BURLINGTON, Mass., August 17, 2000—Cognos^® (Nasdaq:COGN; TSE:CSN), the world's largest and most successful business intelligence company, today announced that it has become an executive global member of the Application Service Provider (ASP) Industry Consortium, an international advocacy group promoting the ASP industry. As the only business intelligence vendor in the Consortium, Cognos will help to drive ASP industry success through support of research, best-practices promotion and articulation of the measurable benefits of the ASP delivery model of computing.

According to a recent Gartner Group report, the ASP market is expected to reach $25 billion by the end of 2004, growing from an expected $3.5 billion by the end of this year. (Source: Gartner, Audrey Apfel) Cognos' relationship with the Consortium expands and strengthens its commitment to the ASP delivery channel. With Cognos' market-leading business intelligence solutions, ASPs can extend their business application services, increase the speed of business cycles, and deliver fast and high return on investment to their subscribers. By looking after key infrastructure requirements like business intelligence solutions, ASPs provide a service that allows their customers to stay focused on their core business competencies.

"By joining other market leaders in the Consortium with a common goal to support ASP success, Cognos hopes to increase awareness of our partners value and expand business for our ASPs," said Ted Jandl, Cognos area vice president of North American partner channel sales. "Last year, Cognos was the first BI vendor to build a program around the ASP model, complete with services offerings and a dedicated sales force. In addition to our dominant marketshare in North American BI sales, our membership in the Consortium positions Cognos as 'the' business intelligence provider best suited to offer cost-effective, intelligent solutions, that grow seamlessly with an organization's needs."

Business intelligence is a natural extension of the ASP model. Cognos has the experience and expertise to provide intelligent e-business solutions to every category of ASP, including value-add vertical providers (CRM, ERP, Financial), horizontal single-source providers, and hosting organizations. Cognos has invested in its ASP partners' success by providing the necessary sales, marketing, development, education, and services that new ASP partners need to support their business efforts, speed up the sales cycle, and maximize profits. Cognos has also created an ASP start-up package that brings fast results in infrastructure deployment.

"The complementary partnership between Cognos and Surebridge boasts a tremendous value proposition for growing companies or departments of larger companies who require a business intelligence solution, but do not have the required IT resources to support this initiative," said Pradeep Khurana, Founder and Executive Chairman at Surebridge Inc., a leading single-source application service provider (ASP) based in Lexington, Mass. "Cognos' market-leading business intelligence offerings add significant functionality to our already powerful suite of business applications. As the ASP marketplace evolves, the combination of Cognos' solutions and Surebridge's innovative practices allows our customers to better understand their business, make informed decisions quickly and create competitive advantage in their respective industries."

About the ASP Industry Consortium
Founded in May of 1999, the Application Service Provider Industry Consortium is an international advocacy group of more than 550 companies formed to promote the application service provider industry by sponsoring research, promoting best practices, and articulating the measurable benefits of this evolving delivery model. Its goals include educating the marketplace, developing common definitions for the industry, as well as serving as a forum for discussion and sponsoring research. Technology sectors represented in the ASP Industry Consortium membership include Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), Network Service Providers (NSPs), Application Service Providers (ASPs), as well as emerging business models and other sectors supporting the industry. Information on the ASP Industry Consortium - including a full list of member companies - is available at www.allaboutasp.org.