SAP Unveils Road Map for Next Wave of SAP NetWeaver Innovations

ATLANTA, April 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SAP AG today unveiled the next wave of functionality in SAP NetWeaver(R), designed to help CIOs establish a strategic platform to fuel business process innovation and keep up with the speed of change required by the business. With SAP NetWeaver, customers, partners and developers can maintain a stable, core IT foundation while leveraging new platform advancements to drive business growth. New functionality in SAP NetWeaver is aligned under four pillars: improved user access and productivity, accelerated application and business process composition, streamlined access to relevant and reliable information across the enterprise and automated governance of enterprise service-oriented architecture (enterprise SOA). The announcement was made at SAPPHIRE(R) '07, SAP's international customer conference, being held in Atlanta, Georgia, April 22 - 25.

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"CIO's need to maximize their limited IT dollars and align around a technology platform that balances the stability of their day-to-day business processes, with the fast-paced IT innovation demanded by today's rapidly changing business events," said Dan Sholler, research vice president, Gartner.

SAP is meeting these needs by delivering new platform capabilities and enhancements in an incremental manner to supplement the core foundation of SAP NetWeaver and SAP(R) ERP. This new, easy-to-deploy functionality is scheduled to be made available starting in 2007. Highlights under the four pillars include:

o State-of-the-art user experience through Web 2.0, AJAX and rich-client capabilities o Java EE5-based application and process composition enabled for lean consumption o High-performance service-bus capabilities based on Web service standards o Built-in SOA governance through SAP NetWeaver(R) Enterprise Services Repository and UDDI 3.0 registry Improving User Access and Productivity

SAP is simplifying the user experience and streamlining business processes by delivering enhancements to SAP NetWeaver(R) Portal, the new SAP NetWeaver(R) Business Client software and improved multi-channel access functionality. New capabilities extend the value of each user interface, designed to support an individual's role in the organization. SAP NetWeaver Portal creates new efficiencies for collaborative project work through an AJAX-enabled interface that will help end users combine business data and application functionality. The portal also introduces Web 2.0 tools, including wikis and social networking, to support enterprise-wide collaboration while also helping customers ensure security and compliance.

Designed to support the needs of task workers, such as order clerks and financial managers, SAP NetWeaver Business Client offers a new, rich user interface which can be used to access SAP applications from the desktop. The new client also supports integration with other desktop applications. Additionally, mobile users will benefit from scalability and TCO improvements to SAP NetWeaver Mobile, the technical foundation for enterprise mobility within the platform, and the new SAP NetWeaver(R) Voice, a new development toolkit offering SAP application access from any phone.

Accelerating Application and Process Composition

Fostering greater business process automation and flexibility, SAP will offer new functionality delivered through SAP NetWeaver(R) Composition Environment (SAP NetWeaver CE) and SAP NetWeaver(R) Process Integration (SAP NetWeaver PI). The Java EE5-based SAP NetWeaver CE is a next-generation set of integrated tools to be used by customers, partners and SAP for the composition and deployment of standards-based composite applications. Additionally it provides developers an integrated environment used to create and adapt applications and processes across heterogeneous IT assets based on enterprise services from SAP, its customers and partners.

SAP NetWeaver Process Integration, an evolution of the SAP NetWeaver(R) Exchange Infrastructure (SAP NetWeaver XI), will further strengthen SAP's support for the technical infrastructure of enterprise SOA. This includes a standards-based service bus connecting composite applications with enterprise services, as well as the UDDI 3.0 compliant, SAP NetWeaver Enterprise Services Repository. In addition to significantly enhanced performance characteristics, SAP NetWeaver PI also comes with new business activity monitoring (BAM) capabilities to manage business events and resolve alerts in real-time.

Streamlining Access to Relevant and Reliable Information Across the Enterprise

SAP is delivering significant new enhancements in the area of enterprise information management via SAP NetWeaver(R) Business Intelligence (SAP NetWeaver BI) and SAP NetWeaver(R) Master Data Management (SAP MDM). New functionality and tightened integration between these proven platform capabilities help users securely manage and improve the quality of business information and also quickly identify and act on business driven insights.

The next generation of SAP NetWeaver BI will deliver a simplified Web 2.0- based user experience, provide increased self-service access to corporate information for business users -- including via SAP NetWeaver(R) Enterprise Search -- and will further embed intelligence within the context of daily business processes, event-driven and task-oriented. To further increase business agility, customers will be able to deploy SAP NetWeaver BI via federated departmental deployments, allowing lines of business to own and manage their own BI environment while still under the company's corporate governance policies for information management.

SAP NetWeaver MDM allows customers to manage and harmonize all types of master data in a single platform. New enhancements to SAP NetWeaver MDM include a comprehensive new security model for enhanced governance and audit tracking, new data syndication and distribution and support for Asian languages.

Automating Enterprise SOA Governance

As companies continue down the path to better align around an enterprise SOA infrastructure, SAP now offers a next version of SAP NetWeaver Enterprise Services Repository (SAP NetWeaver ESR). The enterprise services repository provides access to more than 1,000 productized enterprise services for rapid innovation as co-defined by SAP, its partners and customers. Unlike other basic registries that only focus on Web service management, SAP NetWeaver ESR comes with business process models and business object models, in addition to Web service definitions. Customers and partners can also ensure common business semantics for ease of composition and reuse by using SAP's own best practices and processes for enterprise service creation, management and governance.

SAP NetWeaver Momentum Keeps Building

SAP NetWeaver continues to experience accelerated platform adoption rates with usage increasing 250 percent in 2006, representing more than 13,000 customers using SAP NetWeaver as their strategic platform in support of critical business processes.

"SAP NetWeaver is the right choice for CIO's who are looking to establish a strategic technology platform that supports existing and future IT investments and helps align IT with evolving business needs," said Klaus Kreplin, corporate officer and member of the Executive Council, head of SAP NetWeaver Technology, SAP AG. "New functionality will allow customers to more easily identify opportunities for business innovation, helping them move ahead of the competition."

About SAP

SAP is the world's leading provider of business software*. Today, more than 39,400 customers in more than 120 countries run SAP(R) applications-from distinct solutions addressing the needs of small businesses and midsize companies to suite offerings for global organizations. Powered by the SAP NetWeaver(R) platform to drive innovation and enable business change, SAP software helps enterprises of all sizes around the world improve customer relationships, enhance partner collaboration and create efficiencies across their supply chains and business operations. SAP solution portfolios support the unique business processes of more than 25 industries, including high tech, retail, financial services, healthcare and the public sector. With subsidiaries in more than 50 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE under the symbol "SAP." (Additional information at http://www.sap.com/)

(*) SAP defines business software as comprising enterprise resource planning and related applications such as supply chain management, customer relationship management, product life-cycle management and supplier relationship management.

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