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SAP rolling out new analytics for SMBs

SAP will soon roll out Crystal Server 2011 and Business Objects Edge 4.0, a pair of new BI (business intelligence) products aimed at small and medium-sized companies, the company announced Tuesday.

Crystal Server 2011 was formerly named Crystal Reports Server. The change was made because SAP is “really positioning [it] as an entry-level BI platform,” and not just something for reports, said Jayne Landry, vice president of solution management, business analytics and technology.

The products are scheduled to be generally available in the first few weeks of July, aligned with the release of Business Objects 4.0, the enterprise-level version of SAP’s analytics products. This is a change from the past, when Edge’s release would come six to eight weeks after the high-end version, Landry said.

Crystal Server 2011 has new features such as the Explorer tool for “drilling down” into data sets as well as an information design tool. It’s limited to a single server and 100 named users, according to an SAP document.

The idea is that customers who outgrow products like Crystal Server 2011 can step up to one with more features.

Edge 4.0 takes the Crystal Server feature set and adds others, such as Web Intelligence, mobile BI and integrations to applications such as Oracle E-Business Suite. There is also an EDGE edition that adds data-integration tooling and a third that bundles data management software.

All Edge versions are also limited to a single server. For multi-server support, unlimited users and other features, customers would upgrade to Business Objects 4.0.

“No matter where a customer starts, their investment is protected,” Landry said.

For one, SAP has created a common user experience across the various products, which could save time and money on training.