Business intelligence software developer Business Objects SA today announced that it has acquired one of its partners, privately held information delivery software developer Blue Edge Software, for $6 million in cash.
Blue Edge, based in Leeds, England, develops the Info-Portal information delivery tool, which is designed to deliver custom reports to large numbers of end users via the Web. The product is built on Business Objects technology and is effectively an enhancement to existing Business Objects reporting technology.
Blue Edge also offers business intelligence consulting services to the telecommunications, retail and finance sectors through its Bespoke Solutions group. The company entered the U.S. market last July.
Business Objects officials said the acquisition will allow the Paris-based company, which has North American headquarters in San Jose, Calif., to further integrate Blue Edges technology with its own. In addition, Business Objects will add the Blue Edge engineering staff to its research and development organization, officials said.
Business Objects CEO Bernard Liautaud described the acquisition in a statement as an important step in completing his companys vision of providing “information democracy” to corporations, institutions and ultimately consumers.
“By integrating Blue Edge technology, which is today already built on the Business Objects platform, we will strengthen our ability to help organizations extend BI to hundreds of thousands of information consumers,” Liautaud said in the statement.
Existing Business Objects information delivery technology only supports up to the tens of thousands users, a spokeswoman for the company said.