Paris-based Business Objects, which makes business intelligence software said it has extended a long-standing OEM and reseller agreement and has also integrated its Crystal reporting components with SAP NetWeaver BI.
Both companies claim to share hundreds of joint customers, including Airbus, British Standards Institute, DVB Bank AG, and Italtel, and NVIDIA.
Rumors were circulating earlier this year that Waldorf-based SAP was considering replacing Crystal after it announced major enhancements to its own BI clients; including a more usable Business Explorer (BEX) front-end tool with a new native reporting component, which is a first for SAP.
However the report formatting capabilities in BEX today are at best basic. Unlike Crystal BEX doesn’t support pixel-perfect reporting, among other features. But as BEX’s reporting functionality mature, as it should do over time, then it will be interesting to see how the Business Objects relationship holds up.
Its was Crystal Decisions Inc, which Business Objects acquired in the summer of 2003, that had forged the blockbuster Crystal OEM deal with SAP.
