Business Objects Selected as Decision Support Tool in Microsoft Alliance for Data Warehousing

Business Wire, Sept 17, 1996

PHOENIX--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 17, 1996--Business Objects (NASDAQ: BOBJY), the world's leading provider of integrated query, reporting, and online analytical processing (OLAP) tools, today announced that BusinessObjects 4.0 has been selected as the decision support tool in Microsoft Corp.'s Alliance for Data Warehousing.

Microsoft's Alliance for Data Warehousing offers a framework designed to address the infrastructure for the metadata, administration, and data movement required in a data warehousing solution. Microsoft is working with other companies that are committed to providing a scaleable data warehousing solution, from workgroup solutions up to multi-terabyte size databases. As the end user decision support partner, Business Objects will provide end users with integrated query, reporting, and OLAP on top of Microsoft SQL Server data warehousing solutions.

Other Microsoft Alliance for Data Warehousing partners include ExecuSoft, Informatica, NCR, Pilot, Platinum, Praxis, and SAP AG. (Editor's note: see related Microsoft and partner announcements dated September 17, 1996.)

Microsoft's new open framework for Data Warehousing, Active Data Warehousing Framework, consists of a metadata repository; a set of data transformation services; a set of data movement interfaces; and a set of administration services.

"BusinessObjects is a best-in-class end user decision support tool known for its ease-of-use for end users performing query, reporting, and OLAP on data warehouses," said Jim Ewel, group product manager, Desktop and Business Systems Division at Microsoft Corporation. "Microsoft's new data warehousing strategy combines leading third-party vendors to provide customers with a complete data warehousing solution."

"We are extremely excited to have been selected for Microsoft's Alliance for Data Warehousing," said Dave Kellogg, vice president of corporate marketing of Business Objects. "There is tremendous synergy between our two companies -- BusinessObjects 4.0 is fully 32-bit architected and runs on all Windows platforms.

"The product was recently awarded `Microsoft Office Compatibility' and `Designed for Windows 95' logo certification. And increasingly, BusinessObjects is the end user tool of choice for data warehousing, including warehouses built with Microsoft SQL Server. Our relationship, and Microsoft's vision for the creation of the data warehousing solution, ensures that we will help to guide our mutual customers in the data warehousing arena."

Business Objects sells an integrated family of decision support system (DSS) tools, including:

-- BusinessObjects REPORTER, the industry's leading end user query and reporting tool. According to a recent market survey by International Data Corp., BusinessObjects REPORTER outsells its nearest competitor by a factor of two to one.

-- BusinessObjects EXPLORER, an integrated online analytical processing component that includes slice and dice, and advanced drill down functionality.

-- BusinessQuery, an add-in for Microsoft Excel that allows users to query against the BusinessObjects semantic layer to import data into Microsoft Excel.

-- Tools for information systems (IS) staff to setup, deploy, and maintain the DSS environment, including BusinessObjects DESIGNER and SUPERVISOR.

About Business Objects

Business Objects (NASDAQ:BOBJY) is the world's leading supplier of integrated query, reporting, and OLAP tools. The company's flagship product, BusinessObjects, provides mainstream business users with access to information stored in corporate databases, data warehouses, and packaged applications.

The company pioneered the market for business-intelligent decision support tools in 1990 by introducing the first product to use a "semantic layer" to map complex database schemas to a business representation understandable by non-technical end users.

Business Objects led the overall decision support tools market in 1995 with software license revenues of $48.7M. Business Objects generated over $60M in revenue in 1995, concluding its fifth consecutive year of more than 100% revenue growth. BusinessObjects is in use at over 3,200 organizations in over 60 countries, and has sold more than 350,000 licenses around the world.

Business Objects partners with more than 350 leading third-party vendors including Arbor Software, Carleton, Hewlett-Packard, Informatica, Informix, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, PeopleSoft, Prism, Pyramid, Red Brick, SAP, Silicon Graphics, Sun, Sybase, Tandem, and Texas Instruments. Strategic resellers include Bull, Digital, Fujitsu, NCR, Price Waterhouse, Sequent, SHL, Siemens Nixdorf, Toshiba, and Unisys. More information on Business Objects can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.businessobjects.com. -0-

Note to Editors: BusinessObjects is a trademark of Business Objects SA. Microsoft and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.