IBM Canada and BackWeb Make Doing e-business Easier

Resellers and Distributors Gain Immediate Access to Information as IBM Turns to Push Technology as a Key Differentiator

SAN JOSE, Calif. – December 12, 2000 – BackWeb® Technologies (Nasdaq: BWEB), a leading provider of push technology for e-business, announced today that IBM Canada Ltd. will implement BackWeb's patented Polite™ Push technology to deliver customized, time-sensitive information to IBM Business Partners across Canada. "PartnerCast" will be available to IBM Resellers and Distributors in January 2001.

Powered by BackWeb's acclaimed push for e-business solutions, PartnerCast enables IBM Business Partners to receive daily updates to price lists and inventory information, weekly announcements about IBM products and programs, and other important company messages right from their desktop. This eliminates the hassle of frequenting the company's Web site or filtering through e-mails for relevant information.

BackWeb's multimedia Flashes automatically appear on a user's screen, instantly alerting partners to the arrival of their IBM update – with no interruption to the application in use – allowing them to click and view a quick summary.

"This new technology from BackWeb will make it easier for our Business Partners to do business with us," said Gary Isaacs, Director of Partners, IBM Canada Ltd. "BackWeb's technology allows us to communicate with the Channel in a more meaningful way, tailor our deliverables according to specific interest groups - differentiating IBM from our competitors."

As part of a pilot group to test the service, 15 Canadian IBM Business Partners have already been receiving alerts and notifications, beginning with a sophisticated multimedia video presentation to introduce the innovative service. IBM is also capitalizing on BackWeb's file replication services to automatically update a software tool used by Business Partners to configure IBM products whenever a deal closes. Each day, BackWeb's technology drops up-to-date pricing and supply information into the software directory accessed by the configurator so that Business Partners can be confident the figures they're using are current.

"IBM understands the power of push technology in establishing strong bonds with an organization's business community," said Eli Barkat, chairman and CEO of BackWeb Technologies. "With BackWeb, pertinent information travels straight to the partner and is enhanced with high-impact images and media. IBM is joining the growing number of BackWeb customers that are changing the face of business communications, while establishing BackWeb as a de facto Internet infrastructure standard."

About IBM
IBM is the world's largest Information Technology company. Information on IBM products and services can be obtained at www.ibm.com/ca, calling 1-800-IBM-4YOU, or visiting The IBM Store or an IBM Business Partner.

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.