LEADING INDUSTRY ANALYST FIRM RANKS BUSINESS OBJECTS NUMBER ONE END-USER QUERY AND REPORTING VENDOR

The largest segment within IDC’s Information Access Tools (IAT) market, end-user query and reporting accounts for 39% of the overall IAT market.  Designed to provide end users with self-service access to data, the query and reporting segment is being driven by deployments with an increasing number of users both within and outside an organization.  Business Objects continues to take the number one spot in this segment, as the company is now the industry standard for extranets with over 750 extranet customers, and for enterprise deployments, with several customers who have rolled out Business Objects to 10,000 or more users.

“I started this company based on one important vision – to empower individuals to access, analyze, and share information,” said Bernard Liautaud, chief executive officer of Business Objects.  “Twelve years later this is still our singular focus, and the market has again rewarded our vision and quality products with the number one spot in the query and reporting segment.  We have continued to innovate with new products for extranets, web services, mobile BI, and analytic applications, and the market has responded in favor of Business Objects.  This clearly explains why Business Objects enjoys the fastest growth amongst IDC’s five largest business intelligence vendors, and we will continue to set the pace with new innovations and breakthroughs for the business intelligence industry in the years to come.”

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 BUSINESSOBJECTS 2000, the industry’s leading integrated business intelligence toolset and platform; and BUSINESSOBJECTS ANALYTICS, an integrated suite of enterprise analytic applications.

Business Objects pioneered the modern BI industry in 1990 by inventing a patented “semantic layer” that insulates users from the complexity of databases. In 1995, the company was first to focus on enterprise-scale BI deployments and today supports customers with more than 20,000 users.  The company moved aggressively to the internet in 1997 by pioneering the market for BI extranets, a market that it continues to lead today.  In 2000, the company delivered the industry’s first interactive mobile BI solution.  Today, Business Objects continues to innovate, creating and delivering a unique vision for enterprise analytic applications.

Business Objects has more than 15,500 customers in over 80 countries. The company’s stock is publicly traded under the ticker symbols NASDAQ: BOBJ and Euronext Paris (Sicovam 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.

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BUSINESSOBJECTS and WEBINTELLIGENCE are trademarks or registered trademarks of Business Objects SA. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

A full-text copy of this announcement may be downloaded from the web; access http://www.businesswire.com/cnn and search on “Business Objects.” Business Objects product inquiries should contact 800-527-0580.