SAP Previews Next-Generation Composition Capabilities for Partners

LAS VEGAS, Sept. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Delivering on its commitment to help customers experience the business value of enterprise service-oriented architecture (enterprise SOA), SAP AG today offered partners a preview of the next-generation composition capabilities of the SAP NetWeaver(R) platform. With the new capabilities, the platform provides a lean, standards-based composition environment and offers both developers and business process experts with a visual, easy-to-use tool to build and run complete composite applications to accelerate business process innovation. The announcement was made at SAP(R) TechEd '06, being held in Las Vegas, Nevada, Sept. 12 - 15.

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Demonstrating SAP's further commitment to the developer community and driving open standards, SAP NetWeaver(R) Composition Environment builds upon several proven tools and technologies already familiar to SAP developers. These include the SAP Composite Application Framework (CAF) tool for service composition, the Web Dynpro development environment for boosting programmers' productivity through guided procedures for composite processes, and the SAP NetWeaver(R) Visual Composer tool for building and adapting the composite views used by business process experts. Bringing these powerful and proven technologies together in one environment provides an integrated and optimized experience for developers and business process experts to dramatically increase productivity. This composition environment is a key element in allowing companies to keep their core enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems intact while innovating on top of them. The new environment also enables composites to run on a decoupled foundation.

"Wipro adopted the SAP Composite Applications Framework, along with SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer, as the preferred composition tool for Wipro Composite Applications Factory Model, a service line that allows organizations to create xApps faster and at a significantly lower cost," said Ramakrishnan Ramamurthy, vice president, SAP Practice, Wipro Technologies. "We are extremely pleased with the capabilities and product direction of SAP Composite Application Framework, and are confident that SAP NetWeaver Composition Environment will enable our customers to accelerate their enterprise SOA adoption and business process composition."

"Questra's RemoteService Composite Application -- an application that allows remote devices and equipment to automatically create service notifications in SAP service solutions -- was built with the SAP Composite Application Framework tool," said Walt Rossi, vice president of marketing, Questra Corporation. "We were very pleased with how quickly our team was able to build a robust solution, and we plan to use SAP NetWeaver Composition Environment for the additional composite applications we intend to bring to market."

"Delivering reliable and scalable software solutions to our customer base as quickly as possible is key to our success," said Babak Varjavandi, CEO of Nakisa Inc. "SAP Composite Application Framework provided us with the tools, services and technology we needed to quickly bring an xApp for succession planning to market that seamlessly connects to HCM and business warehouse applications from SAP. Moving forward we are betting on the productivity and power of SAP NetWeaver Composition Environment as we continue to deliver valuable business applications to SAP customers that will enhance their human capital and talent management initiatives."

Lean, Standards-Based, Easy-to-Use

The enhanced capabilities of SAP NetWeaver Composition Environment enable partners and customers to build and run composite applications spanning mySAP ERP 2005, SAP NetWeaver 2004s, and non-SAP applications and systems. The tool is easy to download, install, and use, enabling lean consumption of enterprise services across heterogeneous assets.

The composition environment for SAP NetWeaver is at the forefront of standards support featuring Java EE 5, including the new persistence model provided by EJB 3.0 as well leading specifications related to composition such as Java API for XML-Based Web Services (JAX-WS) 2.0. The composition environment also leverages Eclipse 3.2, including the Eclipse Web Tools Platform (WTP).

"The lean composition environment for SAP NetWeaver is yet another example of SAP's ongoing commitment to supporting standards and providing tools that ease development for both our partners and customers," said Klaus Kreplin, executive vice president, SAP NetWeaver, SAP. "This standards-based environment significantly reduces the cost of development, training and support, and eases porting for ISVs or SIs that may want to build a composite on top of SAP applications, re-using existing software. By providing an environment that allows companies to keep their core ERP systems intact, SAP NetWeaver Composition Environment enhances developer productivity and enables innovation without disruption."

SAP(R) TechEd '06 in Las Vegas, Tokyo, Amsterdam and Bangalore

More than 5,000 SAP customers, partners and technical community are convening at SAP(R) TechEd '06 to learn how to transform existing business processes and IT landscapes and take advantage of the power and flexibility of enterprise service-oriented architecture. Celebrating its 10th anniversary, SAP's largest ecosystem education event of the year offers more than 900 hours of lecture-driven and hands-on sessions. SAP TechEd is being held in Las Vegas, Nevada, Sept. 12 - 15; Tokyo, Japan, Oct. 5 - 6; Amsterdam, Oct. 18 - 20 and Bangalore, India, Nov. 8 - 10, 2006. For more information, please visit http://www.sapteched.com/.

About SAP

SAP is the world's leading provider of business software*. Today, more than 34,600 customers in more than 120 countries run SAP(R) applications -- from distinct solutions addressing the needs of small and midsize enterprises 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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NOTE: SAP, R/3, mySAP, mySAP.com, xApps, xApp, SAP NetWeaver and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries all over the world. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies. Data contained in this document serve informational purposes only. National product specifications may vary.

For customers interested in learning more about SAP products: Global Customer Center: +49 180 534-34-24 United States Only: 800-872-1SAP (800-872-1727) For more information, press only: Kelly Schwager 650-215-3224, kelly.schwager@sap.com, PDT Shabana Khan, 650-461-1332, shabana.khan@sap.com, PDT SAP Press Office, +49(6227) 7-46315, CET; 610-661-3200, EDT; press@sap.com Rachel Allen, Burson-Marsteller, 415-591-4041, PDT, rachel.allen@bm.com, PDT Uwe Schaad, Burson-Marsteller, +49 69 238 09-31, uwe.schaad@bm.com, CET

During SAP(R) TechEd '06 (from Sept. 12 - 15), to speak with press contacts on site, please dial the SAP press room at +1 702 691 7437.