Sydney, Australia, January 14 2003—Reaction from industry analysts and market watchers has been overwhelmingly positive in the wake of the recently-announced acquisition of Adaytum, global leader in planning and performance management solutions, according to Cognos the world leader in business intelligence (BI).

Leading industry analysts and market research firms like IDC and META Group have offered up positive perspectives on the industry implications of the Cognos acquisition. According to many leading analysts, the deal will serve to strengthen Cognos' corporate performance management (CPM) leadership.

"With the acquisition of Adaytum, Cognos significantly advances its corporate performance management strategy and accelerates the completeness of its CPM vision. The integration of a well established planning and budgeting business with Cognos' existing solutions could provide significant upside potential to organisations seeking comprehensive closed-loop performance management," said Henry Morris, Vice President for Applications and Information Access at IDC.

"The acquisition of Adaytum by Cognos is highly complementary for both companies," states John Van Decker, Senior Program Director, META Group. "It elevates Cognos' closed-loop business performance management (BPM) solution in the marketplace and is consistent with the business intelligence space evolving to BPM by adding metrics management, modeling and planning functionality to traditional reporting."

"AMR Research believes that this combination is a good move for both firms and allows the soon-to-be expanded Cognos to address more application opportunities within its target markets," said John Hagerty, Vice President of AMR Research.

"Cognos will be well on its way to vying for the CPM crown. By melding its technologies with Adaytum's e.Planning software and financial expertise, Cognos is fortifying itself to continue battling with BI vendors, pure-play financial analytic suppliers, and enterprise resource planning (ERP) giants for a share of the emerging CPM market. Although the winner will never take all, it may take a big share of the CPM spending that is set to grow to approximately $5 billion by 2005," according to Aberdeen Group.

"The addition of a solid planning tool will augment Cognos' existing operational financial capabilities (e.g., budgeting) with more strategic capabilities that are needed across lines of business. The acquisition positions Cognos better vis-à-vis Hyperion, which is the leader in the financial analytic application market," said Andrew Braunberg, Senior Director, Current Analysis.

"We continue to deliver on our commitment to our customers to provide the industry's first comprehensive CPM solution to the market. As echoed by leading industry analysts, the acquisition of Adaytum puts us in a unique leadership position," said Dave Laverty, Senior Vice President, Global Marketing, Cognos.

(Sources: META Group New Analysis: Cognos Purchase of Adaytum Confirms Move Toward Closed-Loop Business Management, 12/27/02; META Group client advisor: Cognos adds Adaytum to the Business Plan, 1/6/03; AMR Research Alert: Cognos Acquires Adaytum and Bolsters Performance Management Agenda, 12/20/02; Aberdeen Group Perspective: Cognos Corporation: Planning to Expand CPM with Adaytum, 1/8/03; Current Analysis Intelligence Report: Cognos to Acquire Adaytum, 12/23/02.)