May 162012
 
ORLANDO — A company’s ability to grow with its data is critical. Increasingly, organizations are challenged to draw deeper insights from larger data sets in shrinking windows of time. To empower customers in this regard, SAP offers scale-out capabilities with the SAP HANA platform so that customers can grow their deployments to multiple nodes, supporting multi-terabyte data sets to provide real-time insights on big data. More than 50 percent of the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) that offer x86 servers now deliver servers certified to run SAP HANA in a scale-out environment, including leading SAP technology partners Fujitsu, HP and IBM. In addition, SAP and Intel have collaborated to optimize SAP HANA to run optimally on Intel processors, enabling greater business agility and innovative usage models that let customers respond to changing conditions in real time. The announcement was made at SAPPHIRE NOW, being held in Orlando, Florida, May 14-16, 2012. “Our ongoing, joint engineering collaboration allowed SAP HANA to take full advantage of the powerful performance, reliability and availability features of the Intel Xeon processor E7 family,” said Diane Bryant, vice president and general manager of Intel’s Datacenter and Connected Systems Group. “The optimization of SAP HANA for Intel processors allows customers to achieve much more efficient results, increasing their record-breaking performance and scalability for mission-critical applications for increased business value.” SAP HANA delivers scale-up and scale-out solutions for clients to run big data, growth-oriented applications and analytics — including high-volume instances of the SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse application — by rapidly scaling to many nodes in high-performance and high-availability configurations. Other key benefits include:
  • Ability to handle large volumes of data: In addition to compression of data that fundamentally reduces the amount of memory required, SAP HANA grows with the number of data volumes across multiple nodes. SAP has validated 16 nodes and has not seen limitations on a large number of nodes now certified on demand for partners and customers.
  • Better failover and high availability: High availability enables the failover of a node within a distributed SAP HANA database. With cluster configurations, failover uses a cold standby node and gets triggered automatically. If a node fails, the database on a standby server can be cold-started and returns to its last consistent state by replaying the log since the last save point from shared storage. Distributed processing of data allows systems to scale beyond one server and can remove the single point of failure.
  • End-to-end improvement in performance: Increasing nodes of SAP HANA clusters enables distribution of data loading and analysis utilizing massively parallel processing (MPP) capabilities.
“With the scale out of SAP HANA, we see almost linear improvement in performance with additional computing nodes,” said Dr. Vishal Sikka, member of the SAP Executive Board, Technology & Innovation. “Recently, in our research labs, we have assembled the largest SAP HANA system that scales to 100 nodes, 4000 computing cores and 100 TB in DRAM. Now CIOs can adopt in-memory databases for large deployments with peace of mind that it can grow with their data and provide breakthrough improvement in end-to-end performance.” The business value of SAP HANA was demonstrated recently through scalability testing performed by SAP on SAP HANA with a 16-node server cluster. During the testing, SAP HANA allowed SAP NetWeaver BW-like queries to be executed on 100 billion rows of sales and distribution data with sub-second performance results, without any indexing or tuning required. The results of this testing highlights the ability of SAP HANA to enable customers to perform real-time analytics directly on raw transactional data without going through traditional extract, transform and load (ETL) processes and building of aggregates or materialized views. Details on the testing can be found in a recently released SAP HANA performance white paper. For additional information regarding SAP HANA and in-memory computing technology, visit the Experience SAP HANA website. For announcements, blog posts, videos and other coverage during SAPPHIRE NOW, visit the Events Newsroom. SAPPHIRE NOW With SAPPHIRE NOW, SAP offers its customers, partners and prospects even more opportunities to engage in dialogue with peers, participants and thought leaders around the globe. To be held in Orlando, Florida, May 14-16, 2012, this enhanced, real-time event connects attendees on site with global participants through state-of-the-art broadcast studios and an online experience that incorporates the latest social media and community functionality. Whether on site or online, participants can gain insight as to how SAP is delivering on its product strategy and helping organizations around the world to run better. For more information, visit www.sapphirenow.com. Follow SAPPHIRE NOW on Twitter at @SAPPHIRENOW and visit the Events Newsroom at www.events.news-sap.com. Note to Editors: Webcasts, announcements, media roundtables, keynote presentations and blog posts from SAPPHIRE NOW will be available in the Events Newsroom at: www.events.news-sap.com. To preview and download broadcast-standard stock footage and press photos digitally, please visit www.sap.com/photos. On this platform, you can find high-resolution material for your media channels. To view video stories on diverse topics, visit www.sap-tv.com. From this site, you can embed videos into your own Web pages, share video via email links and subscribe to RSS feeds from SAP TV. Follow SAP on Twitter at @sapnews. Media Contacts: Samantha Finnegan, +1 (650) 276-9350, samantha.finnegan@sap.com, PDT Cindy McKendry, +1 (503) 231-7274, cindy.mckendry@sap.com, PDT During SAPPHIRE NOW (from May 14 to 16), to speak with press contacts on site, please dial the SAP press room: +1 (610) 661-0469.
May 142012
 
