Business Objects and SAP Expand Relationship; Industry Leaders Working In Cooperation To Provide Next-Generation DSS Solution.

PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 26, 1996--Business Objects (NASDAQ: BOBJY), the world's leading provider of integrated query, reporting, and online analytical processing (OLAP) tools, today announced the expansion of its relationship with SAP America Inc., the world's leading provider of business application solutions.

Business Objects announced that it is working in cooperation with SAP on a version of BusinessObjects that will natively access SAP(TM)'s R/3(TM) data through SAP's Business Application Programming Interface (BAPI), rather than using structured query language (SQL) calls to directly access the underlying databases used by SAP's R/3 application.

The effort represents an industry first which is being undertaken by Business Objects with the support of SAP.

Today, DSS vendors often access SAP data by issuing SQL calls to the underlying databases used by R/3. While this approach is often used today, it has limitations. This project will eliminate the limitations of the direct SQL access approach by generating native BAPI calls for data access directly from within BusinessObjects.

"We are pleased to be expanding our relationship with Business Objects to provide flexible information access to address our customers' needs," said Alex Ott, vice president of global partnerships. "Through the open architecture of R/3 and our Business APIs, we are continuing to provide a framework for integrating third-party products with SAP."

"This announcement is an exciting development," noted Henry Morris, research director for Applications and Information Access at International Data Corp.

"Business Objects recognizes the inherent synergy in working closely with applications vendors to provide access to the goldmine of data captured by packaged applications. Not all of this information is visible via SQL access to the underlying database. By committing to provide connectivity to SAP R/3 through BAPI, Business Objects provides access for its customers to business rules maintained by the R/3 application."

"SAP is a key partner for us," said Dave Kellogg, vice president of corporate marketing at Business Objects.

"We've worked closely with both SAP, and major SAP customers, before deciding to commit to a BAPI-based strategy. We believe that this new project will provide our mutual customers with a strong set of benefits: security, performance, and the ability to access all of the data managed by R/3 in an easy and straightforward way."

This project will allow BusinessObjects to access data from multiple data sources and seamlessly link data from different sources into a single business report. The approach taken through BAPI will be complementary to the existing approaches offered by Business Objects for its customers to access R/3 data. Those approaches are: -0-

    -- Access to SAP's logistics information system either directly
       or via the Starter Kit provided by Business Objects for
       accessing LIS data.
    -- Access to data warehouses built by using third-party
       extraction tools, such as those from Prism Solutions.
    -- SQL/ODBC access to underlying SAP databases.-0- Availability

A prototype of the Business Objects BAPI interface is being demonstrated by Business Objects at the SAPPHIRE(R) '96 conference in Philadelphia. Product availability will be announced at a later date.

About Business Objects

Business Objects (NASDAQ:BOBJY) is the world's leading supplier of integrated query, reporting, and OLAP tools. The company's flagship product, BusinessObjects, provides mainstream business users with access to information stored in corporate databases, data warehouses, and packaged applications.

The company pioneered the market for business-intelligent decision support tools in 1990 by introducing the first product to use a "semantic layer" to map complex database schemas to a business representation understandable by non-technical end users.

Business Objects led the overall decision support tools market in 1995 with software license revenues of $48.7M. Business Objects generated over $60M in revenue in 1995, concluding its fifth consecutive year of more than 100% revenue growth. BusinessObjects has been licensed in more than 50 countries to 3,200 customer sites and 185,000 users worldwide.

Business Objects partners with more than 350 leading third-party vendors including Arbor Software, Carleton, Hewlett-Packard, Informatica, Informix, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, PeopleSoft, Prism, Pyramid, Red Brick, SAP, Silicon Graphics, Sun, Sybase, Tandem, and Texas Instruments. Strategic resellers include Bull, Digital, Fujitsu, NCR, NEC, Price Waterhouse, Sequent, SHL, Siemens Nixdorf, SHL, Toshiba, and Unisys.

More information on Business Objects can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.businessobjects.com. -0-

Note to Editors: BusinessObjects is a trademark of Business Objects SA. SAP, R/3, and SAPPHIRE are trademarks, registered trademarks, or registered servicemarks of SAP AG. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

CONTACT: Business Objects

Tracy Eiler, 408/953-6031

[e-mail]

or

Blanc & Otus

Danielle Dawson, 415/512-0500

[e-mail]