Nielsen and Cognos Ink Multi-Year Deal

Nielsen has signed an agreement with business intelligence (BI) and performance management firm Cognos, to use its Cognos 8 Business Intelligence software to deliver integrated information services to its clients and accelerate the growth of its Nielsen Answers solution.

Ottowa-based Cognos will also supply its Cognos Go! Mobile products to help Nielsen clients measure internal business performance in the areas of finance, operations and sales.

Cognos CEO Rob Ashe comments: 'We look forward to teaming with Nielsen to strengthen its BI capabilities and accelerate development of client solutions that create clear and measurable business benefits.'

Joe Willke, Nielsen's President of Global Consumer Product Leadership says Cognos' technology complements his firm's own information architecture. New York-based Nielsen will be using Cognos 8 in its Nielsen Answers 5.0 web-based platform - through which clients can extract information, analysis and advice. Willke added that this will speed up deployment of Nielsen Answers while providing rapid access to consistent, customisable data.

Mitchell Habib, Executive VP Global Business Services at Nielsen: 'With a common platform, our teams will be able to focus on our unique expertise - the rapid development of applications and solutions for the clients and markets we serve.'

The partner firms are online at www.nielsen.com and www.cognos.com.