Brio Technology
Encyclopedia
Brio Technology was a San Francisco Bay area
software company cofounded in 1984 by Yorgen Edholm and Katherine Glassey. The company is best known for their business intelligence
software systems, starting with DataPivot on the Apple Macintosh. Brio Software was acquired by Hyperion
in 2003. Hyperion was in turn acquired by Oracle
four years later, absorbing Brio into the Oracle Hyperion Performance Management applications.
The next year, Brio released Data Pivot, an innovative program designed to allow regular or sequenced data to be totaled automatically. This was one of the first OLAP
software applications. The essential idea of DataPivot was added to both Borland
's Quattro Pro
and Microsoft Excel
(pivot table
s). Also Lotus Improv
was built around a similar (though independently created) idea. Brio gained a patent for the idea behind DataPivot ("Cross Tab Analysis and Reporting Method") in 1999.
In 1993, Brio released Data Edit, a tool which allowed more direct manipulation of data in relational databases such as Oracle
, Sybase
, and DB2
.
In 1995, Brio gained some much needed funding from the venture capital
firm Kleiner Perkins. Kleiner Perkins insisted on some management changes (co-founder Yorgen Edholm was made the sole CEO of the company) and the ground was laid for taking the company public. Brio went public
(former stock symbol of BRIO - Nasdaq
) on May 5, 1998.
Flush with money, Brio started looking for businesses to acquire. In order to complement its technology, Brio looked at and later acquired SQRiBE Technologies. SQRiBE was a small company in Palo Alto, CA with reporting (SQR) and a new portal product (ReportMart).
Brio hired Craig D. Brennan, a former SVP of Global CRM at Oracle
, as its new CEO January 1, 2001. After his first 90 days at Brio, he realized that the company was worse shape than described by the board. Not only was the Tech Bubble
bursting, the economy in a recession, but the merger between Brio and SQRiBE was in name only. There was no vision, strategy, or plan to integrate the two companies. There were either no formal business processes or there were multiple overlapping teams, processes, and so on.
Brennan brought in a new executive team in his first six months and together they came up with a new vision for the company focused on Brio 8, their first integrated Business Intelligence Suite, with a complete redesign from mainframe and client-server to a web-based "zero footprint" architecture]].
The company survived the terrible business environment of 2001. The company was required to do two major layoffs in 2001 to reduce its operational losses and to conserve cash. By the end of 2001, the company had achieved cash flow break-even.
Beginning in 2002, the company focused on installing business processes across all functions, dedicated most of its development resources to Brio 8, and managed new maintenance requirements for its most important customers. By the end of the year, the company launched Brio 8 to enthusiastic customers, partners, and press. The company was growing revenue again and had achieved a small profit.
and over the course of several quarters, Brio Software was acquired and integrated into Hyperion's operations.
A quarter after Hyperion acquired Brio Software, their new integrated capabilities gave them new sales opportunities, and Hyperion achieved YR/YR 30% product growth for several quarters. The Hyperion stock price went from $15 per share to over $50 per share over the next few quarters. In March 2007, Oracle announced that it was acquiring Hyperion, this deal was finalized four months later, in July 2007.
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
software company cofounded in 1984 by Yorgen Edholm and Katherine Glassey. The company is best known for their business intelligence
Business intelligence
Business intelligence mainly refers to computer-based techniques used in identifying, extracting, and analyzing business data, such as sales revenue by products and/or departments, or by associated costs and incomes....
software systems, starting with DataPivot on the Apple Macintosh. Brio Software was acquired by Hyperion
Hyperion Solutions
Hyperion Solutions Corporation was a business performance management software company, located in Santa Clara, California, USA, which was acquired by Oracle Corporation in 2007...
in 2003. Hyperion was in turn acquired by Oracle
Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation is an American multinational computer technology corporation that specializes in developing and marketing hardware systems and enterprise software products – particularly database management systems...
four years later, absorbing Brio into the Oracle Hyperion Performance Management applications.
History
Brio Technology was founded in San Francisco in 1984 as a consulting company. It made money early on by doing contract work for Metaphor Corporation and performing contract programming.Business intelligence software
By 1990, Brio had developed its first product, Data Prism, a database query and analysis tool.The next year, Brio released Data Pivot, an innovative program designed to allow regular or sequenced data to be totaled automatically. This was one of the first OLAP
OLAP
In computing, online analytical processing, or OLAP , is an approach to swiftly answer multi-dimensional analytical queries. OLAP is part of the broader category of business intelligence, which also encompasses relational reporting and data mining...
software applications. The essential idea of DataPivot was added to both Borland
Borland
Borland Software Corporation is a software company first headquartered in Scotts Valley, California, Cupertino, California and finally Austin, Texas. It is now a Micro Focus subsidiary. It was founded in 1983 by Niels Jensen, Ole Henriksen, Mogens Glad and Philippe Kahn.-The 1980s:...
's Quattro Pro
Quattro Pro
Quattro Pro is a spreadsheet program developed by Borland and now sold by Corel, most often as part of Corel's WordPerfect Office.Historically, Quattro Pro used keyboard commands similar to Lotus 1-2-3. It is commonly said to have been the first program to use tabbed sheets. Actually, Boeing Calc...
and Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel is a proprietary commercial spreadsheet application written and distributed by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. It features calculation, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming language called Visual Basic for Applications...
