IBM and Business Objects agree BI deal

IBM and Business Objects have signed a new joint development and product distribution deal, for pre-integrated data warehousing and business intelligence.

Under the terms of the agreement, IBM will include a starter edition of the Business Objects business intelligence package with DB2 and DB2 Warehouse. Business Objects in return will distribute and resell IBM's DB2 Warehouse with its XI software and CFO performance management applications.

"Customers are seeking ways to innovate and derive greater business value from their information," says Ambuj Goyal, general manager IBM Information Management. "To help meet this challenge, we are extending our partnership with Business Objects to accelerate the introduction of new Information on Demand solutions."

"Today, Business Objects and IBM — two of the leaders in BI, performance management and data warehousing — are coming together to help customers of all sizes capitalise on their corporate data to gain better business insight," says John Schwarz, CEO of Business Objects.

IBM created its Information on Demand strategy a couple of years ago to assist customers who were struggling to deal with, and manage, increasing volumes of data. Both Big Blue and Business Objects have enjoyed a long relationship over the years, thanks to the fact they share a large customer base.

However this relationship could change as Business Objects is in the process of being acquired by German vendor SAP for US$6.7 billion, in order to combine its ERP software with the French company's BI products.