BusinessObjects XI 3.1 gives customers even more flexibility and power to access all information -- regardless of format, shape, size or location -- enabling everyone to make more confident decisions based on trusted, reliable information.

Consistently executing against its commitment to openness with a BI platform that supports heterogeneous computing environments, BusinessObjects XI 3.1 now offers integration with data sources from a variety of vendors, including HP, Microsoft, Netezza and Oracle. BusinessObjects XI 3.1 also offers simplified access to transactional data, as well as increased speed and scalability with new native support for 64-bit architecture.

Many organizations today have heterogeneous IT environments, which include various applications, databases or operating system and hardware platforms -- all generating data that companies need to access and turn into intelligence that fuels their business. BusinessObjects XI 3.1 addresses this need by providing integration with a wide variety of data sources, including Oracle enterprise applications and databases -- such as the latest Oracle database versions. With direct connectivity to information locked within their Oracle systems, organizations can consolidate and transform Oracle data into reports that can be shared for collaborative decision-making. Business Objects will enable users to make the most of information stored in PeopleSoft Enterprise, JD Edwards EnterpriseOne and Siebel applications.

"Our research into factors that lead to pervasive use of business intelligence suggests that providing self-service access to all available, relevant information, which can originate in different internal or external systems, is key to BI diffusion," said Dan Vesset, program vice president, IDC. "Organizations should include in their BI software evaluation processes solutions that provide end user access through multiple query, reporting and analysis tools, and at the same time support functionality for structured data and unstructured content integration from multiple sources."

"Our customers assemble a range of solutions and platforms designed to meet their unique business operational needs," said Allan Pym, vice president, business development, APOS Systems Inc. "This new version of the Business Objects platform enables customers to integrate and utilize those various IT assets. We participated in beta tests for BusinessObjects XI 3.1 and believe it provides our joint customers with great opportunities to better leverage enterprise data and their diverse solutions, which will yield better business decisions."

The Business Objects BI platform provides connectivity to all widely-used IT systems. Customers can seamlessly leverage information contained in data warehouses solutions from HP Neoview, Netezza and Teradata. The solution also integrates with Microsoft platform components like Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and Microsoft SQL Server 2008, as well as Microsoft Sharepoint Services and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.

"With the launch of BusinessObjects XI 3.0 earlier this year, we delivered the industry's first intelligence platform," said Marge Breya, executive vice president and general manager, Business Intelligence Platform, Business Objects. "The enhancements in this new version show continued execution against our roadmap and demonstrate that we are open to any application, infrastructure or data source. Our customers can eliminate 'knowledge shadows' in their organizations by giving more people broader access to the information they need to get their jobs done. Furthermore, we are empowering our Oracle customers with the industry's leading BI platform, enabling them to harness data from their Oracle applications and sources and use it to optimize business performance."

Simplified Access to Transaction Data for All People

BusinessObjects Voyager, software that enables easy exploration of OLAP data, was launched last year as part of the Business Objects BI platform. With BusinessObjects XI 3.1, Business Objects introduces new visualization options that bring business users and analysts closer to the insight they need to make more informed business decisions on rich and complex data. Voyager aggregates transactional data from OLAP backends and presents it within graphical interfaces, allowing users to more easily explore the data from different perspectives. Using new box or scatter plots, business users can analyze, slice, dice and visualize sales data by region, product, account executive and time period. This multidimensional insight paints a more holistic picture of their business, allowing users -- whether they are financial analysts or district sales managers -- to make better decisions and create smarter business strategies.

Improved Speed and Scalability

Anticipating customers' increasing use of 64-bit architecture for business applications, the Business Objects BI platform now offers native support for 64-bit architecture, enabling customers to handle larger data sets and speed up the delivery of accurate information to all users.