Microsoft Corp. today kicked off its second annual Microsoft Business Intelligence (BI) Conference 2008 by announcing groundbreaking new technologies that will enable enterprises to bring the power of BI to information workers organizationwide.

The company introduced new managed self-service analysis capabilities code-named “Project Gemini,” and self-service reporting upcoming in the next release of Microsoft SQL Server focused on BI — code-named “Kilimanjaro.” Alongside this Microsoft will also deliver advanced data warehousing functionality being developed under the project code-named “Madison.” These new tools will empower companies to extend the benefits of BI across their ranks to information workers with minimal reliance on IT to help drive smarter, quicker decision-making, free up IT staff for more valuable activities, and dramatically drive down deployment costs.

“Microsoft’s goal is to transform the way companies think of BI through familiar and intuitive business-friendly tools that help them unlock the power of BI across their organizations,” Stephen Elop, president of the Microsoft Business Division told the more than 2,500 conference attendees. “If you know how to use Word and Excel, then you’ll be able to use our BI — that’s our commitment to customers.”