Business Objects supports Oracle9i application server

Business Objects has introduced the availability of the Business Objects Portal Integration Kit (PIK) for Oracle9i Application Server. PIKs are Web-based technologies that deliver business intelligence (BI) content and functionality through an out of the box integration between BusinessObjects InfoView and the enterprise information portal as part of the BusinessObjects Open Portal Initiative (OPI).

Providing seamless integration and extended analytic functionality to enterprise information portals, the Business Objects PIK gives users personalised access to secure and relevant business information, such as business intelligence reports, through an enterprise portal running on Oracle9i Application Server.

Business Objects developed six key BI components from Business Objects InfoView, the company`s business intelligence portal, as portlets for the Oracle9i Application Server catalogue. Users access these Business Object portlets via the Oracle9i AS Portal, gaining instant access to advanced BI functions such as list documents, search, and view documents. Users can also analyse the information by drilling down into more detailed data and share the information with colleagues, partners and customers.

The PIK leverages the advanced Business Objects security infrastructure to provide portal users with the convenience of single sign-on access to their BI reports, giving users easy and timely access to documents and enabling them to filter documents by category and perform simple or advanced searches. The Business Objects PIK is included in Business Objects Developer Suite, its development toolkit for customising, integrating and extending the Business Objects BI platform, and is available to all its Developer Suite users.

"Providing access to business intelligence portlets using the portal capabilities in Oracle9i Application Server gives customers the ability to access valuable business information from a single, personalised desktop," said Gary Lawrence, Country manager for South Africa. "With Oracle9i Application Server, portal users have a single point of access to all business information, helping enable stakeholders to make timely decisions.

"Oracle9i AS Portal is used by our customers and it is important to provide these joint organisations with additional means for getting valuable BI information into the hands of more users," continued Lawrence. "We are a member of the Oracle Partner Network, and supporting Oracle9i AS Portal provides an open and flexible means of delivering business intelligence to Oracle customers."

Business Objects created the OPI to provide organisations with maximum flexibility in deploying portal solutions to all users. As the first part of the company`s portal strategy, Business Objects provides InfoView, which collects and consolidates a company`s BI information and presents it in a secure, focused and personalised view to business users. InfoView provides users with several benefits, including fast data access, personalised access to secure and relevant information, and easy collaboration with colleagues within the enterprise and beyond.

Business Objects partners with leading enterprise information portal (EIP) vendors, enabling the rich feature set of Business Objects products to be directly and seamlessly integrated into EIP solutions provided by partners and offering customers a wide array of vendors to choose from as they construct their complete end-to-end portal solution.