Business Objects Announces BUSINESSOBJECTS MDX CONNECT, First Product in Enhanced OLAP Strategy.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 27, 2000

New Product Redoubles Business Objects Commitment to OLAP Data

Sources; Strengthens Integration with Microsoft's OLAP Services 

Business Objects, a leading provider of e-business intelligence (e-BI) solutions, today unveiled a new strategy for accessing online analytical processing (OLAP) servers. In April 2000, Business Objects acquired OLAP@Work, a Canadian-based developer of high-end OLAP reporting tools. Business Objects is now using this acquired technology as the cornerstone of their strategy to deliver a new interface to OLAP data sources, such as Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 OLAP Services, and increase OLAP functionality for end users.

"Business Objects provides front-end data access and analysis tools; we are adamant about not being a database vendor," said Dave Kellogg, senior vice president of corporate marketing at Business Objects. "While each major relational database vendor is aggressively adopting OLAP strategies, our goal is to complement these offerings, not to compete with them. Fortunately, several of our competitors have chosen to compete as both business intelligence tools and data sources," continued Kellogg. "We believe that time will prove this strategy incorrect, and it creates an ideal opportunity for us to work with the major database vendors to complement their database technologies, and not as competitors against it."

The first step of the enhanced OLAP strategy from Business Objects is the announcement of a new product, BusinessObjects MDX Connect(TM), an interface to Microsoft's robust OLAP Server and the first product to result from the company's acquisition of OLAP@Work. BusinessObjects MDX Connect will provide an easy-to-use, powerful, and integrated interface to Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 OLAP Services.

Ease of use. BusinessObjects MDX Connect is built on the existing OLAP@Work query engine that enables non-technical users to easily answer sophisticated business questions based on multidimensional data. Users can create queries without having to understand the complexity of underlying database structures, such as multidimensional expressions (MDX), the query language used to access multidimensional data sources such as Microsoft OLAP Server.

Powerful. BusinessObjects MDX Connect exposes the power of the OLAP server to enterprise business intelligence users. With the new MDX OLAP panel, users can create a filter that enables them to get only the data that is relevant to their report. Filtering capabilities are fundamental to how a user thinks and sees his/her business and are extremely useful for users querying OLAP data. For example, with BusinessObjects MDX Connect a user can ask to see all the products that have sales greater than 100% of the quota that were sold to customers in California. In addition, users can perform more complex functions, such as creating calculations, through a simple wizard-driven interface. This enables non-technical users to access the data they need to create and share corporate reports.

With BusinessObjects MDX Connect, users can meet their enterprise reporting needs by combining both multidimensional and relational data sources all within the same BusinessObjects report. BusinessObjects MDX Connect is based on the existing OLAP@Work technology, designed specifically for accessing Microsoft's OLAP Server. With the acquisition of OLAP@Work, Business Objects has ensured that users get not only the technology, but also the development skills and relationship with Microsoft that was inherent in the OLAP@Work offering.

Integrated enterprise solution. BusinessObjects MDX Connect is a pop-up option from within BusinessObjects. Once users access the multidimensional data, they are automatically brought back into the familiar reporting and analysis environment of BusinessObjects. Users can slice and drill on data, create charts, and customize their reports, as well as publish corporate documents to the repository. Information technology staffs have the same enterprise features, such as security, administration, and web capabilities that are found in the Business Objects integrated suite of tools. This tight integration means that users don't need to learn a completely new application and IT staff don't have additional maintenance or deployment tools to roll out. BusinessObjects MDX Connect works with the existing Business Objects suite to provide an enterprise-ready query, reporting and analysis solution all from one integrated environment.

"Business Objects is one of the leaders in the business intelligence industry, and their membership in the Data Warehousing Alliance means that our joint customers can chose a business intelligence solution that is tightly integrated and based on the open standards of the Microsoft Data Warehousing Framework," said Steve Murchie, group product manager for SQL Server at Microsoft Corporation. "Their recent purchase of OLAP@Work illustrated their commitment to SQL Server Analysis Services, and we look forward to working together to deploy Analysis Services to even more enterprise customers."

Availability

BusinessObjects MDX Connect is currently in beta, with general availability expected in 3Q00.

Certain statements made in this press release by Business Objects are not historical facts but are "forward looking statements" and may involve risks and uncertainties which could cause actual future results to differ materially and adversely from those anticipated by such statements. Included among the factors that could affect Business Objects' performance are: delays in production schedules; its ability to effectively manage future growth, and to identify, hire, train and retain, in a highly competitive market, individuals highly skilled in the programming and its rapidly changing technology. For a discussion of these and other risk factors that could affect Business Objects' business, see "Risk Factors" in Business Objects' filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1999.

About Business Objects

Business Objects is the world's leading provider of e-business intelligence (e-BI) solutions. The company coined the term e-business intelligence in 1998 to describe the intersection of business intelligence and the internet. Using e-business intelligence, organizations can access, analyze, and share information in intranet, extranet, and e-business environments. In intranets, the company's products provide employees with information to make better business decisions, and are used in environments ranging from workgroups of 20 users to enterprise deployments exceeding 20,000. In the extranet environment, the company is pioneering the use of e-BI in applications that allow organizations to build stronger relationships by linking customers, partners, and suppliers via the internet. In addition, the company's products can improve the performance of an e-business by providing reporting and analysis against the ever-expanding amount of transaction and profile data that is collected each day throughout the world wide web.

Founded in 1990, Business Objects pioneered the modern business intelligence industry by inventing and patenting a "semantic layer" that insulates users from the technical complexity of database systems. Today, the company has sold more than 1,910,000 licenses to over 10,200 organizations in more than 80 countries. The company's stock is publicly traded under the ticker symbols Nasdaq:BOBJ and PARIS BOURSE: code SICOVAM 12074, and 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.

A full-text copy of this announcement may be obtained by calling the Company's fax retrieval line at 800/414-2114 and selecting option "two." The announcement may also 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.

Note to Editors: BusinessObjects is a trademark of Business Objects SA. WebIntelligence is a registered trademark of Business Objects SA. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.