COGNOS TURNS ARMCHAIR QUARTERBACKS INTO SUPERBOWL EXPERTS WITH FREE
FOOTBALL SOFTWARE

-- POWERPLAY SE FOR FOOTBALL LETS FANS SCORE BIG BY USING BUSINESS
INTELLIGENCE SOFTWARE AND THE INTERNET TO TACKLE STATISTICAL ANALYSIS --

BURLINGTON, MASS., JANUARY 2, 1996 -- Cognos (NASDAQ:COGNF; TSE:CSN) today
announced the immediate availability on its World Wide Web site of
PowerPlay Special Edition (SE) for Football. PowerPlay SE for Football is
free Windows software for the NFL playoffs and SuperBowl that gives fans
instant access to the same type of information usually available only to
sportscasters after extensive behind-the-scenes work by statisticians.

PowerPlay SE for Football is a limited, personal-use version of Cognos'
Business Intelligence tool, PowerPlay, the world's most widely used
software for analyzing multidimensional data, also known as Online
Analytical Processing (OLAP). The full version of PowerPlay, priced at
$695, lets business managers take a detailed look at any type of corporate
data, turning facts into useful insights in order to run their businesses
better. The key to the power of both products is the ability to let users
look at data "multidimensionally" -- or in multiple combinations or views
-- much as one can change how a Rubik's cube looks by turning its faces.

"If the Dallas Cowboys are facing third down with five yards to go on
natural grass during a day game, fans using PowerPlay SE can instantly
determine how often Dallas made the first down in similar situations
during the regular season or playoffs," said Alan Rottenberg, Cognos'
senior vice president, Business Intelligence. "It's exactly this kind of
precision and instant access to information that's made PowerPlay the de
facto standard in the business world for multidimensional data analysis.
For business professionals, PowerPlay SE is also an excellent way to learn
about and show the power and potential business benefits of OLAP."

Armchair quarterbacks can now determine how teams or individual players
perform in passing, rushing, sacks, first downs and other situations as
they're watching games. Fans with Windows PCs and Internet access can
download the software free of charge from Cognos' World Wide Web site at
http://www.cognos.com.

Cognos is providing two databases: one including regular season statistics
for the teams competing in the playoffs; the other including data for the
same statistical categories for the post season only. Post season data
will be updated and posted on the Cognos site after each round of the
playoffs.

Nearly any meaningful combination of offensive statistics can be analyzed
at will and viewed as a full-color graph, chart or table with
point-and-click simplicity. PowerPlay SE for Football can answer questions
such as:

* What is the fourth down conversion rate for the Dallas Cowboys in the
fourth quarter in away games played during the day on natural grass?

* Which NFC team leads the league in TDs scored in the last two minutes of
regulation time in away games at night?

* Who leads the San Francisco 49ers in rushing yards against Western
Conference opponents on second and short situations?

* Which AFC team suffers the most sacks on third down and short yardage --
on the opponent's side of the field?

In business use, the full version of PowerPlay can answer questions such
as:

* Which sales person in the Asia/Pacific region brings in the highest
percentage of sales in the last month of Q4 at a 50% or greater margin?

* Which products in the North American market contribute the highest gross
margin sold through direct vs. indirect sales?

* Which adverting campaign generated the highest number of Fortune 1000
leads in the first quarter of 1995 that resulted in sales greater than
$1,000,000?

The sports data for PowerPlay SE for Football is supplied by STATS, Inc.
(Skokie, IL), the leading supplier of sports data, and covers a wealth of
data on the offensive performance of football teams in the 1996 playoffs
and the individual players on those teams. For baseball fans, PowerPlay SE
for Baseball is still available at
http://www.cognos.com/baseball/pp_playground.html.

PowerPlay was first released in January 1990 and is used by over 100,000
managers around the world in Global 2,000-class companies. It is also
distributed by numerous software applications vendors as part of their
products. PowerPlay SE and the full commercial version, PowerPlay 4.1,
require Windows 3.1 or Windows 95, an IBM PC or compatible 386, and 4 MB
RAM. A 486 or faster PC is recommended.

COGNOS

Cognos is the global leader in providing business intelligence software to
satisfy enterprise-wide data access and analysis needs. With over 200,000
seats in thousands of companies worldwide, PowerPlay and Impromptu
consistently service the widest range of users across corporate,
departmental, workgroup, personal and mobile applications. The products
support over 100 relational and OLAP data sources and are available in
seven major languages. Cognos business intelligence products are sold
through the company's 40 sales offices and over 350 resellers around the
globe.

Cognos develops, markets and supports -- both directly and through
resellers worldwide -- advanced client/server tools for data access, data
analysis and application development on a wide range of open and
proprietary computing platforms. Cognos is a publicly held company with
dual headquarters in Ottawa, Canada and Burlington, MA. Cognos' World Wide
Web address is http://www.cognos.com.
 
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