Business Objects Introduces Crystal Reports On Demand; New On-Demand Business Intelligence Solution Gives Small and Mid-Sized Customers an Instant, Simple, and Secure Way to Share Critical Information

Business Wire, April 10, 2006

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Business Objects (Nasdaq:BOBJ)(Euronext Paris ISIN code: FR0004026250 - BOB), the world's leading provider of business intelligence (BI) solutions, today announced the availability of crystalreports.com, the company's new software as a service offering. An on-demand report sharing platform that enables customers to securely share important business information, crystalreports.com will allow mid-sized organizations to take advantage of the industry's most advanced and complete BI platform without additional investments in their IT infrastructure. Now organizations of any size can share timely and accurate information, which is fundamental to their ability to make critical business decisions and improve performance.

"With the availability of crystalreports.com, Business Objects, the world leader in business intelligence solutions, is bringing the power of on-demand computing to BI customers worldwide," said Marc Benioff, Chairman and CEO, salesforce.com. "Earlier this year, salesforce.com and Business Objects announced the launch of Crystal Reports for AppExchange, which enables salesforce.com customers to benefit from the world standard for enterprise reporting directly in their Salesforce implementations. As the leading software as a service provider, salesforce.com is excited to see enterprise vendors like Business Objects move in this direction."

Research from industry analyst firm IDC shows that worldwide spending on software as a service stood at $4.2 billion in 2004 and is expected to reach $10.7 billion by 2009, representing a compound annual growth rate of 21%(1).

"The announcement of crystalreports.com is the first major software as a service (SaaS) initiative in the BI market," said Dan Vesset, research director at IDC. "Demand for BI software remains strong as the universe of BI users is expanding. We expect new BI software delivery methods such as this SaaS offering from Business Objects to be well received by the market and contribute to further penetration of BI software into organizations of all sizes."

crystalreports.com Extends BI Capabilities to Small and Mid-Sized Organizations

Until now, web-based access to report sharing and distribution has been available only to organizations with the IT infrastructure required to support such solutions. For small and mid-sized organizations with limited resources, the alternative has been to deliver static reports via email or hard copy which is time-consuming and leads to conflicting data. With crystalreports.com, small and mid-sized customers can simply and quickly share Crystal Reports with employees, partners, and customers. By offering customers the leading reporting solution on demand, Business Objects will help organizations to reduce expenditures on software and hardware, shorten deployment cycles, and optimize existing IT investments.

With crystalreports.com, accessing and sharing information is instant, simple, and secure. Report authors simply create or refresh the Crystal Reports document they wish to share, upload it to crystalreports.com, and create a list of users authorized to view this information. Authorized users can view current reports at crystalreports.com as well as snapshots of prior reports. Users can also drill down for further information within the report and easily navigate within large reports.

In addition, crystalreports.com enables current users of Crystal Reports (R) XI to add value to their existing investment. Critical business data already resides in Crystal Reports and crystalreports.com allows organizations to easily share that information online.

"Software as a service is transforming the software landscape. We are the market leader in business intelligence and one of the first to offer the benefits of an on-demand BI solution to our customers," said John Schwarz, chief executive officer at Business Objects. "Our top priority is providing customers -- regardless of size or IT resources -- with BI solutions that meet their unique needs and ultimately improve business performance. The introduction of crystalreports.com continues our tradition of innovation and builds on our momentum in the mid-market, which began in early 2005 when we introduced the award-winning Crystal Reports Server, designed specifically for mid-market customers."

Availability and Pricing

There are two service plans for crystalreports.com: Basic Service Level and Premium Service Level. Basic Service Level is a complimentary feature of Crystal Reports XI, and is generally available now in North America. Premium Service Level, which will be available for a monthly subscription fee, is expected to be generally available in North America later this quarter. Both service plans will be delivered globally during the second half of 2006. For more information on both Basic and Premium please visit www.crystalreports.com.

About Business Objects

Business Objects is the world's leading business intelligence (BI) software company. With more than 35,000 customers worldwide, including over 80 percent of the Fortune 500, Business Objects helps organizations gain better insight into their business, improve decision making, and optimize enterprise performance. The company's business intelligence platform, BusinessObjects(TM) XI, offers the BI industry's most complete and trusted platform for performance management, planning, reporting, query and analysis, and enterprise information management. BusinessObjects XI includes Crystal Reports(R), the industry standard for enterprise reporting. Business Objects has also built the industry's strongest and most diverse partner community, and the company offers consulting and education services to help customers effectively deploy their business intelligence projects.