BackWeb and Network Associates Extend Partnership; Network Associates Resells BackWeb's Distribution Technology With Its New iZAC Offering.

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 6, 1998--BackWeb Inc. and Network Associates (NASDAQ:NETA), formerly McAfee Associates, today announced they are extending their strategic partnership as Network Associates combines its SecureCast offering, which includes BackWeb's knowledge distribution technology, with its Zero Administration Client (ZAC) suite.

This combination will yield Network Associates its new iZAC offering, as a component of the ZAC integrated PC management suite, which includes asset and inventory management, software distribution, software metering, PC remote control and desktop lockdown capabilities.

"Network Associates' SecureCast customers have enjoyed the benefits of BackWeb's distribution push technology for more than a year and we're pleased to expand our relationship with BackWeb to provide those benefits to our iZAC customers," said Zach Nelson, general manager of Network Associates' Total Service Desk Division.

Network Associates' customers using iZAC will enjoy the benefits of BackWeb's proprietary Polite Agent distribution technology. BackWeb's bandwidth-friendly technology distributes updates over intranets, extranets and the Internet, only when bandwidth is available. BackWeb's Polite Agent does this by monitoring a user's network connection and reducing or suspending downloads when bandwidth usage is high. This ensures that users are never interrupted by BackWeb downloads.

BackWeb's Polite Agent technology also provides interruptible, differential and compressed, byte-level downloads. This is key for remote, dial-up users who can easily interrupt their network connection during a download. When these users re-connect to the network, BackWeb simply begins downloading at the exact byte where it left off. The differential downloads also enable BackWeb to deliver only the bytes of information that are new. In situations where someone updates and redistributes a large file, this level of bandwidth conservation is key.

"BackWeb is excited to have its knowledge distribution and polite technology integrated in Network Associates' new iZAC offering," said Gwen Spertell, BackWeb Technologies' senior vice president of sales, marketing and business development. "With iZAC, Network Associates' customers are truly receiving a robust administration system that will help them increase effectiveness and reduce the costs associated with software management."

BackWeb and Network Associates' began their partnership in January 1997, when Network Associates began distributing anti-virus updates to its ViruScan customers and incorporated BackWeb into its SecureCast offering. Network Associates has thousands of desktops using SecureCast with BackWeb's distribution technology today.

About BackWeb Technologies

BackWeb Technologies is the leading provider of comprehensive push solutions for intranets, extranets and the Internet. BackWeb focuses on empowering enterprises with knowledge enabling innovation, timeliness of decisions, profitability and enhancing competitive edge. Corporations are currently using BackWeb for knowledge delivery and automation for business critical areas such as sales and reseller communications, HR and organizational behavior, process management, application management, electronic business and customer retention.

About Network Associates

With headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif., Network Associates, Inc., (NASDAQ:NETA), formed by the merger of McAfee Associates and Network General, is a leading supplier of enterprise network security and management solutions. Network Associates' product offering includes four individual software suites, McAfee Total Virus Defense, PGP Total Network Security, Sniffer Total Network Visibility, and McAfee Total ServiceDesk, which can be centrally managed from within Network Associates' Net Tools unified management environment. For more information, Network Associates can be reached at 408/988-3832 or on the Web at http://www.nai.com. -0-

Note to Editors: BackWeb is a trademark of BackWeb Technologies. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

CONTACT: BackWeb Technologies

Sheila Paul, 408/933-1769

[e-mail]

or

Network Associates

Lorraine Morgan, 408/346-3454

[e-mail]