Event Summary
On November 15, QueryObject Systems (AMEX: OBJ) announced that it has partnered with Cognos Corporation (NASDAQ: COGN; TSE: CSN) to create and market a high-capacity analytical data mart accessible for analysis over the Internet. QueryObject will provide the back-end with its analytical data structure (a type of data mart), which is optimized for high volume transactions over the Internet. Some of the features of the QueryObject System include the ability to handle large data volumes and number of users, fast data mart builds, dense (highly compressed) data marts, and a patent-pending Distributed Replication Server to handle both server-centric and distributed network caching Internet architectures.
Cognos will provide and integrate the front-end business intelligence solutions in the form of its products PowerPlay and Impromptu, (market leaders in OLAP technology and query/reporting respectively), with the QueryObjects System.
As partners, the two vendors will participate in selected joint sales and marketing activities worldwide. What they hope to provide is a "single high-capacity analytical data mart that is accessible to multi-task analysis over the Internet".
"This is an important alliance for us," said Robert Thompson, QueryObject CEO. "Cognos pioneered the Business Intelligence market and is a leader in the transition to eBusiness Intelligence. Its established suite of analytical engines and applications is a natural complement to QueryObject's Internet-optimized analytical data structure. We look forward to significant market development opportunities together."
Market Impact
QueryObject has suffered significant losses in the last three fiscal years reported, and is currently trading at 1-3/16. However, it is 60 percent owned by investment firms, so it has a little more wiggle room than other publicly held companies would. The addition of Cognos, possibly the premier business intelligence software vendor, as a business partner will lend additional credence to QueryObject's claims, and should spur customer interest.
QueryObject has always supported any industry standard analysis tool as the front-end, but tight integration with a specific toolset will be compelling for customers. According to Patrick O'Leary, Cognos vice president of strategic alliances, "QueryObject's open data structure is a high performance data mart that can be integrated with Cognos' query and analysis solutions. Its ability to concurrently support both Web-server implementations and client implementations over the Internet will be of significant interest to companies looking to offer a range of business intelligence to all classes of knowledge workers across their extended enterprise."
User Recommendations
Customers evaluating business intelligence and e-business solutions should consider the combined offering of QueryObject and Cognos.
Companies looking to make business intelligence purchases should keep in mind that they may not use the Internet as the access method for data analysis now, but all of the industry trends indicate that every business will be forced in that direction to stay competitive. Therefore an Internet-based solution, like the one that QueryObject and Cognos are putting together, should definitely be considered seriously.