Cognos and Fujitsu Launch Cognos PowerNavigator Server

Cognos (Nasdaq: COGN; TSX:CSN), the world leader in business intelligence (BI) and corporate performance management, and Fujitsu Limited, a leading provider of customer-focused IT and communications solutions for the global marketplace, today announced the launch of Cognos PowerNavigator Server, a jointly developed business intelligence software package for large-scale data analysis. The new product, which integrates Cognos PowerPlay® from Cognos with Fujitsu's Symfoware® Navigator Server, will be available in Japan starting May 21.The newly developed technology puts all the requirements for a 10 Gbps switch used to connect servers and storage devices on a single board in place of the bulky equipment that was previously required, thereby paving the way for dramatically more compact and less expensive systems overall.

The result of a global strategic alliance struck this year, Cognos and Fujitsu will aggressively pursue joint marketing and sales into the Japanese enterprise market. Leveraging the scalable 64-bit online analytical processing (OLAP)⁽¹⁾ of Symfoware Navigator Server and the market-leading usability and performance of Cognos PowerPlay the solution gives organizations an effective means to present large volumes of data to business users for analysis and exploration. Specifically, this hybrid-style OLAP software combines the high-speed analysis of the MOLAP ⁽²⁾feature of Cognos PowerPlay, which enables users to store frequently used data in a special multi-dimensional database, with the flexibility of the ROLAP⁽³⁾ feature of Symfoware Navigator Server, which enables users to directly search terabyte-size relational databases and effectively analyze the results

Large retailers, for example, capture a huge volume of point-of-sale data, and executives, corporate planners, regional managers, and store managers each need to be able to take the data-on sales, products, stores, and inventory-and to analyze it from different perspectives.

The new product brings together the summary data analysis functions of Cognos PowerPlay and the detailed data analysis functions of Symfoware Navigator Server to offer one system that enables a variety of different types of users to get data of whatever level of detail they need and quickly and flexibly analyze it to get the answers they need.

Through collaboration between their headquarters in Japan and Canada, the two companies have established a joint system for top-quality support services for its joint customers.

"Today's announcement is a key milestone in our global strategic alliance with Fujitsu," said Rob Ashe, president and chief operating officer, of Cognos. "With our alliance in sales, marketing, and development, we are bringing Cognos' powerful solutions and services to Japan, the Asia-Pacific region, and the global marketplace. We expect the opportunities for our best-of-breed business intelligence and performance-management solutions to continue expanding in this strategically important region."

Yoshiyuki Tanakura, Corporate Vice President and Group President of Software Group, Fujitsu Limited, said, "Effective analysis of corporate data is of vital importance to our customers. Fujitsu is delighted to be able to complement its mission-critical performance and scalable solutions in this field with Cognos' unrivaled business intelligence and performance management, which will give our corporate clients solutions that are easy to use and present information in a way that can be immediately grasped."

Advantages

1. Hybrid software merges advantages of different OLAP approaches
   
   Combines MOLAP's speed at inputting frequently used data into a multi-dimensional database and ROLAP's flexibility in direct query relational databases and enabling multi-dimensional analysis of the results. Important data can be quickly and easily analyzed in graphical form, and data not already present in the multi-dimensional database can be extracted from a data warehouse. This lowers overall system load and makes for quick responsiveness.
   
2. Easy setup
   
   ROLAP features make it easy to create a multi-dimensional database model and load data. The control point ⁽⁴⁾feature from Symfoware Navigator Server makes it possible to populate the multi-dimensional database axes with the contents of a source database without changing its structure. Detailed data warehouse access can be set up automatically, doing away with the work of developing multi-dimensional database builders and detailed data access rules, thereby minimizing startup costs. Moreover, no specialized expertise is required for ongoing maintenance, which keeps running costs down and simplifies ongoing management.
3. Integrates large-scale corporate system architecture with authentication
   
   Generates a one-time multi-dimensional optimized summary database based on large volumes of company-wide data in a 64-bit logical space for tabulating, processing, and extracting data. The multi-dimensional database can then perform analytical operations quickly. Furthermore, a user program can act as a gateway to any other system-a staff database, directory server, etc.-for purposes of authentication. This makes the system more secure and more convenient for users.