News

Microsoft and SAP Open Labs

• By Scott Bekker
• 07/01/1999

The Enterprise Computing Lab for SAP and a DCOM Center of Expertise were introduced to hundreds of attendees at the SAP-Microsoft Forum in Seattle, an event focused on SAP and Microsoft integrated solutions for inter-enterprise computing and e-commerce. In addition, SAP reported growing momentum with customers of all sizes for SAP R/3 on the Microsoft Windows NT operating system and Microsoft SQL Server&trade platform.

"Many of our customers are choosing Windows NT and SQL Server as the platform for deploying their SAP solutions, and this is in part because our work with Microsoft has resulted in enhanced scalability, improved customer support and seamless integration of our business software on the Microsoft platform," says Andy Zoldan, vice president of New Dimensions at SAP America Inc. "The two new facilities we announced today will ensure that this integration continues to deliver superior value to our customers."

The Enterprise Computing Lab for SAP, located on the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Wash., is a state-of-the-art facility staffed by technical engineers from both companies, as well as key Microsoft and SAP partners. The lab focuses on integrating, testing and optimizing SAP business software with Microsoft products and technologies, such as DCOM, SQL Server 7.0, Windows NT and the Windows 2000 operating system.

The SAP DCOM Center of Expertise, located within the Enterprise Computing Lab, will offer technical consulting for both partners and customers and will house an integrated knowledge base of "best practices" for the implementation of SAP business software with DCOM.

SAP has developed the SAP DCOM Component Connector to provide access to SAP business software from Microsoft COM-aware applications and languages to make application integration easier and reduce the cost of enhancing enterprise business software.

"Customers that choose SAP business software and the Microsoft platform benefit from increased flexibility, enhanced functionality, and reduced costs of deployment and ownership," says Jeff Raikes, group vice president of Worldwide Sales and Support at Microsoft. "The Enterprise Computing Lab and the DCOM Center of Expertise represent an additional investment from both companies to deliver well-integrated, scalable and reliable solutions for our customers. Today, we are reaffirming Microsoft's and SAP's commitment to enterprise computing on the Windows and SQL Server platform." --Thomas Sullivan