CHICAGO, April 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Kognitio(R), a leading global provider of business intelligence (BI) and data warehousing solutions, today announced the appointment of industry veteran Steve Drane as the company's vice president of North American sales.

The announcement is consistent with Kognitio's previously announced expansion into the United States market. In various key sales management roles at early stage start-up companies for almost a quarter of a century, Drane has consistently delivered revenue and strategic transactions that have led to equity events at five firms, including initial public offerings and acquisitions by larger companies.

Drane is tasked with growing North American sales of Kognitio's WX2 analytical database, widely acclaimed as the most powerful and scalable analytical database software in the industry. As robust, proven software, WX2 enables enterprises and organizations to query, in detail, vast amounts of granular data in seconds. In addition, Kognitio's innovative Data Warehousing as a Service(TM) (DaaS(TM)) offering allows companies to conduct large-scale data analytics projects on a flexible and cost-effective basis without the need to rely on over-stretched IT departments or forcing them to make budget-busting investments.

"Steve's knowledge of the drivers behind business intelligence, his ability to identify prospects and his proven record of closing sales makes him the ideal choice for Kognitio as we grow the North American market," said John K. Thompson, Kognitio's executive vice president and general manager of North American operations. "I am particularly impressed by Steve's experience in building successful sales teams, and his focus on helping his customers develop solutions that help them grow and maintain a business advantage."

While at Prism Solutions, one of the first companies to deliver an ETL solution, Drane worked with Bill Inmon, the "father of data warehousing," and closed strategic transactions at Ford Motor Company, Ameritech, Allstate Insurance and GTE. He achieved similar success at other high-technology firms such as Aion Corporation, Comergent Technologies, Epicentric and Selectica.

"Successful, enterprise-class software is the result of an iterative, cooperative process between vendors and their multi-national corporate customers. WX2 is a proven, working solution with more than 20 blue chip customers currently in production, giving Kognitio clearly defined competitive advantages," Drane said. "Kognitio's existing customers have provided us with the valuable experience over time that we will use to make our new customers in North America very successful."

About Kognitio

Kognitio (http://www.kognitio.com/) is an innovative, technology-rich company, providing leading-edge solutions to business problems that require the acquisition, rationalization and analysis of large or complex data. Kognitio's WX2 is the industry's fastest and most scalable analytical database on the market, giving firms the ability to turn their raw data into valuable business insight fast, and empowering its customers to realize comprehensive answers to critical business questions.

Globally headquartered in Marlow, UK, with North American headquarters in Chicago, Kognitio delivers competitive advantage to its clients across a wide range of industries, including telecommunications, financial services and utilities. More information is available from the company's website or by phone at 773.908.6357.

CONTACT: John Thompson of Kognitio, +1-773-908-6357,
john.thompson@kognitio.com; or Steve Friedberg of MMI Communications for
Kognitio, +1-610-518-7474, steve@mmicommunications.net

Web site: http://www.kognitio.com/