Global Facilities Management Leader Uses Business Objects for Customer Relationship Extranet

Business Wire, June 20, 2000

Business Editors, High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 20, 2000

Dalkia Facilities Management Deploys WebIntelligence from Business Objects to Provide Customers with e-Business Intelligence Capabilities

As the new economy continues to expand, every industry is rewriting the rules for how to do business on the internet.

Dalkia Facilities Management (FM), a global leader in facilities management and energy optimization with operations in 26 countries and nearly 22,000 employees, has established an e-business leadership position with the launch of a logistics and facilities management extranet for its customers. The extranet is based on WEBINTELLIGENCE(R), the leading query, reporting, and analysis solution for the internet from Business Objects (Nasdaq:BOBJ), the world's leading provider of e-business intelligence (e-BI) solutions.

Dalkia FM is using WEBINTELLIGENCE to provide its customers including Bull, General Electric, and Philips, with self-service access and analysis to a wide range of information that previously was not available to them. Now, with direct access via the internet, customers responsible for managing facilities and capital expenses within large corporations will have a powerful solution to help them manage costs and drive productivity.

For example, customers will have direct access to information on facilities renovation, optimized use of floor space, changes in energy consumption, and telephone service line quality level. Using WEBINTELLIGENCE, they can view this information in table or graph form, and drill down to get more information on a specific category as needed to address problems or find cost saving opportunities. In addition, they will be able to track employee purchases in order to manage and maintain procurement costs.

"The facilities management industry is going through a major transformation, and we are the leaders of this change," said Alexis Ano, marketing and services director at Dalkia Facilities Management. "We chose Business Objects to power our BI extranet because it is the proven leader in providing extranet solutions that enable tighter links to customers, partners, and suppliers."

"We applaud Dalkia Facilities Management, a visionary company that has applied advanced e-BI technology from Business Objects to transform its industry," said Tony Jewitt, vice president of extranet business development at Business Objects. "We are excited to work with them as they use e-BI to help customers optimize facilities management costs and improve the overall administration of capital expenses."

About Dalkia FM

Dalkia is the new name of the Energy Services Division of Vivendi formed by Compagnie Generale de Chauffe, Esys-Montenay and their subsidiaries. The core businesses -- energy optimization and facilities management -- serve the needs of industrial and commercial customers and large community facilities. Dalkia operates in more than 26 countries with nearly 22,000 employees. Dalkia FM is Europe's leading heating systems management contractor, a top-ranking European facilities management contractor and France's leading independent power producer.

About Business Objects

Business Objects is the world's leading provider of e-business intelligence (e-BI) solutions. The company coined the term e-business intelligence in 1998 to describe the intersection of business intelligence and the internet. Using e-business intelligence, organizations can access, analyze, and share information in intranet, extranet, and e-business environments. In intranets, the company's products provide employees with information to make better business decisions, and are used in environments ranging from workgroups of 20 users to enterprise deployments exceeding 20,000. In the extranet environment, the company is pioneering the use of e-BI in applications that allow organizations to build stronger relationships by linking customers, partners, and suppliers via the internet. In addition, the company's products can improve the performance of an e-business by providing reporting and analysis against the ever-expanding amount of transaction and profile data that is collected each day throughout the world wide web.

Founded in 1990, Business Objects pioneered the modern business intelligence industry by inventing and patenting a "semantic layer" that insulates users from the technical complexity of database systems. Today, the company has sold more than 1,683,000 licenses to 9,700 organizations in more than 80 countries. The company's stock is publicly traded under the ticker symbols NASDAQ: BOBJ and Paris Bourse: BOB. Business Objects can be reached at 408/953-6000 and www.businessobjects.com.

WEBINTELLIGENCE is a registered trademark of Business Objects SA. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

A full-text copy of this announcement may be obtained by calling the Company's fax retrieval line at 800-414-2114 and selecting option "two." The announcement may also be downloaded from the web; access "http://www.businesswire.com/cnn" and search on "Business Objects." Business Objects product inquiries should contact 800/527-0580.