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Event Summary
HANOVER, Germany, Feb. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Brio Technology (Nasdaq: BRYO)
a leading provider of business intelligence solutions for the e-enterprise,
announced it is adopting Wireless Markup Language (WML) and strengthening
its use of Extensible Markup Language (XML) as the underlying language
for its entire suite of products.
Brio
will initially incorporate these technologies in Brio.Report, the company's
enterprise reporting solution, delivering XML and WML output capabilities
that extend the power of enterprise reports beyond web-based environments
to the new generation of smart cell phones and handheld client devices.
The changing nature of today's workforce requires that companies embrace
technology that encompasses a far broader audience of local, remote and
mobile end users.
"The introduction of first XML and now WML into the Brio product line
provides Brio with an opportunity to help define how companies communicate
and leverage shared information throughout the virtual enterprise," stated
John Schroeder, executive vice president, products and services at Brio
Technology. "We expect our efforts to be well received by both our customer
and partner base as they look to tap into the millions of PDA devices
and cell phones."
Exhibiting
this technology at the CeBit 2000 conference in Hanover, Germany, Brio
showcased its use of XML and WML through Brio.Report 6.0, which is currently
in beta. Brio.Report 6.0 will leverage Brio's innovative patent-pending
Direct Data Objects (DDO) technology to provide multi-platform access
to any enterprise data source, including relational, multidimensional
or object-based data, as well as SAP R/3 BAPIs.
"With
its comprehensive support for both input and output of XML data, Brio.Report
6.0 delivers a unique solution to enterprises seeking to implement business-to-business
strategies," stated Ian Robinson, vice president, enterprise reporting
products at Brio Technology. "Brio.Report leads the industry in its support
of open Internet standards such as XML, in the same way that it first
pioneered the use of DHTML, CSS and Java in its enterprise reporting products
a few years ago."
Market
Impact
Brio Technology is attempting to establish a clear lead among business
intelligence vendors in support for open Internet standards, and already
supports XML (the extensible markup language), DHTML (dynamic hypertext
markup language), CSS (cascading style sheets), and Java.
The
addition of WML (wireless markup language) improves their position against
vendors such as Business Objects, MicroStrategy, and Cognos. Providing
support for open standards is becoming extremely important in the data
warehousing and business intelligence markets in order to allow products
from different vendors can interoperate successfully. This support will
continue to be an important market differentiator.
User
Recommendations
Customers evaluating enterprise reporting tools with strong support for
remote and mobile users should definitely include Brio Technology on a
list of potential vendors. However, it should be noted that Brio.Report
6.0 is still in beta, and the feature/function set should be agreed to
in writing by the vendor before an agreement is signed.