Cognos 8 BI is designed to provide decision-makers at all levels of the enterprise with a consistent, accurate view of information to better manage performance. As a single product that easily integrates into existing infrastructures with multiple systems and data sources, Cognos 8 BI is claimed to be a robust technology foundation for BI standardisation and performance management.

By extending the reach of Cognos 8 BI to include IBM Information Server, companies can develop a unified view of the business, Cognos says. This aims to enable better decisions by helping companies understand existing data sources and cleanse, correct, and standardise information to be used throughout the enterprise.

As a result, organisations will benefit from greater productivity, trusted information, security, and a unified foundation for enterprise information to better improve business intelligence and performance management initiatives, Cognos adds.

"Customers are challenged with delivering a growing population of users with meaningful access to an exploding volume of data," says Pete Fiore, vice-president, IBM Information Integration Solutions. "With IBM Information Server, customers will achieve high levels of performance and availability to authoritative enterprise information to power BI initiatives."