Celequest BI Appliance Powers Performance Management At The Midwest ISO


– Leading regional grid operator selects Celequest’s LAVA to continuously track operational performance –


OTTAWA, ON & BURLINGTON, MA, March 20, 2007– Cognos (Nasdaq: COGN; TSX: CSN), the world leader in business intelligence and performance management solutions, today announced that Celequest’s LAVA™ BI appliance was selected by the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator (Midwest ISO), manager of one of the world's largest energy markets, to track and analyze key performance metrics across its entire energy trading network.

The Midwest ISO is a leading regional grid operator, managing one of the world’s largest energy markets and clearing more than $2 billion in energy transactions monthly in 15 U.S. states and the Canadian province of Manitoba. The Midwest ISO evaluated several BI solutions, but ultimately chose Celequest’s LAVA to deliver insight into key performance metrics because of the simplicity and speed of deploying the LAVA appliance. The Midwest ISO also chose Celequest’s LAVA due to its seamless integration with its existing architecture and its robust security features that safeguard data locally onsite.

“We chose Celequest’s LAVA BI appliance from Cognos because it combines the best of all worlds—scalability, security, ease of deployment and low TCO.  Celequest’s operational BI architecture and self-service dashboards, delivered in a secure appliance, will enable the Midwest ISO to track, analyze and instantly react to rapidly changing business conditions in the fast-moving, high-volume energy market,” said Wayne Schug, Executive Director at the Midwest ISO.

"With Celequest’s LAVA, organizations such as the Midwest ISO that manage huge volumes of data traffic can give employees immediate visibility into processes and performance metrics, enabling them to identify potential issues before they occur,” said Diaz Nesamoney, Cognos VP and General Manager of On Demand Solutions.  "We are pleased to work closely with the Midwest ISO to provide them with critical insights into their world-class energy management platform.”

About the Midwest ISO:
The Midwest ISO ensures reliable operation of, and equal access to, 93,600 miles of interconnected, high voltage power lines in 15 U.S. states and the Canadian province of Manitoba. The Midwest ISO manages one of the world's largest energy markets, clearing more than $2 billion in energy transactions monthly. The Midwest ISO was approved as the nation's first regional transmission organization (RTO) in 2001. The non-profit 501(C)(4) organization is governed by an independent Board of Directors, and is headquartered in Carmel, Indiana with operations centers in Carmel and St. Paul, Minnesota. Membership in the organization is voluntary. For more information, visit www.midwestmarket.org.

About Celequest:
Celequest, acquired by Cognos in January, is the leading provider of on-demand Business Intelligence (BI).  Delivered as an appliance or as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Celequest enables companies to deliver enterprise-class BI to their operational workers and executives at a low total cost of ownership (TCO).  Celequest's innovative technology includes data integration, analytics and dashboards/reporting in a single integrated product.  Customers include Solectron, Dreyer's, Cendant, Software Spectrum and Compassion International.  For more information about Celequest, please visit www.celequest.com.

About Cognos:
Cognos, the world leader in business intelligence and performance management solutions, provides world-class enterprise planning and BI software and services to help companies plan, understand and manage financial and operational performance.

Cognos brings together technology, analytical applications, best practices, and a broad network of partners to give customers a complete performance system. The Cognos performance system is an open and adaptive solution that leverages an organization’s ERP, packaged applications, and database investments. It gives customers the ability to answer the questions -- How are we doing? Why are we on or off track? What should we do about it? – and enables them to understand and monitor current performance while planning future business strategies.

Cognos serves more than 23,000 customers in more than 135 countries, and its top 100 enterprise customers consistently outperform market indexes. Cognos performance management solutions and services are also available from more than 3,000 worldwide partners and resellers. For more information, visit the Cognos Web site at http://www.cognos.com.

Cognos and the Cognos logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cognos Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. All other names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Note to Editors:
Copies of previous Cognos press releases and Corporate and product information are available on the Cognos Web site at http://www.cognos.com.