Rochelle Garner reports for CRN that SAP, Microsoft Collaborate On Cross-Platform Tools.
...sometime "early next year," Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft will deliver repository managers that integrate SAP NetWeaver Knowledge Management, Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services.
Some industry observers said the collaboration will have little immediate benefit.
"Other than declaring eternal love and brotherhood, there's nothing world-shattering about these announcements," said Simon Hayward, a Gartner Group fellow. "They've done a good job of papering over the fact that there's very little specifics besides those repositories. There's no commitment to move all of the NetWeaver tools to Visual Studio .Net. There really are no high-value cards on the table."
Still, the joint technology undertaking does bring Microsoft's .Net Web services framework into the NetWeaver fold. When SAP first unveiled its integration platform in January 2003, it only supported the Java/J2EE environment. SAP executive board member Shai Agassi said he's been working toward Microsoft interoperability since NetWeaver's original introduction.
"Our customers said they were constantly going between applications on our two platforms," Agassi told CRN. "We looked at the stack on both platforms, layer by layer, to find the friction and eliminate it. We've done that at every level--portals, development environment, knowledge management and brokers."
Agassi said the goal is to enable programmers to start a process model in one tool, then finish the model in the complementary environment. "The whole thing is preparation for both companies to look at the next generation of applications, to see what you can do when the friction is gone," he said.
To help demonstrate what such a future might hold, Microsoft and SAP will jointly staff a Collaboration Technology Support Center in Walldorf to show integration scenarios in action. In addition, the two companies will engage in a variety of joint sales and marketing efforts.
As for NetWeaver itself, Agassi made it clear that he and SAP see it as the linchpin of the company's services-centric strategy.
NetWeaver linchpin of SAP's SOA strategy...
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