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[First! for the Web]

Cognos Adds Data Mining -- Vendor seeks to broaden offerings

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Date: Tuesday, February 11, 1997
Source: Information Week
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Information Week via Individual Inc. : Cognos Inc. announced last week that
it plans to acquire data mining specialist Right Information Systems Ltd.
for approximately $8 million. The move is expected to give users of Cognos'
query and reporting tools new ways to access and analyze corporate data.

RIS, a data modeling and forecasting company in the United Kingdom, markets
4Thought, a system that uses neural network technology to help users
identify market trends by running "what if" scenarios. The system runs on
most major server platforms. The company also has a desktop product called
4Tune.

Cognos views the acquisition as a way to broaden its tools business beyond
query and reporting, and online analytical processing (OLAP) at a time when
the market is becoming increasingly competitive with Microsoft, Oracle, and
others.

"Cognos is looking to create a suite of business intelligence tools. Data
mining is the last peg," says Wayne Eckerson, a senior consultant for the
Patricia Seybold Group, a research firm in Boston. "The race is to get data
mining functionality."

Cognos officials scoff at the notion that the company is circling the
wagons in light of Microsoft's recently announced acquisition of OLAP
technology from Panorama Software Systems Ltd. in Tel Aviv, Israel. "Our
strategy is not related," says Alan Rottenberg, senior VP of business
intelligence tools at Cognos, in Burlington, Mass. The company has been in
acquisition talks with RIS, which has its U.S. headquarters in Newburyport,
Mass., for nearly two years, he says. Cognos' biggest competitor,
BusinessObjects Inc., uses RIS technology.

But while many top vendors are interested in data-mining technology, some
users expect a steep learning curve. "It's a good idea for the long term,
but they must keep in mind that the applications for data mining have not
fully reached us yet," says Jerry Najdowski, manager of analytical services
for Kaiser Permanente, a health-care organization in Atlanta. "If their
products integrate this technology, Cognos and other companies will have to
help us understand it and plan."

Rottenberg says Cognos plans to use the RIS technology to improve the core
competence of its products, including Impromptu, a query and reporting
tool, and PowerPlay, OLAP client software, as well as enter new markets.
Meanwhile, Cognos is also preparing Scenario, a data-clarification tool,
which is expected to be available in April.

Copyright 1997 CMP Media Inc.

<<Information Week -- 02-10-97, p. 77>>
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> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
> 
> Sales Contacts
> 
> Media Contacts:
> Roberta J. Carlton or Brittanie Balloch
> Cognos, (617) 229-6600, or
> Rich Nagle/Jennie Svitavsky
> LNS Communications, 617-577-9777
> 
>                COGNOS UNVEILS "SCENARIO" FOR DATA MINING
> 
>    -- New Data Mining Software Joins Cognos' Market-Leading Business
>   Intelligence Tools -- PowerPlay For OLAP And Impromptu For Query &
>                              Reporting --
> 
> BURLINGTON, MA, March 3, 1997 -- Cognos (NASDAQ:COGNF; TSE:CSN) today
> announced its newest business intelligence tool, Scenario, for
> enterprise-wide guided data analysis and data mining. Scenario extends
> the industrys most comprehensive business intelligence product
> family, joining Cognos market-leading PowerPlay, the universal online
> analytical processing (OLAP) client, and the award-winning Impromptu
> query and reporting tool.
> 
> Designed for spotting patterns and exceptions in business data that
> might otherwise be missed, Scenarios sophisticated interface allows
> users to readily visualize the business information being uncovered.
> It automates the discovery and ranking of critical factors impacting a
> business, exposes hidden relationships between factors, and
> establishes thresholds and benchmarks. An intuitive, cost-effective
> desktop tool, Scenario liberates data mining from what is typically an
> expensive and time-consuming process. Insights derived using Scenario
> are achieved directly by those best positioned to use the knowledge
> and to effect rapid change.
> 
> Designed to support faster business decision-making, Scenario:
> 
>    * makes data mining immediately accessible to decision makers;
>    * simplifies business data analysis by filtering out insignificant
>      business variables and relationships;
>    * validates business hypotheses by showing and ranking critical
>      factors and relationships;
>    * leads to new business insights by automating information
>      discovery; and
>    * integrates with Impromptu and PowerPlay as best-of-breed
>      components in the Cognos enterprise business intelligence
>      solution.
> 
> "With Scenario, Cognos is delivering a very important technology to
> business analysts," said George Azrak, national director of IS
> development at Dominos Pizza. Domino's Pizza has been working with
> early versions of Scenario, and has provided Cognos with valuable
> input from an end user's point of view.
> 
> "Accessible data mining is the long-awaited third wave in the data
> warehousing revolution, said Alan Rottenberg, Cognos senior vice
> president, Business Intelligence Tools. "First query and reporting
> brought data to the desktop, then OLAP technologies enabled the
> convenient navigation of massive data warehouses. Data mining is the
> technological leap that automates the information discovery process.
> 
> "Impromptu gives access to the numbers and data on which a business
> runs," Rottenberg continued. "PowerPlay lets individual managers
> explore that data without an army of programmers. Scenario works
> alongside both of those products to refine business data to
> distinguish what really matters. Drawing a straight line to the bottom
> line, this product completes the spectrum of business intelligence
> tools that can arm knowledge workers with the insight to truly
> understand the data that drives a business -- and to reap the
> competitive rewards."
> 
> Scenario uses statistical methods that go beyond "tree" analysis. For
> example, one such method is a data segmentation capability based on
> CHAID (Chi-Squared Automatic Interaction Detection) technology. CHAID
> allows users to find statistically relevant relationships and trends
> within large repositories of business data by refining it down to
> the most useful nuggets that have the greatest effect on the results
> being tracked. Subsequent releases of Scenario will include
> neural-network modeling and forecasting capabilities, using
> technologies from Right Information Systems, which was recently
> acquired by Cognos.
> 
>                        Pricing and Availability
> 
> Available from Cognos for $695, Scenario 1.0 for Windows 95 or Windows
> NT requires an IBM-compatible 486 PC and 8 MB of RAM. Scenario will
> ship in the second quarter of 1997.
> 
>                                 Cognos
> 
> Cognos is the global leader in providing business intelligence
> software to satisfy enterprise-wide data access and analysis needs.
> With over 410,000 copies of these products in thousands of companies
> worldwide, PowerPlay and Impromptu consistently service the widest
> range of users across corporate, departmental, workgroup, personal,
> intranet and mobile applications. The products support over 100
> relational and OLAP data sources, and are available in seven major
> languages. Cognos business intelligence products can be purchased from
> Cognos regional offices and more than 700 resellers around the world.
> 
> Cognos develops, markets and supports -- both directly and through
> resellers worldwide -- client/server tools for business intelligence
> and application development on a wide range of open and proprietary
> computing platforms. Cognos is a publicly traded company with
> principal offices in Ottawa, Canada and Burlington, MA. Cognos' World
> Wide Web address is http://www.cognos.com.
> 
>                                   ###
> 
> COGNOS, IMPROMPTU, POWERPLAY, and SCENARIO are trademarks of Cognos
> Inc. Other products mentioned in this document are registered,
> trademarked, or service marked by their respective owners.
> 
> Note to Editors: Copies of previous Cognos press releases and
> Corporate and product information are available on Cognos' World Wide
> Web (WWW) site and PR Newswire's site. Product and company information
> can also be found at the Cognos' CompuServe forum (GO COGNOS).
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
>  [ Home ] [ About Cognos ] [ International ] [ Careers ] [ Purchase ]
>          [ Contact ] [ What's New ] [ Business Intelligence ]
>    [ Application Development ] [ Support and Services ] [ Contents ]
>                               [ Search ]
> 
>                                [Image]

