Business Objects, a leading provider of business intelligence (BI) solutions, announced Monday that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held Cartesis S.A.
Cartesis is a leading specialist in enterprise performance management (EPM) software with more than 1,300 customers worldwide. Cartesis provides financial reporting, consolidations, and planning capabilities, as well as a new governance, risk, and compliance portfolio. The acquisition will add important functionality to the Business Objects performance management platform, the company says. The company reports it can now offer everything from analytics to profitability, to consolidations, all supported by a leading business intelligence infrastructure.
Under terms of the agreement, Business Objects will pay a total transaction value of approximately $300 million in cash. The acquisition is expected to close within 90 days, subject to regulatory approval, Cartesis shareholder approval, and other customary conditions. Due to purchase accounting adjustments, the transaction is expected to be neutral to slightly accretive to earnings for the first year post closing and accretive thereafter, as revenue synergies and economies of scale are realized.
"This acquisition marks an important step in our strategy of systematically building out the industry's best performance management platform," said John Schwarz, CEO of Business Objects. "The acquisition of Cartesis will allow us to extend our comprehensive solutions for the office of the CFO by providing critical, cross-application, and cross-database line of sight to financial and management reporting, including consolidated statements and budgetingùall on the industry's number one business intelligence platform."
Industry reaction to the announcement was swift with Cognos issuing a statement saying that Business Objects' move merely confirmed the strategy that Cognos had laid out for its customers six years ago.
"Cognos sees Business Objects' acquisition of Cartesis as further acknowledgement that the vision Cognos laid out for customers six years agoùthat of integrated performance management comprised of business intelligence, planning, consolidation, and scorecardingùis the vision that customers want," said Mychelle Mollot, vice president of market strategy and strategic communications for Cognos.
"This acquisition brings complete technology overlap," said Mollot. The "Noah's Arc of technology to be integrated includes: three consolidation engines, three planning engines, and multiple reporting and analysis engines."
Business Objects Wins CODiE Award
Meanwhile, Business Objects was unfazed as it also announced that it won a 2007 CODiE Award for BusinessObjects XI Release 2 as the best business intelligence or knowledge management solution in its category. The CODiE Award winners were formally announced at the Software and Information Industry Association's (SIIA) 22nd Annual CODiE Awards Gala in San Francisco on April 17. BusinessObjects XI Release 2 is a complete suite of performance management, information management, reporting, and query and analysis software.
Established in 1986, the CODiE Awards acknowledge the most innovative products and services in the software, digital information, and education technology industries. Nearly 1,200 products were submitted for consideration in more than 75 categories.
Performance Management Results in Improved Performance
Business Objects said its performance management platform enables companies to align resources around common plans, track and measure progress, and adapt quickly to market conditions to drive improved performance across the enterprise. The platform spans two important segments of the enterprise software market, the company said û performance management and business intelligence infrastructure. Business Objects said it appeals strongly to the CFO, as it features one of the most robust "planning, profitability, performance dashboarding, and scorecarding portfolios in the industry." With the acquisition of Cartesis, the platform is further broadened to address U.S. and international standards for financial reporting and consolidation, as well as governance, risk, and compliance management, the company said. It creates the most comprehensive and powerful performance management solution available, the company claimed.Business Objects continued that "unlike other competitive offerings, the platform also appeals to the CIO, as it features the industry's leading reporting, query, and analytics products along with a compelling data quality, data integration, and metadata management portfolio." This alignment allows both the CFO and CIO to quickly deliver accurate and current reports with information acquired from diverse applications and databases û all based on trusted and cleansed data., the company said.
Cartesis will become a part of the Business Objects Enterprise Performance Management product line organization. Mark Doll, senior vice president and general manager of Global Services and EPM for Business Objects, and Didier Benchimol, CEO of Cartesis, will lead the integration.
"Cartesis' core competency is high-end financial management," said Didier Benchimol, CEO of Cartesis. "Our domain expertise and robust standards-based offering will complement the already strong presence that Business Objects has in performance management. Business Objects' performance management platform strategy is open and completely aligned with our longstanding aspirations. We are excited about becoming a part of the Business Objects team."
More than ever, there is a demand for IT to deliver innovation. Your IBM i has been an essential part of your business operations for years. However, your organization may struggle to maintain the current system and implement new projects. The thousands of customers we've worked with and surveyed state that expectations regarding the digital footprint and vision of the company are not aligned with the current IT environment.
TRY the one package that solves all your document design and printing challenges on all your platforms. Produce bar code labels, electronic forms, ad hoc reports, and RFID tags – without programming! MarkMagic is the only document design and print solution that combines report writing, WYSIWYG label and forms design, and conditional printing in one integrated product. Make sure your data survives when catastrophe hits. Request your trial now! Request Now.
Forms of ransomware has been around for over 30 years, and with more and more organizations suffering attacks each year, it continues to endure. What has made ransomware such a durable threat and what is the best way to combat it? In order to prevent ransomware, organizations must first understand how it works.
Disaster protection is vital to every business. Yet, it often consists of patched together procedures that are prone to error. From automatic backups to data encryption to media management, Robot automates the routine (yet often complex) tasks of iSeries backup and recovery, saving you time and money and making the process safer and more reliable. Automate your backups with the Robot Backup and Recovery Solution. Key features include:
Business users want new applications now. Market and regulatory pressures require faster application updates and delivery into production. Your IBM i developers may be approaching retirement, and you see no sure way to fill their positions with experienced developers. In addition, you may be caught between maintaining your existing applications and the uncertainty of moving to something new.
IT managers hoping to find new IBM i talent are discovering that the pool of experienced RPG programmers and operators or administrators with intimate knowledge of the operating system and the applications that run on it is small. This begs the question: How will you manage the platform that supports such a big part of your business? This guide offers strategies and software suggestions to help you plan IT staffing and resources and smooth the transition after your AS/400 talent retires. Read on to learn:
LATEST COMMENTS
MC Press Online