Polite™ Push Technology to Enable Proactive Communications with National Sales Network

Global Medical Technology Leader Automates Delivery of Sales and Training Information and Multimedia Content to Sales Team of 1,000

SAN JOSE, Calif. — December 18, 2000 — BackWeb® Technologies (Nasdaq: BWEB), a leading provider of push for e-business solutions, today announced that Guidant Corporation (NYSE and PCX: GDT) is turning to BackWeb's patented Polite push technology to streamline the distribution of sales and training materials to Guidant's national network of over 1,000 medical device sales representatives.

Powered by BackWeb's acclaimed e-Accelerator suite, Guidant can automatically send the same sophisticated, media-rich sales materials via their network that previously were delivered via courier in printed and CD format. In addition, Guidant plans to use BackWeb for its educational program delivering computer-based training and modules with media rich content to each end user's desktop through the company's Intranet infrastructure.

"BackWeb takes the guesswork out of Web-based communications by automating and streamlining the information flow and by enabling us to establish a two-way Web connection with every one of our sales representatives across the United States," said William McConnell, vice president and chief information officer of Guidant. "With BackWeb, we are using our network to dramatically streamline what was once a brick-and-mortar communications infrastructure to create a much more powerful, interactive and useful way to reach our entire sales force."

Because BackWeb allows companies to match specific information with the appropriate personnel, Guidant sales professionals will receive the most up-to-date communications and information relevant to their particular needs and customer base. BackWeb's Polite push technology allows Guidant to send information only when network bandwidth is available, so users can receive content in the background and without creating performance interruptions to other network applications such as email and browsing. BackWeb's multimedia Flashes automatically appear on the user's screen to instantly alert sales representatives to the arrival of critical content without interfering with current applications in use on the desktop. BackWeb delivers alerts and digital packages of any size or format, including audio, video, graphics and html.

"Guidant is making strategic use of its network to streamline communications within a sales force that is broadly distributed across the United States," said Eli Barkat, chairman and CEO of BackWeb Technologies. "Using BackWeb's e-Accelerator Suite, Guidant ensures that no matter where individual salespeople are located, the company can deliver the right information to the right person at the right time."

About Guidant Corporation
A global leader in the medical technology industry, Guidant Corporation provides innovative, minimally invasive and cost-effective products and services for the treatment of cardiovascular and vascular disease. Guidant Corporation also provides physicians with leading-edge technologies for improved patient management and clinical outcomes.

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.