SAP Infrastructure Runs Competing Apps, Aids CollaborationSAP Infrastructure Runs Competing Apps, Aids Collaboration

SAP is moving into Web services with a new open-standards infrastructure built to fuel collaboration by integrating applications from competing vendors. Analysts say mySAP Technology will let SAP's 20,000 customers retain their older SAP systems while embracing Web services.

The software has three components: a Web application server that will run applications from a variety of vendors; a software hub designed to allow internal and external collaborative business processes; and a portal that lets users easily navigate relevant information from disparate systems.

The move signals SAP's entrance into the Web application server and enterprise application development markets, which have been the domain of BEA Systems, IBM, and webMethods. Equally important is SAP's commitment to its current customers, says Joshua Greenbaum, an analyst with Enterprise Applications Consulting. "It's extremely well-thought-out," he says. "They really did their homework on this one."

Peter Barth, SAP's director of global solutions marketing, says making it possible to deliver centralized Web services is a must as users deploy specialized applications from a variety of vendors. "The heterogeneousness is out there," Barth says. "It can't be avoided."

This is the first step to basing SAP's R/3 software on the Web application server. It should provide a seamless transition for the vendor's existing customers, says Byron Miller, a VP at Giga Information Group.

The mySAP Technology infrastructure is designed to contain customer churn at a time when companies are using applications from many vendors, say AMR Research analysts Kimberly Knickle and Lance Travis in a report on the strategy. SAP is reinforcing its ability to maintain account control.

Barth acknowledges that existing SAP customers are initially the most likely to benefit from the new infrastructure.