The agreements will allow Paris-based Business Objects to embed its Crystal Reports system into IBM’s Java Rational Application Developer and Borland’s Delphi 2005 for Windows and .NET application development environments.
The IBM deal is part of a worldwide OEM and reseller agreement that both companies signed last year. Business Objects claims that Crystal Reports is the only default reporting solution in the IBM Rational development environment.
Crystal Reports is already bundled into other Borland developer products such as JBuilder X and JBuilder 2005 for embedded reporting capabilities.
The Java developer community is an important area of focus for Business Objects, said Chris Caren, vice president of corporate marketing. Caren is eyeing IBM’s extensive developer customer-base and well-oiled channels as an opportunity to further extend the market reach of Crystal reporting products.
Additionally, Crystal also has a similar long-standing OEM relationship with Microsoft Corp’s Visual Studio development environment.
Business Objects picked up the Crystal Reports software through its acquisition of Crystal Decisions back in July 2004.
Embedded reporting capabilities are deemed useful for developers since they cut the time spent building and integrating reports by hand into applications.
