Ottawa-based software giant Cognos Inc. announced a partnership with a small California startup on Tuesday that includes a minority investment in the company of $4.5 million.

The company is Composite Software Inc., a privately-held firm founded two years ago and headquartered in San Mateo. In the last fiscal year it reported revenues of US$2.5 million and about 30 staff.

Cognos, Canada's largest software firm and a global leader for business intelligence (BI) software, has signed an original equipment manufacturer's (OEM) agreement with Composite Software. Composite's Enterprise Information Integration (EII) software, called Composite Information Server, will be embedded in Cognos' flagship ReportNet suite.

The deal is part of Cognos' open data strategy for its customers.

Cognos said the addition of Composite's software will allow for new styles of reporting with ReportNet, such as combining historic data from warehouses with real-time operational information from a wide range of data sources including XML, JDBC, WSDL and LDAP. The company dubs it "enabling a 'single version of the truth'".

"Of all the EII platforms we tested, Composite offered the best combination of outstanding performance and simplicity of operation, and we are pleased that Cognos is the exclusive BI platform for the Composite Information Server," Neal Hill, senior VP of corporate development at Cognos, said in statement.

"We will continue to take the lead in responding to the market need for true enterprise reporting and BI standardization."

Cognos said the Composite Information Server is immediately available to customers as part of ReportNet at no additional charge.