Breaking News -
Platforms:
SAP Launches New Technology
Platform
Germany's SAP AG launched a new version of the technology platform behind
its
range of business software, saying the product would be at the heart of its
development efforts in the coming decade.
The platform, called NetWeaver, is an extension of SAP's existing mySAP
Technology product and is designed to enable software applications built
with different programming languages and different software technologies to
run together.
SAP has made integrating business software from different manufacturers a
key part of its strategy but it said NetWeaver represented a significant
advance over its existing capabilities.
"It provides SAP with unparalleled flexibility compared with what we had
before," SAP board member Shai Agassi said in a conference call.
The immediate revenue impact of the new product is not expected to be
significant but analysts said it would help tighten SAP's hold on the
technological foundation underpinning its customers' business software
applications.
"It's an attempt by SAP to gain the technological high ground," said
Gartner research director Derek Prior.
The importance of platforms integrating different products and systems has
grown as the rise of web-based e-business software ranging from customer
service to production, purchasing and design has lifted the number of
systems that operate in tandem.
"Business applications have been very good at getting data in their own
area of functionality but they've traditionally been hopeless at delivering
that information in a way that's usable for busy business managers," said
Prior. "This is an attempt to address that."
NetWeaver will be compatible with Microsoft Corp's Microsoft.Net and IBM
Inc's Websphere platforms and SAP stressed that it was cooperating closely
with the two groups despite the potential for rivalry created by the new
product.
|
