Peer-To-Peer:

SAP Ships Open Web Services Business Platform

This announcement was made at SAPPHIRE 02, SAP's international e-business conference being held in Orlando, Fla., June 5-7.

First Open Platform to Unify People, Information, and Processes for Any Business Application Solution, including SAP R/3 Enterprise, mySAP.com,and New Cross Applications. SAP is the only solution provider able to combine a comprehensive, open, and integrated Web services infrastructure with the applications and data that companies need to be successful. mySAP Technology enables collaboration across user communities and business processes within and beyond company boundaries. It integrates applications and Web services from different vendors and sources through one common, reliable Web infrastructure based on open Web services standards. It also serves as the foundation for SAP R/3 Enterprise, all mySAP.com solutions, and the newly announced cross applications.

"To solve current and future business needs, we designed mySAP Technology to enable disparate technology and applications from diverse vendors to form one seamless environment designed for value creation in the enterprise," said Hasso Plattner, co-chairman, chief executive officer, and co-founder of SAP AG. "This open framework serves as a base that embraces existing applications in heterogeneous environments and enables development of new applications, such as cross applications, that leverage the integrative nature of the technology."

With the shipment of the SAP Exchange Infrastructure and the Java capabilities within the SAP Web Application Server, combined with the existing SAP Business Information Warehouse and SAP Enterprise Portal, SAP has completed delivery of the mySAP Technology platform.

SAP Exchange Infrastructure

The SAP Exchange Infrastructure, which is based on the newest release of the SAP Web Application Server, uses XML messaging for process integration to connect any component from any vendor on any technology. A primary capability of the SAP Exchange Infrastructure is a repository of information required to create and modify collaborative business across a heterogeneous application and system portfolio. Initially, this repository will be populated by SAP, but it's designed to allow companies the flexibility to modify their business processes across heterogeneous environments by adding information from their own experiences or from third parties.

"webMethods is excited to be the pioneer in supporting the SAP Exchange Infrastructure by providing adapters to select non-SAP applications, industry standards, and EDI," said Phillip Merrick, webMethods CEO. "This extends the long-standing successful partnership of webMethods and SAP, which was founded on allowing customers to integrate more easily within heterogeneous environments, and aligns with our shared vision of providing companies with comprehensive integration solutions."

SAP Web Application Server and Web Dynpro

Also shipping now is the SAP Web Application Server, which hosts business applications written as Web services through native platform-independent Web technologies. The dual personality SAP Web Application Server encompasses Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) and ABAP to combine the strengths of both in one single environment as well as provide connectivity to third parties such as Microsoft .NET and IBM WebSphere.

Additionally, the SAP Web Application Server uses Web Dynpro, a powerful presentation layer, to create professional and easy-to-use user interfaces. Web Dynpro will provide a design time environment that allows developers to model and create browser-based user interfaces as well as a standards-based run-time environment that is device agnostic and bridges the gap between J2EE, ABAP, and Microsoft .NET. This first shipment of the SAP Web Application Server includes the Web Dynpro run-time for J2EE and ABAP.

"LSI Logic chose SAP because we needed an open, flexible environment for building user-friendly, Web-enabled applications to consolidate our transactions within our Project System application," said Bruce Decock, LSI Logic vice president and chief information officer. "With the support of J2EE in the latest version of SAP Web Application Server, we will be able to combine existing SAP resources and skill sets with Java-based developers to maximize our returns on our IT investments."

In addition to the SAP Exchange Infrastructure and the SAP Web Application Server, SAP recently released new functionality in SAP Business Information Warehouse and SAP Enterprise Portal.

SAP Enterprise Portal

The latest release of SAP Enterprise Portal offers a new level of sophistication in delivering a seamless user experience across disparate information, applications, and services. For example, the portal capability of mySAP Technology allows users of mySAP Supply Chain Management (mySAP SCM) to see across an entire supply chain network, better adapt to changes through a consolidated view of information, bridge the information gap between planning and execution systems, and leverage linkage into content networks.

The SAP Enterprise Portal uses unification to enable a seamless Drag&Relate user experience across systems such as Oracle 11i, Siebel, Peoplesoft, SAP transactional and analytical systems, and the leading databases. The latest release also provides knowledge management capabilities, such as the integration and sharing of existing sources of unstructured data originating from Web servers, file servers, and groupware, and retrieval, classification, publish/subscribe, and collaboration services. A portal development kit, which allows Java developers to build on and extend this offering, is available from SAP.

SAP Business Information Warehouse

The newest release of SAP Business Information Warehouse provides extended data warehousing, reporting, and analytics capabilities. Its new open hub features make it a source of aggregated information, originally extracted from a wide variety of systems. New native Web capabilities include query design, report presentation, and a Web application designer that provides for the easy assembly of reports into portal-based information solutions. Enriched with business content, SAP Business Information Warehouse is the infrastructure for analytical applications that work across boundaries.

Lower Cost of Ownership and Flexibility

With mySAP Technology, SAP is delivering a comprehensive infrastructure serving all integration and operations' needs. It provides companies a common application server infrastructure that not only unites people, processes, and information, but also delivers low cost of ownership, consistent security, and globalization. For example, a company could integrate strategic new solutions -- like the collaborative project management capabilities of mySAP Product Lifecycle Management (mySAP PLM) -- into existing systems, reducing costs and time typically required for completing a technology implementation and integration.

"To drive collaborative business and exploit existing investments, a comprehensive and open standards based infrastructure is needed," said Jeff Comport, vice president of Gartner Research. "That means customers should look for an open integration architecture to avoid the trap of project-by-project, point-to-point integration. The ability for companies to integrate any vendor's application on any technology will be playing a key role in the near future."

"With the technology stack ever expanding in our customers' existing systems, a daily challenge lies in solving the process integration dilemma," says Robert Frazzini, global director, eTechnology Integration with Deloitte Consulting. "The new SAP Exchange Infrastructure will provide us with an underlying platform to integrate SAP and non-SAP applications across our customers' entire value chain. It's a powerful technology with the ability to enhance our customers' shared collaboration knowledge."

In addition to Deloitte Consulting, SAP is working with other leading consulting organizations, including Accenture and Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, to jointly create solutions that leverage the capabilities of mySAP Technology for value creation by leveraging existing investments.

For more information on mySAP Technology, please refer to the mySAP Technology Press Fact Sheet, www.sap.com/usa/sapphire/press/factsheets.

About SAP

SAP is a leading provider of e-business software solutions. Through the mySAP.com e-business platform, people in businesses around the globe are improving relationships with customers and partners, streamlining operations, and achieving significant efficiencies throughout their supply chains. Today, more than 18,000 companies in over 120 countries run more than 50,000 installations of SAP software.