SAP launches integration on Websphere and .Net, plus the full component architecture

Integration across systems, people and business processes, independent of existing technologies and providing a blueprint for harnessing up-coming, off-the-shelf Web services: those are the promises of enterprise software (extended ERP) giant SAP’s new NetWeaver services-orientated application integration system and its Enterprise Services Architecture. In a sense, these are something and nothing releases. Although they’re billed as providing for “heterogeneous IT landscapes” – and thus routes for companies’ integration issues at all levels – they’re arguably about providing the foundation for SAP’s own componentised software architecture and its portals, higher level ‘xApps’ (cross-functional applications and processes) development announced about a year ago and bigger league Web services introduction. Yes, NetWeaver provides for all the integration you might require with existing and emerging IT, and does so with full IBM WebSphere (so also J2EE) and Microsoft .NET interoperability, but most organisations are on dominant WebSphere for this. Where it does score in this context is for SAP partners, consultants and possibly users wanting to build the xApps, with SAP systems and processes at their core, where it makes sense to do so in the SAP environment. Meanwhile, the Enterprise Services Architecture becomes the standard for SAP’s own solutions and, with the claim of first to enable enterprise scale usage of Web services, there’s a good path there for SAP users with an eye to the future. This is about SAP’s evolution from ERP vendor to far more. SAP was one of the first to deliver technology to enable collaborative business when it introduced mySAP Technology in 2001. NetWeaver, as the latest iteration of SAP’s technology stack, now serves as the backbone for SAP solutions, thus providing an open and flexible – albeit SAP-centric – infrastructure that allows companies to go the extra mile with their other IT investments. And that’s good. As Joshua Greenbaum, of Enterprise Applications Consulting in the US, says: “With the constraints on IT spending, the goal is to lower costs and increase productivity. To do this, business managers need a flexible and comprehensive technology platform based on Web services and other standards that can drive innovation and support heterogeneous applications.” In brief detail, with NetWeaver, SAP introduces two key capabilities – a composite application framework and master data management – that extend the go beyond the initial capabilities of mySAP Technology. The former enables SAP and its partners to create the cross-apps (for example, linking product portfolio management, plant maintenance management, and post-merger integration from a variety of internal and external systems) through tools, frameworks, rules and methodologies. Master data management (MDM), meanwhile, solves the challenges of data integration from multiple systems, locations and vendors by ensuring information integrity across the network. And there are some good points here. In today’s heterogeneous IT environment, for example, supporting best of breed technologies (say, bringing together portal and business intelligence) can be an ongoing nightmare of establishing and maintaining interoperability. If you’re big and SAP-centric, NetWeaver is going to be attractive. And since it’s got .NET and WebSphere covered and reportedly pro provides ‘out-of-the-box’ integration with third-party applications through its platform partner network, there’s another plus – not least because you can stick with your own skill sets. Incidentally, SAP says that when shipping business solutions on SAP NetWeaver, SAP pre-configures those with content, such as user roles, reports, queries and business process templates, thus accelerating implementation and time to go live. “SAP NetWeaver turns IT assets into a strategic value driver for customers,” said Shai Agassi of SAP. “Pure technology alone cannot support today’s complex business processes-they need a complete integration and application platform that addresses their need to create new value from existing technology investments and skill sets. “With SAP NetWeaver and the Enterprise Services Architecture, SAP has delivered the blueprint for turning Web services from a concept into business reality, while, at the same time, driving down the costs of operations.”