BURLINGTON, MA, July 8, 2003 —Cognos (NASDAQ: COGN; TSX: CSN), the world leader in business intelligence (BI) and corporate performance management, today announced that it has been selected by Start Magazine as one of the Hottest Companies of 2003. Chosen as one of the industry's leading technology providers in manufacturing, Cognos has exhibited superior innovation and versatility, according to Start Magazine.

"Cognos continues to deliver enterprise value and demonstrable return on investment to its manufacturing customers. Cognos was a standout performer this year, demonstrating solution and service excellence for the manufacturing sector," said Peggy Smedley, editorial director, Start Magazine.

Many of the world's largest, most innovative manufacturers are using Cognos to drive their performance and allowing them to effectively employ quality methodologies like Six Sigma, ISO certification, EFQM and TQM. Cognos multi-metric dashboards present performance data from across organizations, letting decision-makers measure and direct action against key indicators. Users can spot patterns and view performance data from all points along any given process.

"It is an honor to be selected by Start Magazine for our continued contributions to the manufacturing industry," said Paul Hoy, director, manufacturing industry marketing. "Cognos is focused on delivering solutions and best practices to our manufacturing customer base, enabling them to drive, monitor and alert against key performance metrics."

Cognos is profiled in Start Magazine's sixth annual awards issue in July.