it offers significant usability and performance benefits for background delivery of rich, multimedia content over the Internet.

To further ensure BackWeb's usability in secure enterprise environments, the company will offer corporations the option of using either BackWeb's UDP-based "Polite Agent" protocol or an HTTP protocol to easily address the issue of firewalls. BackWeb plans to offer an HTTP download option to its current BackWeb Client in January 1997. This option will give corporations the flexibility to receive information in the form they choose. In addition, BackWeb's Proxy Server/Repeater will be available in February for companies with large numbers of BackWeb users. It improves performance by caching frequently-accessed material, and integrates BackWeb with corporate firewall systems. It also acts as a repeater/amplifier to optimize performance of a particular channel. Future versions of the Proxy Server will add powerful resource management and subscription services capabilities.

BackWeb Product Background
The BackWeb Client is free, downloadable software for users available from BackWeb or any of the companies that have BackWeb channels. The Client works in the background to download content or software from any channel to which the user has subscribed. It allows users to set their own preferences for what kind of information is to be received and when and how it should be displayed. The Client features BackWeb's ground-breaking "Polite Agent" delivery technology, which doubles Internet users' bandwidth by sending content during their idle online time, and its "Flash" display technology, which alerts users to the background arrival of content in whatever application they're using.

BackWeb's Channel Server software stores content and software and broadcasts it to appropriate users for Internet or intranet applications. It can also access content from existing corporate systems. The Channel Server gives channel owners the ability to do detailed targeting, to assign intelligent behavioral attributes to their channel, and to generate feedback reports.

The following organizations are already delivering content over the Internet to PC users' desktops using BackWeb's personalized broadcasting software: ZDNet, General Motors, InfoSeek, The Weather Channel, Utopia, The Patricia Seybold Group, Pulver.com, EarthWeb's Gamelan Java Application Directory, and Mecklermedia's iWorld. This week at Internet World, BackWeb announced 20 new channels, including American Singles, Astrology.net, GeoCities, inquiry.com, The Jerusalem Post, Jumbo!, NetRadio Network, ResourceWorks, SmartGames, The SnowReport Channel, SOFTBANK Expos, The SoundBox, SportsLine USA, TuneUp.com, Vanguard Media, Virtual Vineyards, VocalTec, The Wall Street Journal, Web Publisher, Y? Entertainment, and WGBH. Users can subscribe to channels by downloading the BackWeb Client for free at www.backweb.com. BackWeb Technologies is exhibiting at Internet World here this week, in booth #381 at the Jacob Javits Center.

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.