New Release of SAP NetWeaver® Paves the Way for Future Innovation

BERLIN, Oct. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today announced the new release of the SAP NetWeaver® technology platform. With enhancements in the platform's components for composing new business applications, creating mobile applications and integrating data and processes, SAP NetWeaver 7.3 will seed development at SAP and across its ecosystem of partners and customers in areas such as in-memory computing, cloud computing and mobility. The announcement was made at SAP® TechEd 2010, the company's largest ecosystem education event, being held in Berlin, Germany, October 12-14.

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Deployments of SAP NetWeaver have been increasing by an average of more than 20 percent per year over the last four years, with more than 62,000 productive systems, making SAP one of the leading vendors of business application infrastructure solutions. The platform's process integration and portal features in particular continue to enjoy record levels of enterprise adoption worldwide. Already delivering value to a first wave of customers, SAP NetWeaver 7.3 represents a complete update to the SAP NetWeaver portfolio of offerings covering all major product areas.(1)

Enhancements in SAP NetWeaver

SAP NetWeaver is the core component of the SAP technology platform. New enhancements in SAP NetWeaver include:

• Support for non-disruptive upgrades to SAP® Business Suite software landscapes with pre-validated content for SAP Business Suite 7 and SAP Business Suite 7 Innovations 2010
• Greatly enhanced Java support: Java EE5 certified, Java-only ESB and JMS pub/sub capabilities
• Reusable business rule sets with Microsoft Excel integration
• Enhanced standards support (WS Policy 1.2, SOAP 1.2, WS Trust 1.3, Java SE 6, JSR 168/286, WSRP 1.0, SAML 1.0/2.0)
• Significant enhancements in identity management using SAML 2.0 for identity federation and Web-based single sign-on
• Individual and team productivity enhancements through enterprise workspaces and Duet® Enterprise software

"Now more than ever, SAP NetWeaver is the strategic platform for SAP," said Vishal Sikka, executive board member, Technology and Innovation Platform, SAP AG. "We are living in a world where customers want to keep what is working and they want more — they don't want compromises or tradeoffs. With SAP NetWeaver 7.3, we have a technology platform for our customers and their ecosystems that enables fantastic innovations to be delivered without disruption."

The Next Generation of SAP NetWeaver

SAP NetWeaver lays the foundation to extend SAP in three innovative directions for enterprises: in-memory computing, cloud computing and mobility. SAP NetWeaver is expected to make it easier for enterprises to manage the dispersed environments associated with cloud infrastructure and mobile devices, and the processing requirements needed for sophisticated analytics. Only SAP is delivering these three innovations as part of a single technology platform, enabling enterprises to readily turn the promise of next-generation technology into real-world, business applications.

Planned innovations that will be integral to the DNA of SAP NetWeaver going forward include:

• In-memory computing: SAP has been at the forefront of innovation around in-memory computing and the SAP NetWeaver technology platform will incorporate and embed in-memory computing technology from SAP to enable "real" real-time transactions and analytics. Announced at SAPPHIRE® NOW in May 2010, SAP® High-Performance Analytic Appliance (SAP HANA) software will make existing applications faster and support mixed workloads – meaning analytic, performance management and transactional applications will be able to run in a single environment. Customers will be able to use this technology to provide real-time analytics on SAP Business Suite, accelerate the SAP® BusinessObjects™ portfolio and SAP NetWeaver® Business Warehouse component, and develop and deploy entirely new types of applications. The core in-memory computing engine powering the SAP HANA appliance software will also power SAP NetWeaver and deliver this innovation to SAP NetWeaver developers and partners.
• Mobility: Sybase® Unwired Platform technology provides capabilities for managing and developing the full mobile application lifecycle, and its integration with SAP NetWeaver provides important benefits for developers. In addition, SAP announced at SAPPHIRE NOW, a project code-named "Gateway" is underway to create a product built on SAP NetWeaver that provides an open standards-based way to consume SAP data from any application or device. By using Sybase Unwired Platform in conjunction with a product to be developed under the name project "Gateway," developers on the platform are expected to rapidly consume SAP business data on any mobile device.
• Cloud computing: SAP continues its innovation in cloud computing and plans to extend its cloud-computing platform for building rich on-demand applications in areas such as collaboration and analytics. The platform is expected to leverage SAP NetWeaver capabilities to manage cloud operations and shared tools for building and deploying applications on premise, on demand or on device.

