Hummingbird Ltd. , the world-leading developer of enterprise information management systems (EIMS), today announced Hummingbird BI™ 8.5, the latest Hummingbird Enterprise™ business intelligence solution. This Hummingbird BI release includes a broad range of customer-driven functionality, flexibility, and scalability enhancements to simplify user experience and increase productivity.

“The need for enterprise-wide access to data is increasing dramatically. As a result, business intelligence tools are spreading to a growing number and variety of users in an enterprise,” said Andrew Pery, chief marketing officer and senior vice president, Hummingbird Ltd. “Query and reporting tools remain the most critical BI tools because they meet most enterprise needs. The enhancements to Hummingbird BI —an integrated suite of query, reporting and analysis tools—were specifically made to handle these requirements, enabling companies to improve their decision-making effectiveness.”

The new release of Hummingbird BI offers administrators and end users robust new features and functionalities to enhance their experience via the web or the desktop, boosting the user experience and minimizing administrative and training requirements. Moreover, Hummingbird BI 8.5 contains architectural developments for openness, scalability and for tighter integration with other Hummingbird solutions.

Hummingbird BI 8.5 includes the following new features:

Enhanced Usability – Web and Desktop

Numerous enhancements have been made to further Hummingbird BI support of a wide range of users with different needs and levels of sophistication. This keeps user training to a minimum with straightforward and consistent interfaces across the thin-client and full-client tools. The many enhancements give users the ability to more quickly and easily create the reports they need, without administrative support, resulting in improved effectiveness across the organization and reduced costs. BI Web users now have more of the features that are available to desktop client users allowing them to create and edit reports according to their own needs.

Ease of Administration

Many capabilities have been added to enhance the administrative features and functionalities of Hummingbird BI. This new release aids administrators in the deployment and management of BI functionality without adding new technical requirements or resources. Administrators will have the ability to create a distribution package and automate upgrades, making the administrator’s job much easier and quicker. By centralizing the management of the BI solution, BI administrators save time and improve the service provided to users.

Hummingbird Enterprise Integration

Architectural enhancements have provided further integration with other Hummingbird products, particularly Hummingbird DM™ and Hummingbird Portal™. Hummingbird BI is an integral part of the Hummingbird Enterprise suite of integrated products, providing reporting and analysis tools to facilitate the 360 degree view of an enterprise. By taking advantage of the integration between Hummingbird products, customers can benefit from a seamless solution that addresses the broad continuum of enterprise needs.

“Hummingbird BI 8.5 raises the bar dramatically for our business intelligence solution,” added Pery. “Our customers have always been delighted with the flexible and easy-to-use functionality of Hummingbird BI. We anticipate the enhancements to usability, administration and integration in this latest release will deliver even greater value to enterprise query and reporting activities.”

Availability: Hummingbird BI 8.5 is now available. For more information, please visit the Hummingbird Web site at: http://www.hummingbird.com/products/bi/index.html