Hyperion attaches BPM capability to BI platform

Launch follows other market consolidation

Hyperion has launched a new version of its business intelligence (BI) platform, adding business performance management (BPM) tools to its traditional BI set.

The launch follows other consolidation in the market, when Business Objects and Metastorm separately announced acquisitions.

Hyperion System 9 will integrate financial management functionality, like planning and scorecarding, with the vendor's core BI platform, said the firm's Richard Clayton. "[It] bridges the common disconnect between BI reporting tools and the planning tools companies use to predict outcomes based on that information."

The product has an enhanced user interface and a new common foundation services layer to make the platform easier to deploy with service-oriented architecture, Clayton said.

Separately, Business Objects has moved to improve the usability of its reporting tools by agreeing to acquire information visualisation and presentation software specialist Infommersion.

Infommersion's Excelsius product lets users design interactive Macromedia Flash output based on information in Excel files, said Donald MacCormick of Business Objects. "Excel is the world's most pervasive BI tool, so this deal gets us into that market."

Meanwhile, BPM vendors CommerceQuest and Metastorm have agreed to merge. Mike Thompson of analyst Butler Group said the deal would boost the firms' stability.