BURLINGTON, MA, November 19, 2002—Cognos (Nasdaq: COGN; TSX: CSN), the world leader in business intelligence (BI), today announced that ESAB, the world's largest producer of welding consumables and equipment, has selected Cognos Series 7 to be used enterprise-wide.

The ESAB group is organized in five regions; Europe, North America, South America, Asia/Pacific and India. Production units for machines and consumables are located in plants all over the world and ESAB is represented in almost every country by subsidiaries or representatives. ESAB needed a to create a consistent reporting environment for all subsidiaries.

Previously, many of the reports were created manually. The reporting process will now be much more efficient and comprehensive thanks to the reporting, analysis, scorecarding and event detection capabilities in Cognos Series 7.

"The breadth in Cognos business intelligence solution, Cognos Series 7, was of decisive importance for our selection of Cognos", explains Bruno Romskaug, IT-Director for ESAB Europe. "We wanted a comprehensive solution to meet all our demands, from scorecarding and alerts to deep analysis."

ESAB is already using Cognos PowerPlay for financial reporting. The new corporate performance management solution, including sales, inventory and accounts receivable analysis, will be rolled out during the coming months.

With Cognos Series 7, the subsidiaries will be able to follow their own aggregated numbers, but also to make detailed analysis. Cognos event detection provides the users with the ability to subscribe to reports delivered through e-mail and wireless devices. And the executives at ESAB will be able to measure, monitor, and manage the parameters that impact corporate performance, using the scorecarding functionality in Cognos Series 7.

"ESAB is a successful company who recognizes that business intelligence is a strategic imperative in achieving their corporate performance management goals", said Rein Hoogland, area vice president of Northern Europe, Cognos. "Having one consistent, unified view of the corporate data will tremendously benefit both the subsidiaries as well as the management."

About ESAB
The ESAB group is owned by Charter plc of London and has 7,183 employees worldwide. In 2001 the total turnover was £621.5 million. The group is organized in five regions; Europe, North America, South America, Asia/Pacific and India with production units for machines and consumables all over the world. Almost 100 years of continuous research, development and manufacturing have made ESAB the world leader in welding and cutting as well as the leading international supplier of products, know-how and services for welding and cutting solutions. For more information, visit the ESAB web site at www.esab.com.