Press Release

FLASHMAP SYSTEMS RELEASES NEW BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE TECHNOLOGY ROADMAP

Depicts Analytic Tools, Vendor Solutions, Integration Points Compares 380 Vendor Solutions While Providing Common Visualization Framework

Newton, MA - (April 3, 2003) Flashmap Systems® has announced today that it has published the Business Intelligence Roadmap, a graphical wall poster that clarifies much of the complexity surrounding the rapidly growing Business Intelligence (BI) software product market. Designed for Information Technology (IT) architects and planners, this poster provides a single snapshot that facilitates clear communications during product evaluation and selection.

The BI Roadmap was developed by Flashmap Systems president and founder Jeff Tash, well known in the worldwide IT community as an experienced and authoritative technology strategist. “The Flashmap BI Roadmap demystifies the market, providing a concrete point of departure that allows IT professionals to make apples-to-apples comparisons," Tash said. “That single distinction puts them miles ahead of their counterparts in other companies who often make product decisions with incomplete or erroneous information.”

The Roadmap divides the Business Intelligence software market into four primary segments: Data, Tools, Analytics, and Portals. With a central diagram clearly defining the inter-relationship of these four segments, the poster lists 380 BI software products, each in its appropriate segment.

“Any IT group that is thinking about adding to their portfolio of Business Intelligence software assets can really benefit from this new poster,” Tash said. “It shows all the pieces in context… and Context is King.” An image of the BI Roadmap can be viewed at www.itscout.org/pub/bi.pdf (requires the Adobe Acrobat reader). An interactive version is available on Tash’s website www.ITscout.org.

The BI Roadmap is second in a series created by Flashmap systems. The first offering, The IT Infrastructure Roadmap, was published last year and continues to be a valuable tool for planners. At least two more roadmaps will be added to the series in 2003. The roadmaps enhance the Flashmap Systems company objective of providing the IT industry with pragmatic, cost-effective solutions.