Disaster Preparedness Organization Relies on crystalreports.com for Hurricane Season; On-Demand Business Intelligence Solution from Business Objects Enables Instantaneous Sharing of Vital Information across Multiple Agencies and Counties

Business Wire, Sept 5, 2006

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 that NC4, the National Center for Crisis and Continuity Coordination, is using crystalreports.com to coordinate disaster preparations and emergency management for this year's hurricane season in Florida. The on-demand business intelligence and reporting solution from Business Objects will be used in conjunction with NC4's E Team emergency management system to help nine vulnerable counties in central Florida coordinate response and relief efforts in the event of a disaster. With crystalreports.com, NC4 will be able to instantly share reports created in Crystal Reports(R), the industry-standard reporting solution from Business Objects. The reports will help officials across multiple agencies track events and coordinate large-scale responses.

NC4 provides crisis preparedness and coordination services to help businesses and government agencies deal with major incidents and disasters. NC4's E Team emergency management system is the only incident management application proven to work in large, complex, multi-agency disaster responses with hundreds of simultaneous users. E Team has been successfully used in nearly every major disaster or event of the last five years, including 9/11 and the major hurricanes that hit Florida including Charley, Frances and Ivan.

Crystal Reports has long been an important part of E Team's ability to disseminate information and foster communication among disparate government agencies and emergency managers. Users rely on Crystal Reports to increase insight into response efforts and coordinate every aspect of disaster recovery. During hurricane recovery and relief efforts, NC4 provided integrated command center operations for many jurisdictions throughout Florida. Crystal Reports was instrumental in extending E team's ability to track requests, provide situational awareness, report on life safety requests, or calls for police assistance.

"Many lessons have come from the Hurricane Katrina experience, but none more hard earned than the recognition that coordinating response activities across a large region is a massive undertaking requiring centralized coordination, precise tracking of complex processes, real-time updates, and instantaneous information sharing," said Eric Kant, director of field operations for NC4 Public Sector. "With its ability to instantly share detailed, accurate, and interactive reports among a broad base of users, crystalreports.com is an essential component of our preparation for this unpredictable season in Florida. The efficiency of an on-demand reporting solution is of great benefit during emergency response, when time is of the essence."

An on-demand report sharing platform, crystalreports.com combines the reporting power of Crystal Reports with web-based information delivery to allow users to access vital data from anywhere in the world. NC4 is using crystalreports.com, along with its E Team emergency management software, to provide improved coordination and situational awareness among Florida government agencies and emergency responders before a hurricane strikes. The system will also ensure post-hurricane requests for rescue teams, food, shelter, clothing, and transportation are communicated to the right entities and tracked for completion. The project is funded by grants from the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) and Regional Domestic Terrorism Task Force Region 5.

"Central Florida is a vast geographic area with varied topographic conditions and multiple vulnerabilities, and it is essential that all levels of government maintain the ability to operate effectively," said Kirsten Scholl, Planning and Operations Coordinator of Brevard County Office of Emergency Management. "NC4 and Business Objects have brought together advanced technologies that are taking us a major step forward in our ability to coordinate responses and provide essential services in the face of any crisis."

The NC4 project includes the Florida counties of Brevard, Indian River, Lake, Martin, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, St. Lucie, and Volusia. In addition to hurricane preparedness and response, the system will enable NC4 to manage planned events, respond to unexpected emergencies, and coordinate multi-agency response efforts throughout central Florida.

"In the event of a natural disaster or major incident, we have the infrastructure in place to provide total insight into response efforts, which is essential for interagency collaboration and coordination at the state and local levels. As we reach the height of the hurricane season, the citizens of central Florida can rest assured that the technologies from NC4 and Business Objects will help us weather any storm that comes our way," said Spencer Hawkins, Deputy Director, City of Orlando Office of Emergency Management.

"It is gratifying to see crystalreports.com contributing to our nation's efforts to respond more quickly to natural disasters, and aid our citizens in a time of crisis," said Jay Johnson, vice president of the Government Business Unit at Business Objects. "Business Objects solutions create a centralized infrastructure for the immediate sharing of data and we believe this capability will be essential to emergency preparedness and response technologies in the years to come."