Cognos puts BI on Nokia and Windows Mobile phones

by Chris Kanaracus

December 17, 2007 —

Cognos said Monday that its Cognos 8 Go! Mobile business intelligence software
now supports Windows Mobile 6 smartphones, as well as Nokia Eseries and Nseries
devices running S60 3rd Edition on Symbian OS.

The software works with Cognos' core BI (business intelligence) platform and
can automatically reformat reports for various types of devices.

The Canadian firm had already developed support for Research in Motion's BlackBerry
smartphones.

Cognos' move to support more mobile platforms is logical, according to David
O'Connell, senior analyst with Nucleus Research in Wellesley, Massachusetts.

"They're going mobile. They've been doing it for a while," O'Connell
said. "Basically, the more platforms you can put BI on, the more people
you have adopting it, so there's more ROI."

Anastasia Valentine, product manager for Cognos, said the firm made the new
clients in response to market interest. Customer interest in Windows Mobile
6 centered in the U.S. and the Asian-Pacific region, while European customers
desired support for Nokia devices, she said.

While the new products are fine-tuned for each platform, they are identical
feature-wise to the BlackBerry client, according to Valentine.

Support for one of this year's hottest mobile devices, Apple's iPhone, isn't
yet on Cognos' docket.

Despite the iPhone's explosive popularity, its immediate value to enterprises
has been questioned. Forrester Research recently issued a report listing reasons
why IT departments shouldn't support it, at least for now. Those warnings include
the device's lack of support for push e-mail and its cost, Forrester
said.

Valentine said Cognos isn't seeing much customer demand for iPhone support,
adding that the company is also keeping an eye on Google's
Android mobile development platform.

A "starter pack" for Cognos' mobile BI software, which includes a
server-based license, licenses for 25 users and one year of support, costs $31,000,
Valentine said.

IDG News Service