Business Objects Acquires On-Demand Application Vendor Nsite

Business Objects said Thursday acquired Nsite, and plans to use Nsite's software-as-a-service platform to launch on-demand business intelligence services next year. Financial terms were not disclosed.

In buying Nsite, Business Objects gets SaaS technology, engineering talent and about 27,000 Nsite subscribers.

Nsite offers sales force productivity applications for channel management, sales proposals and quotes, and other tasks. Nsite also provides software tools for customizing the software.

In April, Business Objects launched its first on-demand application, Crystalreports.com, which enables companies to distribute business reports online, and has 7,000 subscribers. With Nsite, Business Objects plans to expand its on-demand offering with BI applications that companies can integrate with multiple data sources, such as enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management systems. The new products are expected to be available next year. At the same time, Business Objects plans to sell and support Nsite applications, which would also get BI capabilities.

"SaaS is changing the software market and the acquisition of Nsite is a big step forward for Business Objects in opening up this important new market to business intelligence," Steven Lucas, vice president of strategic markets at Business Objects, said in a statement.

Nsite's platform leverages Ajax technology to provide a rich client accessible through a Web browser. The software has been integrated with Salesforce.com's on-demand CRM applications, and offers wizard-based integration tools for other Web services. Business Objects's Crystalsreports.com also provides integration with Salesforce.com.