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Cognos Continues to Gain Ground in Performance Management Market -- META Group gives Cognos high marks for market presence, performance, technology, and vision in latest METAspectrum(SM) evaluation -- BURLINGTON, Mass., April 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- According to a new META Group Business Performance Management (BPM) METAspectrum(SM) market evaluation, Cognos has performed notably well and continues to gain significant ground in the performance management market. Cognos (Nasdaq: COGN; TSX: CSN) is the world leader in business intelligence (BI) and corporate performance management. The report, issued today, evaluated 13 vendors on a broad range of factors that determine both market presence and performance. Specifically,the METAspectrum analyzed criteria such as vision and strategy, channels, geographic coverage, business drivers, investments, and market share to score vendors for market presence. Factors examined to determine market performance included technology, services, pricing, personnel, and profitability. Cognos received high marks in both presence and performance, receiving high ratings in several key categories, including vision/strategy, awareness/reputation, investments, partnerships with systems integrators, market share, mind share, technology, execution, and geographic coverage. Cognos has consistently been acknowledged as a significant long-term player in the performance management marketplace by leading industry analysts. The METAspectrum(SM) evaluation particularly noted Cognos' key strengths in performance management core solutions elements such as data collection and validation, consolidation, budgeting and planning, reporting and analysis, scorecards and dashboards, and workflow management. "Organizations need better solutions to ensure visibility into performance and enable better accountability in the new closed-loop business performance management paradigm," said John Van Decker, vice president of META Group. "The market for performance management solutions is especially significant as professionals recognize the importance of measuring department and enterprise- wide performance." Cognos continues to expand its position in the performance management market on the combined strength of its complete and integrated solution for CPM, comprised of: Cognos Enterprise BI Series, the industry's most comprehensive business intelligence solution; Cognos Enterprise Planning Series, the industry-leading solution for planning, budgeting, modeling, and forecasting; and Cognos Metrics Manager, the most robust and flexible enterprise scorecarding solution. "Cognos' momentum in the market continues to grow, and is reflected in the results of this important industry evaluation," said Rob Ashe, Cognos president and chief operating officer. "We remain committed to delivering real business value to our customers, driven by our corporate performance management vision and the unrivalled strength of our industry-leading solutions." ABOUT COGNOS: Cognos, the world leader in business intelligence and corporate performance management, delivers software that helps companies drive, monitor and understand corporate performance. Cognos delivers the next level of competitive advantage -- CorporatePerformance Management (CPM) -- achieved through the strategic application of BI on an enterprise scale. Our integrated CPM solution helps customers drive performance through planning; monitor performance through scorecarding; and understand performance through business intelligence. Cognos serves more than 22,000 customers in over 135 countries. Cognos enterprise business intelligence solutions and services are also available from more than 3,000 worldwide partners and resellers. For more information, visit the Cognos Web site at http://www.cognos.com/. About METAspectrum: METAspectrum(SM) evaluations from META Group (NASDAQ:METG) provide IT professionals with a view into critical market success factors and vendor positioning. METAspectrum delivers comprehensive evaluations of both technology markets and vendor product offerings. There are multiple market evaluations planned for release in 2004 and beyond. METAspectrum evaluations are updated quarterly, biannually, or annually, depending on the characteristics of individual markets. To view completed market evaluations, or learn more about the METAspectrum methodology, visit http://www.metagroup.com/metaspectrum. METAspectrum(SM) market evaluations and results are the sole property of META Group, Inc. and are Copyright (C) 2004 META Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Permission to use the results requires prior written approval from META Group, and should not be deemed an endorsement of any company or product. Cognos and the Cognos logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cognos Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. All other names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Note to Editors: Copies of previous Cognos press releases and Corporate and product information are available on the Cognos Web site at http://www.cognos.com/ and at PR Newswire's site at http://www.prnewswire.com/. Media Contacts: Antonietta Iafrate Cognos, 781-313-2454 Kristen Orfanos Lois Paul & Partners, 781-782-5852 Investor Relations: John Lawlor Cognos, 613-738-3503 DATASOURCE: Cognos CONTACT: Media Contacts, Antonietta Iafrate of Cognos, +1-781-313-2454, ; or Kristen Orfanos of Lois Paul & Partners, 781-782-5852, ; or Investor Relations, John Lawlor of Cognos, +1-613-738-3503, Web site: http://www.cognos.com/ Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/107867.html

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