SAN JOSE, Calif. & PARIS, March 3, 2005 -- Business intelligence has become a mission critical application that companies depend on to run their business and improve performance. As organizations increasingly use and share data to make important decisions, the need for a secure and trusted business intelligence (BI) platform has become essential. With the launch of BusinessObjects(TM) XI, Business Objects (Nasdaq:BOBJ) (Euronext Paris ISIN code: FR0004026250 - BOB) has raised the bar in BI security by delivering RSA 128-bit encryption as the standard BI platform security level. Most other BI vendors, including Cognos, provide lower encryption levels as standard and require customers to purchase and install separate encryption modules to fully secure their data at the level that Business Objects provides out of the box.

There are a variety of reasons why data security is now a top priority for organizations today -- from compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPAA regulations, to sharing data with customers, partners, and suppliers via business intelligence extranets. In many industries, including financial services and healthcare, everything these companies do is dependent upon infallible security -- without it, they put their clients, patients, partners, and corporate reputations at risk. Encryption is the most effective way to achieve data security, as it translates data into a secret code that can only be decoded using a unique key or password.

Business Objects has always provided powerful security features and support for open security standards such as secure encryption of data. With more than 30,000 customers, Business Objects has a proven track record for securing its customers' most mission critical applications, including extranets and global deployments that span tens of thousands of users, and dashboards that executives use to make critical decisions every day. With the recent launch of BusinessObjects XI, Business Objects has extended its lead over all other BI vendors by providing new levels of reliability, performance, scalability, and security.

BusinessObjects XI offers RSA 128-bit encryption as a standard feature to ensure that data stays secure. RSA encryption is the industry standard for use in securing applications, and RSA 128-bit encryption is widely considered unbreakable. In addition, Business Objects has also added support for Kerberos network authentication protocols. The BusinessObjects XI platform is built on a modern, Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), and all communication between services is encrypted. In addition, BusinessObjects XI builds on the only BI platform that is Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Datacenter certified for reliability.

"If having a secure BI platform is important, why would any customer risk their data with Cognos," commented Rene Bonvanie, chief marketing officer at Business Objects. "With our RSA 128-bit encryption as the standard level in BusinessObjects XI, our platform is 4.7 sextillion (4,700,000,000,000,000,000,000) times more secure than Cognos, which only provides 56-bit encryption out of the box. That's a whole lot of zeros, and allows our customers to sleep a whole lot better at night knowing their data is secure."

For additional information regarding the BusinessObjects XI business intelligence platform, please visit http://www.businessobjects.com/products/.

About Business Objects

Business Objects is the world's leading business intelligence (BI) software company. With more than 30,000 customers worldwide, including over 80 percent of the Fortune 500, Business Objects helps organizations gain better insight into their business, improve decision making, and optimize enterprise performance. The company's business intelligence platform, BusinessObjects(TM) XI, offers the BI industry's most advanced and complete platform for reporting, query and analysis, performance management, and data integration. BusinessObjects XI includes Crystal Reports(R), the industry standard for enterprise reporting. Business Objects has also built the industry's strongest and most diverse partner community, with more than 3,000 partners worldwide. In addition, the company offers consulting and education services to help customers effectively deploy their business intelligence projects.

Business Objects has dual headquarters in San Jose, Calif., and Paris, France. The company's stock is traded on both the Nasdaq (BOBJ) and Euronext Paris (ISIN: FR0004026250 - BOB) stock exchanges. More information about Business Objects can be found at www.businessobjects.com.

Business Objects, the Business Objects logo, BusinessObjects, WebIntelligence, Crystal Reports, Crystal Enterprise, Crystal Analysis, RapidMarts, and BusinessQuery are trademarks or registered trademarks of Business Objects S.A. or its affiliated companies in the United States and/or other countries. All other names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Peter Olson, 408-953-6320
peter.olson@businessobjects.com
or
Eastwick Communications
Erin McCabe, 650-480-4016
erin@eastwick.com