Analyst Firm Recognizes Business Objects as Strong Reporting Tool for SAP

Business Wire, Sept 16, 2002

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 16, 2002

BARC Institute Gives Business Objects High Marks in Data Connection, Portal Integration, and Overall Product Functionality

Business Objects (Nasdaq: BOBJ), the world's leading provider of business intelligence (BI) solutions, today announced that it has been ranked by BARC Institute as one of the top reporting tools for SAP. BARC Institute, an independent German analyst firm, evaluated 13 reporting and analysis tools with a certified interface to SAP on their functionality and integration. According to BARC, Business Objects showed very good integration with SAP and scored high marks in reporting. A summary of this study may be found at www.businessobjects.com/products/olap/sap_barc.htm.> "With many SAP BW sites now going into production, users are asking for tools that can facilitate SAP BW access and provide a wide range of end user functionality," said Herr Carsten Bange, founder and CEO of BARC. "Our mission is to carefully review software products for the European market and give unbiased advise in tool selection. This study of BW front-end tools is highly valued by the SAP user group, a very demanding audience."

"This is fantastic news," said Crispin Read, vice president of product marketing at Business Objects. "We are pleased to be so highly rated in this specialized reporting domain. As the BI market leader, we have a significant number of SAP customers, and this study proves our ongoing commitment to providing the SAP user community with multiple choices for accessing their data. Customers can continue to use our award-winning business intelligence tools to access the SAP data warehouse, or can use our new data integration tools, based on technology we acquired from Acta Technologies, Inc. to access the SAP operational data directly. It's all about giving customers choices for data access, and we have the best products for every case."

BARC performed an in-depth review of 13 reporting products from software companies around the world including Cognos, Crystal, and SAP. BARC Institute evaluated products in their test labs, looking at criteria such as user friendliness, report creation and distribution, information presentation and manipulability, programming interface, and administration and security. Business Objects scored high marks for data connection, portal integration, and overall product capabilities. More information on this market research may be found at www.barc.de or by calling 49-931-8806510.

About BARC

The Business Application Research Center (BARC) has thoroughly evaluated software products in its own test labs since 1999. As a spin-off from the University of Wuerzburg, BARC ensures profound and objective advise in tool selection with market reports, seminars and individual consulting to companies. BARC reports on Business Intelligence products are recognized as the leading unbiased tool evaluations in central Europe. BARC can be reached at 49-931-8806510 or www.barc.de.

About Business Objects

Business Objects is the world's leading provider of business intelligence (BI) solutions. Business intelligence lets organizations access, analyze, and share information internally with employees and externally with customers, suppliers, and partners. It helps organizations improve operational efficiency, build profitable customer relationships, and develop differentiated product offerings.

The company's products include data integration tools, the industry's leading integrated business intelligence platform, and a suite of enterprise analytic applications. Business Objects is the first to offer a complete BI solution that is composed of best-of-breed components, giving organizations the means to deploy end-to-end BI to the enterprise, from data extraction to analytic applications.

Business Objects has more than 16,000 customers in over 80 countries. The company's stock is publicly traded under the ticker symbols NASDAQ: BOBJ and Euronext Paris (Euroclear code 12074). It is included in the SBF 120 and IT CAC 50 French stock market indexes. Business Objects can be reached at 408-953-6000 and www.businessobjects.com.

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