Information Builders Delivers WebFOCUS FLEX Enable for Highly Interactive and Visual Business Intelligence Applications

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - January 30, 2008) - Information Builders, the leader in production business intelligence (BI) solutions, today announced the availability of WebFOCUS FLEX Enable, which gives developers and analysts the ability to easily deliver rich Internet applications (RIA) for business intelligence. The application engine combines the strengths of WebFOCUS and Adobe Flex Builder to enable the development of custom interactive and animated analytic dashboards, letting users slice-and-dice business information for precise decision-making.

"In today's dynamic and fast-paced business environment, business users need compelling interactive visualizations to conduct timely analysis and make decisions," said Gerald Cohen, CEO and founder of Information Builders. "WebFOCUS FLEX Enable is the first portable application engine for Flex that is specifically for BI. With this innovation we have not only transformed BI applications into user-friendly RIAs, but are supporting the creation of Web 2.0-style dashboards that jump off the screen through advanced interactivity, animation, and visualization."

Adobe Flex™ (Flex) is the leading Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for interactive applications and provides a unique combination of animation, vector graphics, interactive effects, and portability. Flex RIAs combine the speed of desktop applications with the agility of the Web and have become ubiquitous. In fact, industry experts predict that 60 percent of Web applications will be RIA. According to Gartner, "A user experience that is perceptively better than other offerings in a product category can provide sustainable, competitive advantage."(1)

Taking BI Visualization to New Heights With Flex Enable

By combining the analytic power of Information Builders WebFOCUS with RIA technology, WebFOCUS FLEX Enable delivers stunning data representations so users can focus on the most relevant details, follow trends, and transform data into a newscast-like experience. It handles complex filtering, comes with 30 custom components and will work with any current or future version of WebFOCUS. The engine manages data, performs useful BI functions, and coordinates user interactions out-of-the-box, allowing developers and analysts to focus on creating the front-end visualization and user experience.

The fusion of RIA with BI data and analytic capabilities creates a new generation of dashboards or "flashboards," where animation and transition effects focus the user's attention while custom interaction guides the user through the iterative analytic process. Flashboards make multi-dimensional applications simple and intuitive so that any user, not only experts in complex statistical and OLAP software, can easily gain insight into any dimension of the business. WebFOCUS developers, Flex developers, and advanced analysts alike can rapidly create custom BI applications in Flex Builder, without needing to code ActionScript or MXML.

WebFOCUS Flex Enable Pricing and Availability

Flex Enable will be available in February 2008. Pricing is based on machine size and ranges from $8,710 to $47,640 depending on platform.

About Information Builders

Information Builders' award-winning combination of business intelligence and enterprise integration software has been providing innovative solutions to more than 12,000 customers for the past 30 years. WebFOCUS is the world's most widely utilized business intelligence platform. It provides the security, scalability, and flexibility needed at every level of global extended enterprises. Its simplicity helps create executive, analytical, and operational applications that reach dozens to millions of users. Information Builders iWay Software suite provides state-of-the-art, multi-purpose, pre-built integration components that address all SOA, application, data, and information management requirements. Its integration adapters have been adopted by the leading software platform providers. Together, these products give Information Builders customers the ability to live up to the company motto: "Your Business. No Barriers."

Information Builders' award-winning technology has successfully provided quality software and superior services to more than 12,000 customers, including most of the Fortune 100 and U.S. federal government agencies. Headquartered in New York City with 90 offices worldwide, the company employs 1,450 people and has more than 350 business partners. For more information visit http://www.informationbuilders.com.

(1) Gartner, "Hype Cycle for Web and User Interaction Technologies 2007," July 13, 2007. ID Number: G00148212

Contact Information: Press Contact: Kathleen Moran Information Builders (212) 736-4433