SAP and Microsoft to Deliver Tighter Integration for Application Development and Cloud Deployments

ORLANDO, Fla., May 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Expanding their long-term partnership with a joint base of thousands of customers, SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) and Microsoft Corp (Nasdaq: MSFT), today announced their plans to improve integration between SAP® software and Microsoft virtualization and cloud computing technologies. These plans include innovations to people-centric applications development for SAP software as well as virtualization and cloud computing without disruption of customer IT landscapes. The announcement was made at SAPPHIRE® NOW, being held in Orlando, Florida, May 15-18, 2011 where Microsoft was also named "SAP Global Technology Partner of the Year."

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The parties plan to make business processes from SAP software more easily consumed and extended by .NET developers, simplifying the overall application development process. This level of access will help redefine the SAP/Microsoft developer landscape with shorter development cycles, lower costs and openness into core applications. Microsoft and SAP are also planning to provide integration between upcoming landscape management software from SAP, Microsoft System Center and Microsoft Windows Server Hyper-V technology, bringing greater agility for cloud management and deployments.

"Building on the successful partnership with Duet Enterprise, SAP and Microsoft plan to offer interoperability and a native development experience, so that a .NET developer can easily build applications in visual studio that run across the SAP and Microsoft platforms," said Dr. Vishal Sikka, member of the Executive Board, Technology and Innovation, SAP. "Interoperability is a core advantage that SAP and Microsoft can deliver to the customers we both share."

Redefining SAP Development Experience for .NET Developers

SAP and Microsoft recently launched Duet® Enterprise software, a joint product for SAP applications and Microsoft SharePoint development. Enhancing their support across a variety of application models and scenarios, SAP and Microsoft now plan to interconnect their development platforms, extending development capabilities for developers within the Microsoft ecosystem. This plan includes using software development accelerators to enable connectivity between the development platforms, integrating Microsoft development tools with the business functionality of SAP solutions across a variety of application models and scenarios. Microsoft and SAP's goal is to simplify access to SAP applications for millions of .NET developers using SAP NetWeaver® Gateway technology, in a manner that does not require any specialized knowledge of SAP business software. Tighter integration will bring new innovations to the forefront, helping drive a plethora of new .NET applications that consume and extend SAP® Business Suite applications.

The anticipated new interoperability layers include:

• Visual Studio integration: Microsoft and SAP will be partnering to dramatically increase developer productivity and lower cost through deeper integration of SAP systems and future versions of Visual Studio and the .NET Framework
• Windows Azure SDK for SAP NetWeaver Gateway: Extend SAP NetWeaver Gateway with a new software development kit (SDK) for Windows Azure so that .NET developers are able to create private or public cloud-based applications for Windows Azure that connect to on-premise SAP systems without leaving their existing development environment

Delivering Flexibility and Scale Across Cloud Environments

Microsoft and SAP plan to create new interoperability between industry-leading SAP business technology and Microsoft's virtualization and management portfolio across datacenters, private clouds and public clouds.

The companies plan to integrate upcoming landscape management software from SAP with Microsoft Windows Server Hyper-V and Microsoft System Center. This integration will instill enhanced flexibility, scalability and management in the cloud all while reducing cost and risk. Through these connected offerings, SAP and Microsoft customers will be able to scale deployments in their own data centers or through private clouds. In the future, SAP and Microsoft plan to continue their collaboration to support deployment of SAP applications on the Windows Azure Platform.

Mitsui & Co., a large Japanese trading company based in Tokyo, recently deployed a private cloud solution based on Windows Server Hyper-V virtualization technology, Microsoft SQL Server, and the enterprise resource planning (ERP) application SAP® ERP. Thanks to the integrated ties between the SAP and Microsoft components, Mitsui has established an IT environment that is not only centralized across multiple locations but is flexible enough to power applications when needed. Data storage needs for SQL Server backup have been reduced by 86 percent.

"By applying the Windows Server Hyper-V environment as an integrated foundation in our SAP landscape, we have increased the agility of Mitsui as a whole," said Yuji Mano, general manager, Information Strategy Planning Office, Management Planning Department, Mitsui & Co.

"Working together with SAP, our aim is to knock down any walls that would inhibit the richness and sophistication of our two combined platforms," said Ted Kummert, senior vice president of the Business Platform Division within the Server and Tools Business at Microsoft. "Customers and developers will have an open, more diverse field to build their IT infrastructures upon. We are ushering in modern IT platforms that can deliver value for years to come."

SAPPHIRE® NOW

With SAPPHIRE® NOW, SAP offers its customers, partners and prospects even more opportunities to engage in dialogue with peers, participants and thought leaders around the globe. Being held in Orlando, Florida, May 15-18, 2011, this enhanced, real-time event connects attendees on site with global participants through state-of-the-art broadcast studios and an online experience that incorporates the latest social media and community functionality. Whether on site or online, participants can gain insight as to how SAP is delivering on its product strategy and helping organizations around the world to run better For more information, visit www.sapphirenow.com. Follow SAPPHIRE NOW on Twitter at @SAPPHIRENOW and visit the event newsroom at www.sapphirenow.news-sap.com.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

About SAP

As market leader in enterprise application software, SAP (NYSE: SAP) helps companies of all sizes and industries run better. From back office to boardroom, warehouse to storefront, desktop to mobile device – SAP empowers people and organizations to work together more efficiently and use business insight more effectively to stay ahead of the competition. SAP applications and services enable more than 170,000 customers (includes customers from the acquisition of Sybase) to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow sustainably. For more information, visit www.sap.com.

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SOURCE SAP AG