Business Objects Announces WebIntelligence 2.0; Advanced extranet features and new OLAP module deliver e-business intelligence

Business Wire, July 13, 1998

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 13, 1998--Business Objects (NASDAQ:BOBJY), the world's leading provider of integrated enterprise decision support tools, today announced WebIntelligence(TM) 2.0, a new release of its enterprise query, reporting, and online analytical processing (OLAP) solution for the world wide web.

The new release offers features for extranet deployments, a new OLAP module for drilling and charting, and numerous new options for report creation and distribution.

"Business today is converging on the internet. This creates a great opportunity for organizations to communicate and share data over the web with customers, partners, and suppliers," said Bernard Liautaud, president and CEO of Business Objects. "We call this e-business intelligence, and like e-commerce, it drives huge opportunities for our customers to increase growth and profit, reduce cost, and forge new business relationships. From business-to-business extranets, information providers selling data to corporations, and companies delivering customer and information services to consumers, the web and business intelligence is creating a whole new paradigm of universal data access - e-business intelligence."

Business Objects is helping companies take advantage of these new opportunities with WebIntelligence 2.0.

Advanced extranet features for e-business intelligence

WebIntelligence 2.0 is the first web decision support (DSS) tool to deliver advanced extranet features for deploying e-business intelligence applications. These features include: -0-

--   Signed applet. WebIntelligence 2.0 utilizes digital certificate
     technology from VeriSign to digitally sign the Java applet,
     providing added security through third-party verification. This
     is important for companies deploying extranet applications
     because a "signed" applet's security is guaranteed, downloaded
     once, and stored in the browser cache. This state-of-the-art
     security benefits end users by reducing network traffic and
     increasing overall performance.

--   Firewall support. WebIntelligence 2.0 is designed to work with
     multiple firewalls, thus eliminating one of the biggest
     challenges to extranet deployment. To work in extranet
     environments, DSS tools must be able to function through various
     firewall configurations on both the server and client side,
     without requiring changes to security. Some DSS tools use network
     protocols that require configuration changes to the firewall.
     WebIntelligence uses HyperText Transport Protocol (HTTP) which
     enables it to work with multiple firewall configurations and
     ensures a secure environment between companies.

--   Auditing support. WebIntelligence 2.0 now has auditing
     capabilities which enable customers to track user activity and
     monitor the system, store this data in a relational database, and
     regularly access and use that data as the basis for billing
     customers. This new feature gives information providers all the
     data they need to track action on their server and generate
     subscription-, time-, data- or document-based bills.

     Extranet features introduced with the first release of
WebIntelligence include profile-based reports and security.
Profile-based reports enable administrators to create a single report
which, when accessed by a user, automatically gives them just the
information they are authorized to receive. This saves administrators
from creating and maintaining a separate report for every individual
customer or supplier, each of whom needs the same report format but
should see just their specific information. Profile-based security
gives administrators detailed control on a per-user basis over all
aspects of data access and resource use, from what data users can see
to the functions they can perform.

New OLAP module

     A new OLAP module called WebIntelligence Explorer allows users to
drill into charts and tables for additional analysis. Users can drill
on information at three levels. First, administrators can provide
predefined interactive reports. When users drill in these reports, the
information is retrieved directly from the multidimensional cache on
the server. Then if a user requires more information they can drill
automatically through a report into the database. WebIntelligence
automatically generates the one or more Structured Query Language
(SQL) statements required to retrieve the data. All of this is
transparent to the user, who does not have to know anything about
where the data is stored. In addition, users can get to information
beyond the database by clicking on a hyperlink and drilling to any
site on the web. With the new OLAP module WebIntelligence provides
users with the only true thin-client, integrated query, reporting, and
OLAP tool for the web. Integration enables users to seamlessly perform
reporting and analysis without having to switch among several tools,
and allows information systems professionals to more easily set up and
maintain the DSS environment.

Numerous new reporting features

     WebIntelligence 2.0 has a streamlined personal home page, the
user's point of entry into the system that allows quicker and easier
navigation through corporate and personal reports. The improved home
page provides expanded and compressed views, more intuitive navigation
bars, sorting capabilities, quick search options, list caching, and
inbox icons. Also, WebIntelligence 2.0 now offers standard financial
and form reports, which are especially useful for creating balance
sheets and product catalogues. In addition, users can now easily
access and refresh a wider range of documents, including sophisticated
reports from BusinessObjects 4.1, the full-client DSS tool from
Business Objects.

     WebIntelligence 2.0 entered beta in June 1998. Customers
currently working with it include:

--   Bankers Trust
--   Cadence Design Systems
--   Duke Energy
--   Eli Lilly and Company
--   Pacific Investment Management Company
--   Penske Logistics
--   Philips Semiconductors BV
--   Owens & Minor
--   Syncor International Corporation
--   Telecom Italia
--   United States Postal Service
--   Zurich-American Insurance