Business Objects Redefines Simplicity for End Users with BusinessObjects XI Release 2; Innovations Improve Simplicity for End Users, Trust in Information, and Ability to Standardize on One Platform

Business Wire, Oct 3, 2005

SAN JOSE, Calif. & PARIS -- Business Objects (Nasdaq:BOBJ)(Euronext Paris ISIN code: FR0004026250 - BOB), the world's leading provider of business intelligence (BI) solutions, today announced the launch of BusinessObjects(TM) XI Release 2, the latest version of BusinessObjects XI, the industry's most advanced and complete business intelligence platform. Significant enhancements and new capabilities in BusinessObjects XI Release 2 will improve simplicity for end users, trusted information, and the ability standardize on a single BI platform. Today Business Objects also unveiled BusinessObjects Intelligent Question(TM), a groundbreaking innovation that allows anyone to intuitively ask business questions and receive the correct answers, without the need to build a query or know the underlying systems or data.

"BusinessObjects XI Release 2 paves the way for the future of business intelligence and builds on the continued success of the industry's most successful BI platform," said John Schwarz, CEO of Business Objects. "Our success with BusinessObjects XI has been phenomenal -- customers are rapidly adopting the platform and it has had a fantastic reception by industry influencers. Organizations continue to standardize on Business Objects because we remain laser-focused on their success and continue to deliver breakthrough innovation. With BusinessObjects XI Release 2, we offer a revolutionary new solution that puts business information into the hands of all users across every organization. We have removed obstacles to end-user adoption so that BI will reach the people who never used BI before."

Breakthrough Innovation Brings Business Intelligence to All Business Users

BusinessObjects XI Release 2 introduces BusinessObjects Intelligent Question, a new milestone for business intelligence. This new capability provides customers with a dramatically simplified user interface that allows anyone to intuitively ask questions and quickly get the answers they need to make better business decisions. Instead of making people adapt to BI systems, they now get answers to their business questions by asking questions in straightforward business terms.

Intelligent Question allows everyday users to ask questions that range from very basic to a more in-depth investigation of business conditions. For example, a sales executive can ask "who were my top five customers from last quarter," and then delve deeper by building more sophisticated questions like, "who were my top five customers based on net sales from my region in the past 12 months?"

For more information on Intelligent Question, please see the companion press release, "Business Objects Ushers in New Era of Business Intelligence with Launch of BusinessObjects Intelligent Question" at http://www.businessobjects.com/releases/intelligentquestion.> Users Get Answers How and Where They Work

BusinessObjects XI Release 2 provides customers with enhancements and new capabilities that make it easier to perform deeper analysis, without the need to learn sophisticated new tools.

Enhanced Web Intelligence Lets Users Synchronize Data from Multiple Sources

BusinessObjects XI Release 2 delivers significant enhancements to Web Intelligence that increase users' power and flexibility to answer business questions. The new version of Web Intelligence substantially enriches the user experience on the web and synchronizes data from multiple sources so users can more easily perform query and analysis across these sources. Now users can bring information together from OLAP and relational databases, and seamlessly perform query and analysis on the data as if it originated from a single source.

Full Client Functionality Available on BusinessObjects XI Platform

BusinessObjects Desktop Intelligence(TM) allows Business Objects full client customers to move to BusinessObjects XI Release 2 and receive all of its benefits, including collaborative decision-making capabilities, sophisticated scheduling, and the BI Encyclopedia which provides business context. With Desktop Intelligence on the BusinessObjects XI platform, users have a single place to view all BI content and share it with other colleagues.

Enhanced Performance Management and New Planning Capabilities

Innovations in BusinessObjects XI Release 2 significantly enhance how data is displayed and interacted with in dashboards and scorecards. With improved data display and visual effects, customers can view more business information within dashboards and scorecards, at the same time making it simpler for users to read and interpret.

BusinessObjects XI Release 2 is integrated with performance management solutions from SRC Software, which Business Objects acquired on August 24. Customers can benefit from a broad array of performance management solutions, including BusinessObjects Budgeting, BusinessObjects Strategic Planning, and BusinessObjects Consolidations.

Business Insight People Can Trust

People across the organization from the board room to the mail room need trustworthy information to make immediate decisions to improve their organization's performance. The increased focus on compliance across private and public organizations means that it is no longer sufficient to simply report numbers in a document. BusinessObjects XI delivered a trusted platform with unmatched stability and data credibility. With BusinessObjects XI Release 2, business users and IT managers gain unprecedented visibility into where the data comes from, how it was calculated, and how recently it was updated.