Business Objects Announces Crystal Xcelsius Connectivity With Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services; Data Visualization Product Latest in Series of Microsoft Compatible Solutions From Business Objects

Business Wire, July 11, 2006

BOSTON -- Business Objects (Nasdaq:BOBJ)(Euronext Paris ISIN code:FR0004026250 - BOB), a leading provider of business intelligence (BI) solutions, today announced that Crystal Xcelsius(TM) Workgroup, its award-winning data visualization solution, now includes point-and-click connectivity to Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services. The product is the latest in a set of Business Objects offerings designed to extend the power of BI to more users, and ensure customers get the most out of their Microsoft investment.

Crystal Xcelsius Workgroup, a simple visualization design tool, allows business people to transform their company data into interactive presentations, business dashboards, and visual "what if" models. SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services customers now have a simple connector to easily access and transform their reports into compelling information that can help them communicate ideas more effectively, analyze future scenarios, and make better business decisions. Plus, with one click, they can share their dashboards and models -- with live connectivity to the database -- right within their Microsoft Office applications, or over the web through Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003.

Business Objects has a strong track record of providing deep integration with Microsoft products. Crystal Reports(R) XI, the company's reporting solution, has won numerous awards, including the Visual Studio Magazine Readers' Choice Award, honoring outstanding software for Microsoft .NET Framework-based reporting, 11 years running.

BusinessObjects(TM) XI Release 2 tightly integrates with several products in the Microsoft environment, including:

--Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 -- customers can use BusinessObjects XI Release 2 to turn reports, graphs, and metrics into dashboards within SharePoint Portal Server 2003

--Microsoft Office 2003 and the upcoming 2007 Microsoft Office system -- customers can use BusinessObjects XI Release 2 to embed accurate, live data into Microsoft Office Word 2003, Microsoft Office Excel 2003, Microsoft Outlook 2003, and Microsoft PowerPoint 2003, with similar support planned for the 2007 Microsoft Office system.

--Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 -- customers can integrate BusinessObjects XI Release 2 into any .NET Framework-based application using the Visual Studio 2005 Software Development Kit (SDK), which provides visual drag-and-drop controls and a fully documented API

--Reporting for Microsoft Dynamics -- customers can use BusinessObjects XI Release 2 to create virtually any report from Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics SL, or Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0.

"Microsoft and Business Objects have had a strong alliance for over a decade now," said Eddie Amos, senior director of the Global ISV Group at Microsoft. "This new connectivity of Crystal Xcelsius to SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services provides compelling benefits to our mutual customers through powerful visualization capabilities available on top of the Microsoft Windows platform."

"Business Objects provides customers with the business intelligence industry's strongest and most comprehensive integration with the Microsoft platform," said Janet Wood, senior vice president of global partnerships and sales enablement at Business Objects. "By introducing SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services connectivity in Crystal Xcelsius Workgroup, we are building on our tradition of delivering valuable solutions for the Microsoft environment, allowing an even wider set of users to benefit from business intelligence. For our partners, this means an added opportunity to meet the needs of their customers with innovative, powerful BI solutions tightly connected to the Microsoft environment."

"Business Objects continues to provide us with new opportunities to bring innovative BI solutions to our customers," said Troy Clemente, vice president of professional services at Conversion Services International. "With SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services connectivity to Crystal Xcelsius Workgroup, we now have an even stronger Business Objects solution for our customers that work in a Microsoft environment. We love the visualization and simplicity of Crystal Xcelsius, and our customers will be excited at the added capabilities they now have to transform their data into powerful, compelling, and interactive dashboards."

Crystal Xcelsius Workgroup 4.5 with SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services connectivity is generally available. For more information on Business Objects solutions for Microsoft, please visit http://www.xcelsius.com/sql, or attend this upcoming webinar at http://www.xcelsius.com/Learning/Webinar.html.> Business Objects also announced today general availability of Crystal Xcelsius Viewer, which enhances data visualization capabilities in BusinessObjects XI Release 2. For more information on this announcement, please visit www.businessobjects.com/releases/crystal_xcelsius_viewer.> 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 of all sizes create a trusted foundation for decision making, gain better insight into their business, and optimize performance. The company's innovative business intelligence suite, BusinessObjects(TM) XI, offers the BI industry's most advanced and complete solution for performance management, planning, reporting, query and analysis, and enterprise information management. BusinessObjects XI includes the award-winning Crystal line of reporting and data visualization software. Business Objects has also built the industry's strongest and most diverse partner community, and offers consulting and education services to help customers effectively deploy their business intelligence projects.