(pivot table
Pivot table
In data processing, a pivot table is a data summarization tool found in data visualization programs such as spreadsheets or business intelligence software. Among other functions, pivot-table tools can automatically sort, count, total or give the average of the data stored in one table or spreadsheet...
s). Also Lotus Improv
Lotus Improv
Lotus Improv was a spreadsheet program from Lotus Development that attempted to re-define the way a spreadsheet should work. Instead of treating the grid as the system for referencing data, Improv made all data exist in named ranges. Operations on the data then referred to these names, rather than...
was built around a similar (though independently created) idea. Brio gained a patent for the idea behind DataPivot ("Cross Tab Analysis and Reporting Method") in 1999.
In 1993, Brio released Data Edit, a tool which allowed more direct manipulation of data in relational databases such as Oracle
Oracle database
The Oracle Database is an object-relational database management system produced and marketed by Oracle Corporation....
, Sybase
Sybase
Sybase, an SAP company, is an enterprise software and services company offering software to manage, analyze, and mobilize information, using relational databases, analytics and data warehousing solutions and mobile applications development platforms....
, and DB2
IBM DB2
The IBM DB2 Enterprise Server Edition is a relational model database server developed by IBM. It primarily runs on Unix , Linux, IBM i , z/OS and Windows servers. DB2 also powers the different IBM InfoSphere Warehouse editions...
.
In 1995, Brio gained some much needed funding from the venture capital
Venture capital
Venture capital is financial capital provided to early-stage, high-potential, high risk, growth startup companies. The venture capital fund makes money by owning equity in the companies it invests in, which usually have a novel technology or business model in high technology industries, such as...
firm Kleiner Perkins. Kleiner Perkins insisted on some management changes (co-founder Yorgen Edholm was made the sole CEO of the company) and the ground was laid for taking the company public. Brio went public
Initial public offering
An initial public offering or stock market launch, is the first sale of stock by a private company to the public. It can be used by either small or large companies to raise expansion capital and become publicly traded enterprises...
(former stock symbol of BRIO - Nasdaq
NASDAQ
The NASDAQ Stock Market, also known as the NASDAQ, is an American stock exchange. "NASDAQ" originally stood for "National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations". It is the second-largest stock exchange by market capitalization in the world, after the New York Stock Exchange. As of...
) on May 5, 1998.
Flush with money, Brio started looking for businesses to acquire. In order to complement its technology, Brio looked at and later acquired SQRiBE Technologies. SQRiBE was a small company in Palo Alto, CA with reporting (SQR) and a new portal product (ReportMart).
Executive changeover
However, the merger with the company SQRiBE (also based in the Bay area) in 1999 did not work out well. Although the combined company did reach a record high of revenues in the year 2000 of $150 million dollars (annualized), financial problems were looming. After reporting a net loss for first quarter of 2001, Yorgen Edholm resigned as CEO. Katherine Glassey was forced out of the company a few months later.Brio hired Craig D. Brennan, a former SVP of Global CRM at Oracle
Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation is an American multinational computer technology corporation that specializes in developing and marketing hardware systems and enterprise software products – particularly database management systems...
, as its new CEO January 1, 2001. After his first 90 days at Brio, he realized that the company was worse shape than described by the board. Not only was the Tech Bubble
Dot-com bubble
The dot-com bubble was a speculative bubble covering roughly 1995–2000 during which stock markets in industrialized nations saw their equity value rise rapidly from growth in the more...
bursting, the economy in a recession, but the merger between Brio and SQRiBE was in name only. There was no vision, strategy, or plan to integrate the two companies. There were either no formal business processes or there were multiple overlapping teams, processes, and so on.
Brennan brought in a new executive team in his first six months and together they came up with a new vision for the company focused on Brio 8, their first integrated Business Intelligence Suite, with a complete redesign from mainframe and client-server to a web-based "zero footprint" architecture]].
The company survived the terrible business environment of 2001. The company was required to do two major layoffs in 2001 to reduce its operational losses and to conserve cash. By the end of 2001, the company had achieved cash flow break-even.
Beginning in 2002, the company focused on installing business processes across all functions, dedicated most of its development resources to Brio 8, and managed new maintenance requirements for its most important customers. By the end of the year, the company launched Brio 8 to enthusiastic customers, partners, and press. The company was growing revenue again and had achieved a small profit.
Acquisition by Hyperion
In 2003, the executive team, working with the board, determined that the Business Intelligence market was going to consolidate and it made sense for the company to consider being acquired. The company focused on both growing its revenue and profitability while also seeking an acquirer. The best fit was HyperionHyperion Solutions
Hyperion Solutions Corporation was a business performance management software company, located in Santa Clara, California, USA, which was acquired by Oracle Corporation in 2007...
and over the course of several quarters, Brio Software was acquired and integrated into Hyperion's operations.
A quarter after Hyperion acquired Brio Software, their new integrated capabilities gave them new sales opportunities, and Hyperion achieved YR/YR 30% product growth for several quarters. The Hyperion stock price went from $15 per share to over $50 per share over the next few quarters. In March 2007, Oracle announced that it was acquiring Hyperion, this deal was finalized four months later, in July 2007.
External links
- "Hyperion To Acquire Brio Software" Press Release
- "Brio Resources: Products, Support, and Discussion Forums" from the Hyperion Developer Network