Web applications tool NetWeaver and xApps will be the next push for the enterprise software company in 2006.
December 5, 2005
German software giant SAP on Monday detailed its road map for the next year, emphasizing the importance of transforming its technology platform NetWeaver from a tool for building web applications to a tool for combining them. In a keynote speech to a gathering of industry analysts in Las Vegas, Shai Agassi, president of SAP’s product and technology group, said the company’s platform would usher in the next wave of web services.
Mr. Agassi called this next phase in business applications “enterprise 3.0,” which emerges after the mainframe, client/server, and Internet periods. Shares of SAP closed down $0.04 to $45.55.
Launched by SAP in 2004, NetWeaver is an application builder platform for integrating business processes across various systems, databases, and sources. It is the technological foundation for all SAP products. SAP’s new push for the NetWeaver network is called xApps, or composite applications, which bring enterprise processes such as customer relationship management into a user’s native environment.
Heavyweight Partners
For example, SAP announced a partnership with Microsoft earlier this year to develop Mendocino, software that will allow customers to integrate Microsoft Office products into SAP’s enterprise applications (see Microsoft, SAP Link Products). SAP’s goal is to build an “ecosystem” of customers, partners, and ISVs (independent software vendors) around the NetWeaver platform to create a suite of applications that will become a one-stop shop for customers.
The Walldorf, Germany-based company has partnered with over 30 industry heavyweights to build composite applications that will integrate partners’ offerings with SAP’s software products. These partners include IBM, Computer Associates, Intel, Cisco Systems, and Symantec.
“We believe that customers want to buy suites because they want to solve end-to-end problems,” said Mr. Agassi. The company, which is trying to fend off competition from its largest rival Oracle and Oracle’s upcoming Fusion platform, has been criticized in the past for not being partner-friendly and collaborative, a process that has now become important if SAP wants to create a NetWeaver ecosystem of partners. Realizing this, the company has developed an aggressive partner strategy in the last two years (see SAP Allies with Tech Giants).
“We are not religious at all in any of these battles, so we made partnerships with Microsoft to create Mendocino, and also with Adobe,” said Mr. Agassi.
One SAP partner that made a presentation in Las Vegas was Ariba, a spend management software company that helps companies analyze their purchasing, and managing their supplier networks. Although it is also a SAP competitor, Ariba has partnered with SAP to integrate its suite of applications with Ariba’s supplier network so other SAP customers can access Ariba’s products.
“We think an integration approach is the only way to give value to our customers,” said Bob Solomon, senior vice president of Ariba.
Progress Report
SAP executives also gave industry analysts a progress report on the implementation of the NetWeaver platform. SAP’s xApps composite applications now have more than 500 customers. In addition, 2,000 customers are now implementing the NetWeaver platform, which was launched in the third quarter of 2004. In terms of financial results, SAP executives said the company is way ahead of its closest competitor, Oracle, with a 60 percent market share in new license revenues compared with its Redwood Shores, California-based rival’s 24 percent (see SAP ‘Outpaces’ Oracle).
SAP executives said Oracle’s market share declined after its PeopleSoft and Siebel acquisitions. However, SAP’s main challenge now is to convince its customers to switch to a new platform after the hundreds of millions of dollars they have already spent on legacy systems, said Hadley Reynolds, an analyst with the Delphi Group. Implementation of the new ecosystem and making sure it works will be another hurdle, he added.
Article by Red Herring
December 5, 2005
German software giant SAP on Monday detailed its road map for the next year, emphasizing the importance of transforming its technology platform NetWeaver from a tool for building web applications to a tool for combining them. In a keynote speech to a gathering of industry analysts in Las Vegas, Shai Agassi, president of SAP’s product and technology group, said the company’s platform would usher in the next wave of web services.
Mr. Agassi called this next phase in business applications “enterprise 3.0,” which emerges after the mainframe, client/server, and Internet periods. Shares of SAP closed down $0.04 to $45.55.
Launched by SAP in 2004, NetWeaver is an application builder platform for integrating business processes across various systems, databases, and sources. It is the technological foundation for all SAP products. SAP’s new push for the NetWeaver network is called xApps, or composite applications, which bring enterprise processes such as customer relationship management into a user’s native environment.
Heavyweight Partners
For example, SAP announced a partnership with Microsoft earlier this year to develop Mendocino, software that will allow customers to integrate Microsoft Office products into SAP’s enterprise applications (see Microsoft, SAP Link Products). SAP’s goal is to build an “ecosystem” of customers, partners, and ISVs (independent software vendors) around the NetWeaver platform to create a suite of applications that will become a one-stop shop for customers.
The Walldorf, Germany-based company has partnered with over 30 industry heavyweights to build composite applications that will integrate partners’ offerings with SAP’s software products. These partners include IBM, Computer Associates, Intel, Cisco Systems, and Symantec.
“We believe that customers want to buy suites because they want to solve end-to-end problems,” said Mr. Agassi. The company, which is trying to fend off competition from its largest rival Oracle and Oracle’s upcoming Fusion platform, has been criticized in the past for not being partner-friendly and collaborative, a process that has now become important if SAP wants to create a NetWeaver ecosystem of partners. Realizing this, the company has developed an aggressive partner strategy in the last two years (see SAP Allies with Tech Giants).
“We are not religious at all in any of these battles, so we made partnerships with Microsoft to create Mendocino, and also with Adobe,” said Mr. Agassi.
One SAP partner that made a presentation in Las Vegas was Ariba, a spend management software company that helps companies analyze their purchasing, and managing their supplier networks. Although it is also a SAP competitor, Ariba has partnered with SAP to integrate its suite of applications with Ariba’s supplier network so other SAP customers can access Ariba’s products.
“We think an integration approach is the only way to give value to our customers,” said Bob Solomon, senior vice president of Ariba.
Progress Report
SAP executives also gave industry analysts a progress report on the implementation of the NetWeaver platform. SAP’s xApps composite applications now have more than 500 customers. In addition, 2,000 customers are now implementing the NetWeaver platform, which was launched in the third quarter of 2004. In terms of financial results, SAP executives said the company is way ahead of its closest competitor, Oracle, with a 60 percent market share in new license revenues compared with its Redwood Shores, California-based rival’s 24 percent (see SAP ‘Outpaces’ Oracle).
SAP executives said Oracle’s market share declined after its PeopleSoft and Siebel acquisitions. However, SAP’s main challenge now is to convince its customers to switch to a new platform after the hundreds of millions of dollars they have already spent on legacy systems, said Hadley Reynolds, an analyst with the Delphi Group. Implementation of the new ecosystem and making sure it works will be another hurdle, he added.
Article by Red Herring
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