Company Summary                                                                 
===============                                                                 
                                                                                
COMPANY NAME: Cognos, Incorporated                                              
                                                                                
PRODUCT LIST: Axiant 4GL (TM)                                                   
              Impromptu (R)                                                     
              PowerHouse 4GL (TM)                                               
              PowerHouse Client (TM)                                            
              PowerPlay (R)                                                     
                                                                                
Product Contacts Summary                                                        
========================                                                        
                                                                                
CA   Cognos, Incorporated                                                       
     3755 Riverside Drive                                                       
     Ottawa, Ontario K1G 4K9                                                    
     Canada                                                                     
          Sales: Ms. Anna M. Stone                                              
          Voice: (613) 738-1440                                                 
            FAX: (613) 228-0911                                                 
            URL: http://www.cognos.com                                          
                                                                                
DE   Cognos GmbH                                                                
     Lyoner Stra�e 14                                                           
     Frankfurt, 60528                                                           
     Germany                                                                    
          Sales: Bruno Ungermann                                                
          Voice: +49 69 6666802                                                 
            FAX: +49 69 6661061                                                 
                                                                                
Product Summary                                                                 
===============                                                                 
                                                                                
PRODUCT NAME: PowerPlay (R)                                                     
                                                                                
COMPANY NAME: Cognos, Incorporated                                              
                                                                                
ABSTRACT:                                                                       
                                                                                
An enterprise-wide OLAP/multidimensional analysis product.                      
                                                                                
DIGITAL PLATFORMS (ARCHITECTURE, OPERATING SYSTEM, AVAILABILITY):               
                                                                                
                   VAX             VMS            Available now                 
                   ALPHA           D_UNIX         Available now                 
                   ALPHA           VMS            Available now                 
                   ALPHA           NT             Available Jun. 1997           
                   Intel           NT             Available Jun. 1997           
                                                                                
MARKET FOCUS: Data Management                                                   

[First! for the Web]

Cognos Brings Business Intelligence To The Data Warehouse New Releases of
Cognos' Market-Leading Business Intelligence Tools Enable
Analyze-Then-Query(TM) Approach Which Enhances User Productivity and Data
<>

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Date: Tuesday, April 29, 1997
Source: PR Newswire
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BURLINGTON, Mass., April 28 /PRNewswire/ via Individual Inc. -- Cognos(R)
(Nasdaq: COGNF; TSE: CSN) today announced new data-warehouse-optimized
versions of the industry's most comprehensive business intelligence product
family: market-leading PowerPlay(R) 5.2, the universal online analytical
processing (OLAP) tool; and Impromptu(R) 4.0, the award-winning query and
reporting tool.

