French software maker Business Objects released the first of three new versions of its business intelligence software tailored for small to midsize companies, a market area poised for growth, the company said Monday.The product, Standard Edition, is cheaper than the company’s enterprise product and designed for those new to business intelligence (BI) applications, adding setup wizards and online tutorials, said Todd Rowe, a vice president and general manager for the company’s midmarket division. Standard Edition includes features drawn from the company’s enterprise product, such as dashboards, ad hoc reporting and integration with Microsoft’s Office applications, but consolidates what were separate modules into a simplified package, Rowe said. Business Objects was losing out on sales to midmarket businesses—which can range from 100 to 1,000 employees—because its enterprise product was too expensive for their budgets, Rowe said. Business Objects competes with Cognos and Hyperion Solutions at both enterprise and midmarket levels. The midmarket sector, however, is the most profitable as well as the fastest growing area, Rowe said. It comprises about 35 percent of the $5.9 billion BI market, growing at 12.5 percent annually, according to the company’s projections and data from Crimson Consulting Group.Business Objects is hailing Monday’s release as its most aggressive in two years, with Standard Edition launching in 62 countries in 12 languages, Rowe said. By June, Business Objects will release Professional Edition, which adds data-integration capabilities. By the end of year, the Premium Edition will include scorecards, metrics and goals, which will allow businesses to do forward planning. That release will come before the end of the year.All editions include integration with Crystal Reports, the company’s software for formulating data and delivering reports through a Web browser.Standard Edition is sold as a perpetual license, Rowe said. Pricing starts at US$20,000 for five concurrent users.-Jeremy Kirk, IDG News Service (London Bureau)Check out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage. Related content opinion Website spoofing: risks, threats, and mitigation strategies for CIOs In this article, we take a look at how CIOs can tackle website spoofing attacks and the best ways to prevent them. By Yash Mehta Dec 01, 2023 5 mins CIO Cyberattacks Security brandpost Sponsored by Catchpoint Systems Inc. Gain full visibility across the Internet Stack with IPM (Internet Performance Monitoring) Today’s IT systems have more points of failure than ever before. Internet Performance Monitoring provides visibility over external networks and services to mitigate outages. By Neal Weinberg Dec 01, 2023 3 mins IT Operations brandpost Sponsored by Zscaler How customers can save money during periods of economic uncertainty Now is the time to overcome the challenges of perimeter-based architectures and reduce costs with zero trust. By Zscaler Dec 01, 2023 4 mins Security feature LexisNexis rises to the generative AI challenge With generative AI, the legal information services giant faces its most formidable disruptor yet. That’s why CTO Jeff Reihl is embracing and enhancing the technology swiftly to keep in front of the competition. By Paula Rooney Dec 01, 2023 6 mins Generative AI Digital Transformation Cloud Computing Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe