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Cognos and IBM: a strong relationship grows stronger
New OEM agreement — Cognos embeds IBM Integrated Runtime in a special version of Cognos ReportNet
Cognos, a global leader in business intelligence and corporate performance management solutions, is also a Premier level member of IBM PartnerWorld. Their application, Cognos ReportNet, is designed for anyone who has business data and a need to generate reports. That covers a large audience, so Cognos sells its solutions across a range of industries.
To leverage the benefits and support that are available, Cognos participates in PartnerWorld Industry Network at the industry-optimized level in the insurance industry; at the Advanced level in financial markets, government, and healthcare and life sciences; and at enabled in the retail industry.
Now the relationship between Cognos and IBM has reached a higher level through their new OEM agreement, announced on 3 Feb 2005. Cognos has embedded IBM Integrated Runtime in a special version of Cognos ReportNet, appropriately named Cognos ReportNet IBM Special Edition.
Cognos ReportNet is a full-scale enterprise reporting platform that is architectured to snap seamlessly onto a customer's established technology environments. A single Unicode server is provided for report and query authoring that delivers everything from telephone bills and monthly investment statements to analytic and ad hoc reports through a Web browser interface.
In keeping with the pace of today's on demand business world, Cognos ReportNet users are not restricted to the desktop. Customers who are looking for an end-to-end information infrastructure that helps them drive business value through real-time, integrated access to their disparate and distributed information have come to the right place when they consider Cognos ReportNet.
IBM Integrated Runtime contains the fully functional execution environments from several IBM market-leading, standards-based middleware products, including IBM DB2 Universal Database Express Edition and IBM WebSphere Application Server - Express. IBM HTTP Server and associated plug-ins are also provided to enable the rapid setup of a secure Web environment.
IBM Integrated Runtime delivers the functions that make it possible to offer all or just the needed components of this middleware, along with Cognos ReportNet IBM Special Edition in a single, cohesive unit that can be easily and quickly deployed on a customer's system.
Rupert Bonham-Carter, director of Global Strategic Alliances at Cognos, had long thought that Cognos ReportNet's ability to snap into a customer's environment would work well with the IBM Integrated Runtime ability to develop and deploy a complete solution package quickly and efficiently.
It was the first time he'd seen database server, application server, and Web server components available in a single, combined offering. According to Bonham-Carter, "It showed that IBM had thought about how to address the problems we were attempting to solve."
They'd already been impressed with the results of evaluations of the individual components of IBM Integrated Runtime with Cognos ReportNet using the IBM Virtual Innovation Center (VIC).
Bonham-Carter reports that Cognos found "great service, great resources, good people...a good experience" with the VIC. The next step was for Cognos to send some of their technical people to an IBM Integrated Runtime Webcast to learn more about the combined offering and then to begin a dialog with the IBM OEM Software Agreement team. It wasn't long before the OEM agreement between Cognos and IBM was announced.
By entering into the OEM agreement, Cognos is able to build on the automated configuration of IBM Integrated Runtime to significantly reduce the time and resources required to establish and configure a secure, fully-functional Web environment. It's easy to use and makes it easier and quicker to deploy and manage the installation of the system.
"Anything that shortens the time it takes to get our customers up and running and into production," Bonham-Carter says, "is a great value."
Early customer response to Cognos ReportNet IBM Special Edition is encouraging. "As soon as we announced," Bonham-Carter was pleased to say, "the interest was immediate, and in fact, we've already got several opportunities in the pipe."
One large company was intending to purchase Cognos ReportNet and IBM middleware separately when they heard about the OEM agreement. Now this customer sees the value in the new, all inclusive Cognos ReportNet IBM Special Edition.
By combining Cognos ReportNet with IBM Integrated Runtime, Cognos realizes that they can deliver a complete solution to their customers and, at the same time, tighten their relationship with IBM to increase the potential for co-marketing.
IBM also recognizes the benefits. With this OEM agreement, said Janet Perna, general manager of IBM Information Management, "We're working with Cognos to provide solutions that leverage IBM middleware and Cognos business intelligence applications, enabling clients to make timely, informed decisions that are critical to their bottom-line success."
Make no mistake. Contributing to the success of their mutual customers contributes to the success of both Cognos and IBM, and that's what it's all about.
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