Birst Wins 2012 Cloud Award for Data Innovation of the Year

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - Jan 10, 2012) - Birst Inc., the leading provider of agile business analytics, today announced that it has been selected as the winner of the 2012 Cloud Award for Data Innovation of the Year. The annual cloud computing awards program, open internationally across the US and EMEA regions, recognizes and celebrates industry leaders and pioneers in the field of cloud computing.

Cloud Awards organizer Larry Johnson said: "Almost 200 organizations entered the program, which is among the first of its kind. We were swamped by entries, and the standard was remarkably high. Judging the submissions was a challenging task. But we're happy to endorse Birst as among the best of the best in their field."

Also named a finalist for Best Software as a Service, Birst is transforming the BI industry with recent product innovations that provide the industry's first in-memory database optimized exclusively for analytics, and an unprecedented choice of deployment options. These options enable organizations to deploy Birst in the Cloud; on premise as a fully-functional, self-contained virtual appliance; or both. With this award, Birst is joining the prestigious ranks of other Cloud Award recipients, which also include organizations such as Callidus Software and Gemalto.

"We are honored to receive this award, which reflects Birst's unrelenting commitment to product advancement and innovation," said Brad Peters, CEO of Birst. "As the leading provider of agile business analytics with affordable, easy-to-deploy, enterprise-class functionality, Birst continues to lead the BI industry in delivering unrivaled access to vital business insight."

About the Cloud Awards
The Cloud Awards is a premier international cloud computing awards program which recognizes and honours industry leaders, innovators and organizational transformation in the field of cloud computing. The inaugural awards, launched in June 2011, opened to large, small, established and start-up organizations, to find and celebrate the pioneers that will shape the future of the industry as we move into 2012 and beyond. Finalists were selected by a panel of international industry experts. For more information about the Cloud Awards please visit http://www.cloud-awards.com/.

About Birst
Birst™ is the leader in agile business analytics. It offers a single place to manage all of a business' analytics and agility to answer questions that span departments, data sources, and deployments -- across public or private Clouds. Birst gives users the fastest way to answer their most pressing business questions -- and then all the ones they didn't know to ask. At one-third the cost, time, and staff of traditional big BI, Birst brings the benefits of analytics and fact-based decision-making to a much broader audience. For more information, visit www.birst.com.