Databeacon PageEnhancer API Transforms Common Web Pages into Analytics-enhanced 'Power Portals'

XML, 70% better cube compression, plus Euro-language support also featured in Databeacon's latest 5.2 release

LAS VEGAS, November 12, 2001-COMDEX, Booth: # L7162-10: With the release of
Databeacon 5.2 comes a new product component called Databeacon PageEnhancer
API, making it easier than ever for companies to integrate interactive
analytics into their Web page environments. The new client-side PageEnhancer
API provides integration and customization capabilities to allow Web
developers to control the way data analysis and reporting is presented
online, enabling the interface to meet the needs of customer, supplier,
partner or employee communities served by extranets or departmental
intranets. 
 
 "Scrolling through page after page of static tables on the Web is not an
effective way to examine data," said Andrew Coutts, CEO, Databeacon Inc.
"Databeacon 5.2 enables enterprises to publish interactive data on any Web
page so anyone can get insight out without the need for end-user training,
manuals or software installations."  

"The need to deliver timely and succinct information to a broad range of
users both within and beyond the firewall is driving increased adoption of
Internet-based analysis and reporting tools across industries," said
Jacqueline Sweeney-Coolidge, Director, Hurwitz Group.  "Databeacon 5.2 will
help companies provide Internet-based audiences with simplified access to
personally relevant information and enable them to make better business
decisions faster." 

Databeacon PageEnhancer API allows developers to selectively enable or
disable functionality in the Databeacon Insight viewer working with
languages like JavaScript, Jscript and Java. They can hide and expose
toolbar buttons, menu items and report views, all through dynamic program
control. This allows developers to restrict capabilities within particular
groups, or to offer solutions better aligned to the skills, roles and
responsibilities of a particular online audience. An administrator might
only see pre-determined report views, while a business analyst would have
the complete range of Databeacon analysis and reporting capabilities,
including browser-to-desktop integration with Excel, Word, Acrobat, and
offline-processing.

The PageEnhancer API allows companies to seamlessly integrate Databeacon's
powerful Internet analytics into existing Web-based applications, while
maintaining existing interface methods. Viewers can click on picture buttons
to select different graph styles, radio buttons to choose a particular
report view, or drop-down lists for a particular data filter. 
 
Databeacon PageEnhancer API also brings extensibility to online analytics.
Developers can add functionality to the Databeacon Insight viewer, such that
when selected, it would trigger an action by an external program. For
example, selecting an "Illustrate" button launches a visualization tool to
illustrate the currently selected data item. Any number of products could be
used to further illustrate and explore the identified selection through
multi-dimensional analysis.

A Developer's Guide provides an overview on how to use the Databeacon
PageEnhancer API, and coding examples clearly illustrate how to customize
Databeacon to better fit the needs of any enterprise audience. 
  
Databeacon 5.2 also features improved performance and new data-handling
capabilities. The data selected for analysis is sent to the browser in
compressed cubes. Databeacon 5.2 utilizes the latest in compression
technology, which in preliminary testing has shown increases in data
compression of up to 70%. This means less transfer time, resulting in a
faster response to the Databeacon Insight viewer. It also means that larger
amounts of data can be deployed easily to the browser viewer for analysis.
  
XML is here to stay, and Databeacon 5.2 now supports it. Data in this new
format - SQL Server, Oracle or flat XML - can be read, processed and
deployed for immediate analysis by managers across the enterprise.  

The Databeacon Insight viewer will appear in the user's selected language
preference, extending the overall ease-of-use and quickening the rate of
adoption in global enterprises. Initially English, French and German will be
supported.

"Across the enterprise has new meaning. With release 5.2, we now also offer
localized versions of Databeacon, allowing global audiences to view data in
their native language," said Coutts.  "Now, imagination is the only limiter
in how you present powerful analytics and reporting to audiences across the
extended enterprise." 

Pricing for Databeacon 5.2 starts at $10,000 for a 10-named-user,
one-developer starter system and rises to $90,000 for a two-processor
unlimited user license. Databeacon PageEnhancer API costs an additional
$10,000 for named-user Databeacon 5.2 licensees, and $15,000 with an
unlimited user license.  

About Databeacon Inc.
Founded in 1995, Databeacon Inc. is the award winning developer of
Internet-based information analysis and reporting software to Get Insight
Out(tm). Organizations around the world are using Databeacon to deploy
Information Outreach(tm) applications, defined as "the delivery of
self-personalized, interactive information and analytical capabilities to
large Internet-based user audiences." The company's Web site is
www.databeacon.com and its headquarters are based in Ottawa, Canada, with
sales offices across North America, resellers in Europe and Independent
Software Vendor (ISV) partners located around the world.


For more information, please contact:

Nathan Rudyk                                            
Databeacon Inc.                 
(613) 729-4480, ext. 304
nrudyk@databeacon.com
www.databeacon.com      

Chad Doucette
High Road Communications
(613) 236-0909 ext. 317
cdoucette@highroad.com