MySQL, Business Objects team for bundled offerings

Business Objects SA and MySQL AB have strengthened their partnership by collaborating on software bundles that combine MySQL's open-source database with business intelligence (BI) software from Business Objects, company representatives said Monday.

Under the agreement, which they are calling an "OEM (original equipment manufacturer) referral agreement," Business Objects, in Paris, will sell three new BI software bundles that give customers access to MySQL's database technology through MySQL Network, which is a combination of software, services and support, said Nicolas Pujol, director of alliances for MySQL, an Uppsala, Sweden, company with a U.S. office in Cupertino, California.

In turn, MySQL is marketing the new software packages, which combine products in Business Objects' XI line of BI software with the MySQL database, to its customers, he said. "We are promoting them and they are selling them," Pujol said.

The packages feature lower price points than Business Objects' typical enterprise offerings, so they will be attractive to MySQL's customers, which typically are cost-conscious, he added. "They