Cognos designed its BI solution for the data warehouse with three
objectives:

-- to deliver the promised productivity for the business user by allowing

them to focus on getting answers to their business questions and

eliminating their exposure to "query building."

-- improve manageability for the MIS by minimizing maintenance and

leveraging server-centered processing.

-- reduce total cost of ownership by simplifying the user experience,

reducing infrastructure and support requirements and enabling report

publishing over intranets.

Most significantly, Cognos has designed the newest release of its tools to
allow business users to work more naturally in an approach called Analyze-
then-Query(TM). Users start by exploring the information relevant to their
sphere of responsibility in PowerPlay. Moving through the summary level
data, PowerPlay 5.2 allows users to move seamlessly between PowerCubes
(PowerPlay data sources) until the desired business answer is reached. If
the supporting detail level data is required, Impromptu 4.0 is
automatically invoked to submit a qualified managed query. At all stages,
the user is progressing "in context" with each question.

The Analyze-then-Query approach optimizes MIS data warehouse manageability.
Eighty percent or more of ad-hoc queries may be eliminated by viewing data
in an OLAP form. This OLAP-centric approach to the data warehouse
eliminates unnecessary queries and table scans. Summary data can be managed
within PowerPlay, minimizing the requirement for separate summary tables in
the warehouse. In addition, the PowerPlay Administrator Server can create
larger PowerCubes in a shorter update window on Windows(R) 3.1, Windows(R)
95, Windows NT(R) or UNIX platforms.

"Cognos has come out in front of its competitors with a BI solution that
addresses the ease of use requirements of business users while actually
enhancing data warehouse manageability for IS," said Doug Conety, senior
information technology specialist at Air Products and Chemicals Inc.

"Our BI for the Data Warehouse strategy was designed to achieve the primary
goals of our customers," said Alan Rottenberg, Cognos' senior vice
president, Business Intelligence Tools. "The combination of PowerPlay 5.2
and Impromptu 4.0 will give our customers a competitive advantage that will
appear as dollars on their bottom line. This approach to delivering
business intelligence sets the new standard for value delivery from the
data warehouse."

"Cognos' approach to the data warehouse is consistent with Microsoft's
vision for business information delivery," said Joe Brown, Microsoft
product manager, data warehousing. "Analyze-then-Query, as implemented by
applications like PowerPlay and Impromptu running against a Microsoft(R)SQL
Server(TM) data warehouse, is an intuitive means for users to get their
business questions answered."

Cognos has added significant new features to further extend the technology
and market lead for its BI suite.

Impromptu 4.0 now:

-- Publishes reports to HTML with an automatically generated "Report

Navigator";

-- Provides full 32-bit support; and

-- Delivers Open Catalog manageable through OLE Automation.

PowerPlay 5.2 now:

-- Offers enterprise scalability;

-- Supports PowerCubes stored on a PC, LAN, or in NT or UNIX relational

databases including Oracle, Informix, Sybase SQLServer or Microsoft

SQLServer; and

-- Publishes reports to HTML.

Pricing and Availability

Impromptu 4.0 and PowerPlay 5.2 are $695 each and will ship in the second
quarter of 1997. These products run under Windows 95 or Windows NT and
require an IBM-compatible 486 PC and 16 MB of RAM. PowerPlay 5.2 also runs
under Windows 3.1.

Cognos

Cognos is the global leader in providing business intelligence software to
satisfy enterprise-wide data access and analysis needs. With over 470,000
copies of these products in thousands of companies worldwide, PowerPlay and
Impromptu consistently service the widest range of users across corporate,
departmental, workgroup, personal, intranet and mobile applications. The
products support over 100 relational and OLAP data sources, and are
available in seven major languages. Cognos business intelligence products
can be purchased from Cognos regional offices and more than 800 resellers
around the world.

Cognos develops, markets and supports -- both directly and through
resellers worldwide -- software tools for business intelligence, and
application development on a wide range of open and proprietary computing
platforms. Cognos is a publicly held company with corporate headquarters in
Ottawa, Canada, and sales headquarters in Burlington, Massachusetts, USA.
Cognos' World Wide Web address is http://www.cognos.com.

NOTE: COGNOS, IMPROMPTU and POWERPLAY are registered trademarks of Cognos
Inc. Scenario is a trademark of Cognos Inc. Microsoft, Windows, and Windows
NT are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and/or
other countries. Other products mentioned in this document are registered,
trademarked, or service marked by their respective owners.

Copies of previous Cognos press releases and Corporate and product
information are available on Cognos World Wide Web (WWW) site at
http://www.cognos.com, and at PR Newswire's site at
http://www.prnewswire.com. Product and company information can also be
found at the Cognos CompuServe forum (GO COGNOS).

SOURCE Cognos, Inc.

/CONTACT: Brittanie Balloch of Cognos, 617-229-6600, or Tom Camps or Jennie
Svitavsky of LNS Communications, 617-577-9777/ (COGNF)
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