SAP updated a line of BI for small business

About the preparing exit of couple of new products BI (Business Intelligence): Crystal Server 2011 and Business Objects Edge 4.0 aimed application in the small and medium enterprises on Tuesday the SAP company announced.

Crystal Server 2011 is known in the past as Crystal Reports Server. The product was renamed as SAP "positions it as the initial level of the platform of the business analysis", and not just for reports, Jayne Landry, the vice president for management of solutions, a business intelligence and technologies told. According to the diagram, products will be available in the first weeks of July, according to release of Business Objects 4.0 - the version of a product of analytics of the enterprise level from SAP. In it the main difference when the release of Edge left from six to eight weeks after the premium version in time.

According to documentation of SAP, Crystal Server 2011 received new features, such as Conductor tool for "deep immersion" in data sets and also the tool for designing of information. There is a restriction - one physical server and 100 referred to as users.

The idea of an innovation is that customers, the outgrown such product as Crystal Server 2011, will take only one step to software with ampler opportunities.

In Edge 4.0 the functionality of Crystal Server is saved, but a number of opportunities like web analytics, a mobile business intelligence and integration into applications, such as Oracle E-Business Suite is added. There is also an option of edition EDGE in which data integration tools, and the third version having the software of data management are expanded.

All versions of Edge are limited for application on one server. To have an opportunity for work on several servers, unlimited number of users and some other features, clients should update software to Business Objects 4.0.

[[Jayne Landry|Landrij noted: "Irrespective of with what product there begin customers, their investments are protected". SAP generalized experience of users of different products which can save time and expenses on training. Besides, the reports and other assets created in earlier versions of Business Objects will be compatible to release 4.0. Customers will have a possibility of conversion of reports to a new format of use. Some functions can not remain after conversion, but users will be warned and will be able to make the relevant decision, she told.

Quotations on Business Objects Edge begin with $12 thousand for 10 referred to as users or with $19 thousand for five licenses of simultaneous access. The prices of Crystal Server 2011 start from $2495 for 5 referred to as users or $6995 for five the license of simultaneous access.

The analyst of IDG Chris Kanaracus, from long discussion by users of a subject at the unofficial forum Business Objects, draws a conclusion that customers with impatience expect release 4.0.