COGNOS DEBUTS POWERPLAY 5.0; DELIVERS HIGH-PERFORMANCE, COST-EFFECTIVE
MULTI-DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS TO ENTIRE ENTERPRISE

SETS NEW LEVELS OF PERFORMANCE, OPENNESS FOR OLAP, DATA WAREHOUSING

BURLINGTON, MASS., FEBRUARY 20, 1996 -- Cognos (NASDAQ:COGNF; TSE:CSN)
today introduced PowerPlay 5.0, a new release of the world's most popular
software for multi-dimensional analysis of corporate data. The PowerPlay
5.0 client is a new 32-bit version of Cognos' market leading OLAP client
with over 100,000 seats installed worldwide, and now offers powerful new
enhancements that set a new standard for OLAP client performance and
functionality. As an addition to the PowerPlay client, Cognos is
introducing a PowerPlay 5.0 server for increased data volumes and enhanced
administrative capabilities. PowerPlay 5.0 now scales to deploy to 2,000
users or more in an organization, placing the competitive value of
multi-dimensional analysis, or Online Analytical Processing (OLAP), tools
on the desktop of every manager in the enterprise.

PowerPlay 5.0 is the most complete open solution for OLAP today. Native
connections to the three leading OLAP servers -- Arbor's Essbase, Oracle's
Express and Pilot's Lightship -- are built into the PowerPlay 5.0 Client,
allowing users to interact fully with data sets on those systems. This
allows PowerPlay Client to interact directly with multidimensional data
structures within Essbase, Express, and Lightship. Cognos is also offering
the application programming interface (API) to the PowerPlay 5.0 data
structures to other software developers. In addition, all of the major
functions of PowerPlay are now callable via OLE2 Automation, enabling
users or developers to make programmatic calls to specific capabilities
within the product.

Together, the PowerPlay Client and Server deliver high-performance
analytical capabilities in the most cost-effective package in the
industry. The PowerPlay Client delivers a rich, Windows 95-compliant
graphical environment that allows users to drill up or down and "slice-
and-dice" through data sets of 2 million records or more, with sub-second
response times. With the addition of the optional PowerPlay 5.0 Server,
users can manipulate data sets of 10-20 million records or more with the
same intuitive ease and near-instant response times.

Companies can manage thousands of user seats with minimal effort using
PowerPlay's powerful new security and administration features. The
PowerPlay Server, for example, installs its multi-dimensional data
structures directly into existing relational databases, thereby leveraging
all of the procedures and capabilities of the in-place database
administration and communications software. Data access and security is
also handled from a central control point, allowing users to see and
interact only with those parts of the data structure that are relevant to
their business responsibilities.

"The introduction of PowerPlay 5.0 fundamentally changes the landscape in
the data warehousing market," said Alan Rottenberg, Cognos' senior vice
president, business intelligence business unit. "We believe that this
product will transform OLAP -- that is, the ability to manipulate,
interact with and understand complex, multi-dimensional data in an easy
and powerful way -- from a special- purpose, limited-use technology, into
an affordable, general-purpose 'must-have' for every manager in an
enterprise.

"Cognos is the only vendor that regards both OLAP and SQL as essential to a
competitive environment. In fact, Impromptu 3.0, our Product of the Year
in InfoWorld's Query and Reporting category for 1995, and PowerPlay 5.0
give Cognos the unique ability to put a complete, high-performance
business intelligence toolkit on thousands of desktops in every enterprise
-- with the assurance of complete manageability and unmatched
cost-effectiveness."

POWERPLAY 5.0 CLIENT

PowerPlay 5.0 Client is a 32-bit, Microsoft Office 95-compatible
application. It runs on Windows 3.1, Windows NT and Windows 95, and is
designed to allow users to quickly and easily analyze data sets of 2
million records or more, depending on machine configuration and the nature
of the data set. These extracts are stored on the user's local hard drive.
Users drill down or up and slice-and-dice their way through the data with
point-and-click and drag-and-drop simplicity, working directly on either
numerical or graphical displays. In addition, version 5.0 includes
important enhancements such as 3-D graphics and charts, ranking, instant
reset to the top level of data, and fully customizable menus.

The PowerPlay 5.0 Client carries a single-copy US list price of $695, with
quantity discounts available.

POWERPLAY 5.0 SERVER

PowerPlay 5.0 Server is an optional additional component that can be added
to PowerPlay 5.0 Client. The Server creates a compressed multi-dimensional
extract from tabular data sources, such as relational databases or flat
files, and stores the extract within a relational database as a Binary
Large Object (BLOB). Users of PowerPlay Client 5.0 with access to the
database can then access and manipulate the BLOB as if were a local file.
Sub-second response times can be consistently achieved from within
PowerPlay 5.0 against extracts that include 10-20 million records in the
original data set, depending on the server configuration and the nature of
the data.

As an open solution, PowerPlay 5.0 Server data is also available to other
programs such as Visual Basic through OLE2 automation. To ease
administration overhead, data cubes can be replicated between servers
using the database's own facilities, and different classes of users can be
allowed to see different parts of the same data cube.

The PowerPlay 5.0 Server is priced in the US at $14,995 for UNIX- based
platforms, and at $4,995 on NT platforms.

AVAILABILITY

PowerPlay 5.0 Server will be released on HP-UX, IBM AIX, Sun Solaris, and
Microsoft Windows NT platforms supporting Oracle 7 and Sybase System 11.
Future releases will support Digital Alpha NT as well as Informix On-line
and DB2/6000 database platforms. General availability is scheduled for
summer 1996.

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 by 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.
 
 =========================================================
 From the 'New Product News' Electronic News Service on...
 AOL (Keyword = New Products) and Delphi (GO COMP PROD)
 =========================================================
 This information was processed from data provided by the
 company/author mentioned. For additional details, please
 contact them directly at the address/phone# indicated.
 Trademarks are the property of their respective owners!
 =========================================================
 All submissions for this service should be addressed to:
 BAKER ENTERPRISES,  20 Ferro Dr,  Sewell, NJ  08080  USA
 Email:   rbakerpc@aol.com   --or--   rbakerpc@delphi.com
 =========================================================