SAP NetWeaver Enables the "How" Behind Orchestration

The SAP NetWeaver technology platform provides the foundation for SAP business applications and enables companies to deliver business context to the end user by unifying content and making it consumable everywhere. It has evolved from being a standalone technology platform to a comprehensive application infrastructure portfolio on which SAP applications run. SAP applications can reach more users, more devices and more consumption models as a result of SAP NetWeaver.

SAP NetWeaver has evolved beyond traditional generic middleware to play a critical role in the orchestration of applications, information and people, enabling customers and partners to easily build applications on premise, on demand or on device. SAP NetWeaver supports orchestration with its key capabilities in the areas of process integration, business process management, identity management, master data management and lifecycle management.

Customers Concur That SAP NetWeaver® Process Integration Yields Results

Customer adoption of SAP NetWeaver has been growing steadily in recent years, with a particularly strong showing for the SAP NetWeaver® Process Integration (SAP NetWeaver PI) component, an offering that provides centrally managed business integration and connectivity capabilities as a crucial foundation for service-oriented architecture-based integration. The current quarter has seen 200 new customers embrace SAP NetWeaver PI, and adoption of SAP NetWeaver PI has grown nearly tenfold since the first half of 2006. These numbers demonstrate the popularity of built-integration that connects processes within and outside the enterprise, and how SAP is meeting this need with a highly scalable, enterprise-class integration solution.

"The combination of SAP NetWeaver PI and our PayPal X payment automation platform made it seamless for eBay Inc to quickly create a new way to pay our vendors and suppliers," said Jennifer Ceran, vice president and treasurer, eBay. "We were able to implement and test the system in about six weeks and can now pay our suppliers with full remittance details, in real time, with straight-through processing and visibility into the clearing process. Fully automated payments are driving down processing costs and strengthening the relationships we have with our vendors, with the help of SAP technology."

"SAP NetWeaver PI has given us a central platform that helps us fulfill today's integration requirements effectively," said Markus Hautschek, professional analyst, EnBW Energie Baden-Wuerttemberg AG. "What's more, we now have a skilled team that is well equipped to master the challenges of tomorrow."

Innovation is the Byword at SAP TechEd 2010

To register or read more about SAP TechEd 2010, visit www.sapteched.com. To learn more about the communities of innovation at SAP, visit "SAP Communities" on YouTube or the SAP Developer Network site. For further interaction with event participants, become a fan on Facebook and visit the SAP TechEd forums and blogs. For announcements, blog posts, videos and other coverage during the event series, visit the SAP TechEd newsroom at www.sapteched.com/news.

(1) SAP NetWeaver® Portal and SAP NetWeaver® Mobile components, the SAP NetWeaver® Composition Environment (SAP NetWeaver CE) and SAP NetWeaver PI offerings

SAP® TechEd 2010 in Berlin, Las Vegas, Bangalore, and Shanghai

More than 14,000 SAP customers, partners and technical experts are expected to convene at SAP® TechEd 2010, the company's largest ecosystem education event series. The conference brings IT managers, software developers, administrators, and business process experts together to see, hear, and share how they and their peers can stay one step ahead of business change. Choosing from hundreds of hours of expert-led sessions and hands-on training, attendees can gain the inspiration and skills they need to maximize impact on their organizations. In its 14th year, SAP TechEd 2010 is being held in Berlin, Germany, October 12-14; Las Vegas, Nevada, October 18-22; Bangalore, India, December 1-3; and Shanghai, China, December 1-2. Follow SAP TechEd on Twitter at @sapteched and join the conversation at #SAPTechEd.

About SAP

SAP is the world's leading provider of business software (*), offering applications and services that enable companies of all sizes and in more than 25 industries to become best-run businesses. With more than 102,500 customers in over 120 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE, under the symbol "SAP." For more information, visit www.sap.com.

(*) SAP defines business software as comprising enterprise resource planning, business intelligence, and related applications.

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SOURCE SAP AG