BackWeb announces new European channels; launches training program.

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 20, 1997--

Heineken, Lufthansa to Use BackWeb's Push/Pull Technology

At Internet World here today, BackWeb Technologies announced that Heineken and Lufthansa will join the more than 80 companies using its Internet push broadcasting software to deliver rich content directly to users' desktops. The company also launched its BackWeb Solution Partner program in Europe and named its sales manager for Germany.

BackWeb also announced that the U.K.'s .Net magazine, in a joint promotion with U.S.-based House of Blues, will distribute 50,000 cover-mounted CDs of the BackWeb client software presubscribed to the House of Blues channel with its Connected music and technology magazine. The channel will deliver audio and video clips from Radiohead's new album, "OK Computer," which is scheduled for release on 16 June.

BackWeb's innovative push/pull server technology enables companies to personalize channels; multicast real-time content; conserve bandwidth; and intelligently deliver any kind of content, including web pages, rich multimedia, software, and corporate data. The company plans to deliver native French and German versions of its client software by the end of summer.

"We're aggressively building a fast-moving sales organization and customizing our training programs and tools for developers and resellers in Europe*s diverse markets," said Eli Barkat, CEO of BackWeb. "We see European corporations moving quickly to evaluate push technologies and we expect sales here to represent a significant portion of our revenue over the next few years."

New European Channels

Frankfurt-based Lufthansa is the first airline to use push technology for customer service. The company will use its BackWeb channel to deliver updates on ticket prices and flight schedules, and to announce new programs and services. Lufthansa plans to deliver personalized content to its customers about special offers that can be booked directly via hyperlink to the Lufthansa InfoFlyway.

"We use the web to provide information to customers - and potential customers - all over the world, with localized content in the international markets where Lufthansa is operating," said Dr. Roland Conrady, head of Lufthansa's Multimedia Department. "BackWeb gives us a way to proactively reach them with the personalized information they want, helping us to promote our special offers and to build an ongoing, one-to-one relationship with those customers."

From Amsterdam, internationally renown brewer Heineken announced today that it will use BackWeb's push/pull broadcasting technology to deliver updates on Heineken events and give subscribers a bandwidth- friendly way to receive popular features from the company website. For example, subscribers will receive the popular Heineken screensavers at the turning of each season, downloaded in the background during their idle time online. Heineken sponsors sports and music events in many of the 170 countries in which its beer is distributed; using BackWeb's powerful personalization features, the company will use its channel to notify subscribers of an upcoming event in their region. Heineken will also use its channel to notify subscribers of exciting, last-minute live events, like last year's RealAudio broadcast of a secret Joe Cocker concert in Amsterdam.

BackWeb Solution Partners

The BackWeb Solution Partner (BSP) program is unique in the push technology market, with business models for programmers, developers, system integrators, Internet service providers (ISPs) and consultants. In the first quarter of 1997, BackWeb conducted two-day seminars in 11 U.S. cities, training more than 200 developers from more than 80 companies; a second series of training events is underway in more than 20 U.S. cities. BackWeb launches its BSP program in Europe with two training sessions during Internet World here this week. There are currently over 40 authorized BSPs, including eight in Europe: Kender Thijssen, Business Communications BV and World On Line of the Netherlands, Blue Window of Switzerland, Framtidsfabriken AB and Spray in Sweden, FranceNet and Imaginet of France, and Italy's Chorus.

BackWeb/Europe's Sales Management Team

Leif Ringard will manage sales operations in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Ringard joins BackWeb from NetManage, where he was central European sales manager, establishing Central Europe as the company's leading revenue contributor outside of the U.S. He was previously a key account manager for Microsoft in Germany, specializing in the aerospace and automotive industries.

The company will announce a UK sales manager shortly. Both sales managers will report to Marc Kawam, BackWeb's managing director for Europe. Kawam is setting up the company's European headquarters and tech support operation in Amsterdam.

About BackWeb Technologies

BackWeb develops and markets personalized push/pull broadcasting software for the Internet, reversing the Web so that rich content finds interested users rather than users having to search for it. BackWeb gives companies the easy-to-use software they need to build their own Internet, intranet or extranet broadcast channels and regularly deliver rich content and applications, in any format and on any platform, directly to customers, prospects, employees, suppliers or distributors. More than 80 organizations are already delivering content over the Internet or intranets to users' desktops using BackWeb's broadcasting software.

CONTACT: BackWeb Harvard PR for BackWeb Europe

Debbie Lacy Ben Maynard

408-487-0852 44-181-759-0005

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