Business Objects Delivers Business Intelligence Web Services.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 11, 2002

Enhanced Version of BusinessObjects(TM) Developer Suite Allows

Greater Information Sharing and Enables Next Generation Business

Intelligence Extranets

Continuing to lead the business intelligence industry in the adoption of cutting edge technology, Business Objects (Nasdaq:BOBJ), the world's leading provider of business intelligence (BI) solutions, today announced the delivery of business intelligence web services. Business Objects has incorporated web services into BusinessObjects(TM) Developer Suite, the company's development toolkit that allows customers and partners to customize, integrate, and extend the Business Objects BI platform, enabling companies to develop and deploy business intelligence web services.

Web services enable improved coordination amongst multiple computing platforms, applications, and business partners. The combination of business intelligence and web services will provide easier integration of BI information, thus enabling companies to more easily share data within their organization, and externally with their multiple business partners. BI web services will provide greater access to scattered corporate data, while giving users a single sign-in to view consolidated BI information through one portal interface. Companies can also use business intelligence web services to build next generation BI extranets, enabling greater visibility into their network of customers, partners, and suppliers.

"Business Objects continues to innovate and set the pace for the business intelligence industry," said Crispin Read, vice president of product marketing for Business Objects. "Today's successful companies have made BI a cornerstone of their competitive strategy. Now, BI web services will allow businesses to accelerate the adoption and benefits of business intelligence, as companies can tie in more data systems and additional business partners to their networked economy. In the same way we delivered on our vision for business intelligence extranets, Business Objects looks forward to working with our customers to make the BI web services vision a reality."

Integrated Business Intelligence for the Dispersed Enterprise

With BI web services, individuals can easily view consolidated BI information from multiple sources through one portal interface. Key business intelligence data is often spread across disparate systems within an organization -- providing users with only a partial view of the business. This distortion of information can lead to problems such as excess inventory, delayed product deliveries, and ultimately, increased costs. BI web services enable businesses to maximize the value of their BI data by providing an easy way to access and leverage their data as a whole. For example, an appliance manufacturer would be able to compare orders from its ERP system and track shipments from its delivery partner, all from the same portal interface.

Enabling Next Generation BI Extranets

BI web services will enable companies to connect to customers, partners, and suppliers via a central directory, allowing them to seamlessly connect to a greater number of the businesses they work with. Companies will now be able to share information with additional customers and suppliers, without the need for a direct business relationship -- driving added value from their strategic relationships, decreasing costs, and increasing overall customer satisfaction. In addition, BI web services enable companies to combine and consolidate information from their customer, partners, and supplier in one location for analysis -- helping users make better informed business decisions.

Rapid Deployment of BI Web Services

Through support for the leading web services frameworks, .NET and J2EE, along with standards-based web services technologies, Business Objects enables companies to rapidly deploy interactive BI web services to fit their preferred environment. Companies will be able to leverage their existing infrastructure and business intelligence applications to help lower the total cost of ownership and increase the overall return on their business intelligence investments.

"We look forward to working with Business Objects to help companies quickly and easily benefit from business intelligence web services using .NET," said Graham Clark, General Manager of the Platform Strategy Group at Microsoft. "Business Intelligence web services from Business Objects can be easily created and deployed on .NET, providing companies a way to seamlessly interoperate across disparate systems and platforms without compromising their existing IT investments."

Using the enhanced version of BusinessObjects Developer Suite, customers can provide interactive BI functionality, such as "list reports" or "drill down reports," as web services -- integrating BI into their disparate applications. Web services are standards-based software components that can communicate and work together over the internet, using the simple object access protocol (SOAP). The web services framework also includes directory services through the Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration project (UDDI), a central directory where businesses can register and subscribe to web services. The business intelligence web services capabilities in Developer Suite are expected to be generally available on the .NET and J2EE platforms by the end of June 2002.

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(TM) 2000, the industry's leading integrated business intelligence toolset and platform; and BusinessObjects(TM) 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 http://www.businessobjects.com.

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