Crystal Decisions Releases Crystal Reports 9

New version of world's most widely used reporting solution increases developer productivity; Crystal Reports 9 delivers reports to wireless devices and portals, supports Java, and integrates into enterprise Web applications

PALO ALTO, CA -- August 19, 2002 -- Crystal Decisions today announced the general availability of Crystal Reports 9. Designed for use in all three major development environments - Java, .NET and COM - Crystal Reports 9 addresses key requirements in the developer and IT community today: the need for improved productivity and high efficiency in report creation, the need for tight integration of reporting into enterprise Web applications, and the need for dynamic end-user access, interaction, and modification.

"With new features like 'Report-Parts', a scalable report application server and a flexible SDK, companies will be able to improve data access, analysis processes and information sharing with users throughout the organization and beyond," said Dan Vesset, research manager with IDC. "Developers will reap the benefits with this new release of Crystal Reports. The ability to easily integrate reporting into enterprise Web applications, combined with ease-of-use capabilities for end user report interaction and modification will help free up developers' time and increase overall productivity."

As the world's most widely used reporting solution, Crystal Reports provides sophisticated technology for rapidly transforming data from virtually any data source - including XML, OLAP, enterprise and relational data sources - into interactive content. Using Crystal Reports 9, developers and IT professionals can tightly integrate content into .NET, Java and COM applications for end-user viewing, interaction and modification, and can give end-users the ability to access and navigate key report elements via wireless devices, portals and Microsoft Office documents.
 
What’s New

Crystal Decisions is addressing the growth of the enterprise Web application development market, and the key needs of the developer and IT market by including more than 50 new features and enhancements to its award-winning reporting technology, such as:

  • Report Application Server (RAS): Enables Web developers to tightly integrate reporting into enterprise web applications for end-users to view, interact with and modify reports at runtime - without increasing their overhead. 
  • 'Report Parts': Enables developers to integrate parts of report content into business workflow so end-users can access information via wireless devices, portals and Microsoft Office documents.
  • 'Component Re-use': Enables developers to share and reuse existing reporting components across multiple reports for single point updating, and more productive report development and integration. 
  • Support for Java: Enables developers to tightly integrate reporting capabilities into Java applications within a J2EE environment.  
  • Integration with Crystal Enterprise: Enables developers to quickly and easily extend Web applications incorporating Crystal Reports to Crystal Enterprise for the delivery of information in a highly scalable environment where system manageability, scheduling, security and fault tolerance are required.

"As a leader in enterprise reporting, we are focused on providing developers proven solutions to quickly and easily access data from virtually any data source and create reports for delivery of interactive information to users within and beyond the enterprise," said Tony Wind, chief technology officer, Crystal Decisions. "Crystal Reports 9 is a sophisticated and flexible technology for enterprise-level report creation and integration requirements. Developers now have the ability to store, share and re-use existing reporting components, and integrate reports directly into Java, .NET and COM applications. This new functionality provides tangible productivity gains and enables developers to quickly and cost-effectively put information into the hands of business users for improved insight and better decision-making."

Developers Reap Benefits

The need for increased productivity is the number one challenge facing developers today. Crystal Decisions enlisted more than 250 companies to participate in the Crystal Reports 9 Beta Program to ensure the new version was developed to meet these specific needs of developers. Participating companies included: Aetna, Cinergy, Discover Card, Intuitive Manufacturing Systems, JD Edwards, KPMG Consulting, and Motorola.


Cinergy Services Inc. is an affiliate of Cinergy Corp., one of the nation's largest diversified energy companies in the U.S with 2001 revenues of $12.9 billion. "Crystal Reports 9 allowed us to reduce report development time from 2 weeks to about 2 days, and reduce the number of monthly reports by two-thirds," said Jodie Heflin, consultant for Lucrum Inc. and Technical Lead at client site Cinergy.

Intuitive Manufacturing Systems is a leading provider of ERP solutions for manufacturers. "With Crystal Reports 9, we are able to drive our reports, where appropriate, from ADO .NET datasets generated by the business logic layer, which saves us development time and avoids expensive maintenance costs," said Will Hansen, CPIM, VP Technology for Intuitive Manufacturing Systems.

Lawson Software, a leading provider of enterprise software solutions to the services sector, partners with Crystal Decisions for the advanced reporting capabilities in its Enterprise Performance Management suite, part of the Lawson 8 Series Business Management System. "Lawson solutions help organizations achieve operational excellence, workforce optimization and a better bottom line," said Richard Daley, vice president of Enterprise Performance Management Development at Lawson Software. "The new release of Crystal Reports 9 includes improvements that will help our customers quickly and easily access and share the key operational information that supports those efforts. That includes the ability to run more complex queries and create richer, more relevant reports so the organization can more effectively measure results and efficiently target areas for operational improvement."

Since Crystal Decisions built the first Windows-based report-writer in 1992, millions of developers around the world have used Crystal Reports to integrate reporting into their applications. Today Crystal Decisions is the de facto worldwide reporting, analysis and information delivery standard with over 12 million licenses shipped and over 300 OEM partnerships and strategic partnerships including SAP, Microsoft, Baan, IBM, PeopleSoft, Siebel, and Hyperion. 

Pricing and Availability

Crystal Reports 9 is available immediately and is available in four editions to meet different reporting requirements of developers, IT professionals and business users: Standard, Professional, Developer, and Advanced.

The Developer Edition has a suggested retail price (SRP) of $595US, the Professional Edition has a SRP of $495US, the Standard Edition has a SRP of $195US, and the Advanced Edition has a SRP of $1995US. Special upgrade pricing is available for existing customers.

Crystal Reports is available through a worldwide network of resellers and distributors, and the Crystal Decisions on-line store. For more information, phone 1-800-877-2340 (North America) or 1-604-681-3435 (International), or visit the Crystal Decisions Web site at http://www.crystaldecisions.com.

About Crystal Decisions

Crystal Decisions, a privately held company, is one of the world's leading information management software companies with more than 12 million licenses shipped. Since 1984, Crystal Decisions has powered winning organizations with one of the fastest ways for employees, partners and customers to access the information they need to make the best decisions and ultimately, reduce costs and increase productivity. The Crystal brand is among the most trusted names in enterprise reporting and more than 300 Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) have standardized on Crystal Decisions solutions. Headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif., Crystal Decisions has more than 20 offices worldwide and can be found on the Internet at www.crystaldecisions.com.

For More Information

Kristine Berry, Crystal Decisions Public Relations    
(604) 647-8557      
kristine.berry@crystaldecisions.com    

Lauren Stein, Q Public Relations
(415) 348-2729
steinl@ruderfinn.com

Crystal Decisions, Crystal Reports, Crystal Enterprise, Crystal Analysis and Holos are either a registered trademark or trademark of Crystal Decisions Inc., in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.