ORLANDO — SAP today announced that the industry-leading SAP Afaria mobile device management solution is now available on Amazon Web Services (AWS) Marketplace, providing a convenient, reliable and cost-effective way for customers to effectively manage and secure their enterprise mobile applications and corporate-liable and personally-owned devices. The announcement was made at SAPPHIRE NOW, being held in Orlando, Florida, May 14-16, 2012. The AWS Marketplace is an online store that helps customers easily find, purchase and deploy software and services they need to help them run their businesses. The availability of the fully configured SAP Afaria 7.0 server on the AWS Marketplace gives customers the ability to immediately take advantage of a comprehensive mobile management platform with the click of a mouse. “As the cloud rapidly becomes the IT deployment model of choice for businesses of all sizes, Amazon Web Services  is excited to be working closely  with SAP in bringing enterprise solutions to the cloud,” said  Andy Jassy, senior vice president, Amazon Web Services. “Adding SAP Afaria to AWS Marketplace provides customers a fast, simple and trusted way to shop for and implement an enterprise-ready mobile solution.” The decision to offer SAP Afaria on the AWS Marketplace is in response to increasing customer demand for software that can deliver centralized control of all mobile devices and instantly be deployed in the cloud. A July 2011 Aberdeen study found that 75 percent of organizations permit the use of employee-liable mobile devices for business purposes. With the growing trend of employees using personally-owned mobile devices in the workplace, regulating these devices is essential for protecting sensitive data and enhancing employee productivity. SAP Afaria is a long-standing solution that has evolved over the last decade into a complete platform that manages and secures mobile data, devices and applications across the enterprise from a single console. The 7.0 release of SAP Afaria brings a new user interface for simplified app and expense management, a consumer-like app portal with SAP® Store integration and mobile analytics dashboards for business intelligence (BI) reporting with powerful drill-down analysis capabilities. SAP Afaria can now be found in the AWS Marketplace. Customers with licenses for earlier versions of SAP Afaria can use the same license to experience SAP Afaria 7.0 on Amazon Web Services. Customers without existing licenses can receive a license that enables a 14-day free trial. The evaluation includes help from SAP mobile experts, who will guide customers throughout the test-drive process. SAP Afaria can be found by visiting http://aws.amazon.com/marketplace. “By offering SAP Afaria on the secure, scalable AWS cloud infrastructure, we are extending our existing close relationship with AWS and making it as easy as possible for customers and partners to test and deploy the industry’s leading mobile device management solution in an economical and reliable fashion,” said Sanjay Poonen, president, Product Go-to-Market, and head of Mobile Division, SAP. “This announcement is just a sneak preview of what’s coming from SAP as we lay the ground work for long-term innovation around our comprehensive, unmatched B2B and B2C mobile platform – both on premise and in the cloud.” For announcements, blog posts, videos and other coverage during SAPPHIRE NOW, visit the Events Newsroom. SAPPHIRE NOW With SAPPHIRE NOW, SAP offers its customers, partners and prospects even more opportunities to engage in dialogue with peers, participants and thought leaders around the globe. Being held in Orlando, Florida, May 14-16, 2012, this enhanced, real-time event connects attendees on site with global participants through state-of-the-art broadcast studios and an online experience that incorporates the latest social media and community functionality. Whether on site or online, participants can gain insight as to how SAP is delivering on its product strategy and helping organizations around the world to run better. For more information, visit www.sapphirenow.com. Follow SAPPHIRE NOW on Twitter at @SAPPHIRENOW and visit the Events Newsroom at www.events.news-sap.com.  Note to Editors: Webcasts, announcements, media roundtables, keynote presentations and blog posts from SAPPHIRE NOW will be available in the Events Newsroom at: www.events.news-sap.com. To preview and download broadcast-standard stock footage and press photos digitally, please visit www.sap.com/photos. On this platform, you can find high-resolution material for your media channels. To view video stories on diverse topics, visit www.sap-tv.com. From this site, you can embed videos into your own Web pages, share video via email links and subscribe to RSS feeds from SAP TV. Follow SAP on Twitter at @sapnews.  Media Contact: Jason Loesche, + 1 (610) 661-8541, j.loesche@sap.com, EDT  
May 012012
 

TRALEE, Ireland —  Companies seeking a more strategic and cost-effective approach to procurement are realizing close to instant value with the SAP Sourcing OnDemand solution from SAP. Based in Ireland, Kerry Group is a EUR 5 billion world leader in food ingredients and flavors serving the food and beverage industry, and a leading supplier of added value brands and customer-branded foods to the Irish and UK markets. An existing SAP ERP application customer since 2010, Kerry Group realized almost immediate value with SAP Sourcing OnDemand, given the implementation time of less than four weeks.

“What we needed was an intuitive sourcing system that would be completely integrated with our SAP back-office for an end-to-end procurement process,” said Peter Fotios, director of e-procurement Services, Kerry Group. “SAP Sourcing OnDemand gave us the strong sourcing functionality to capture the end-to-end negotiation cycle with our suppliers, as well as the added benefit of being up and running in weeks, not months. We rolled it out smoothly in Ireland first, then England and then throughout our global operations in 23 countries.”

New Wave of SAP Sourcing OnDemand Provides Standard Integration With SAP SRM
The latest wave of SAP Sourcing OnDemand, released in the first quarter of 2012, delivers on standard integration with the SAP Supplier Relationship Management (SAP SRM) application, building on existing integration with SAP ERP, to help enable greater compliance and realized savings for customers. Designed with the sourcing professional in mind, the most recent release offers customers the opportunity for greater cost savings through enhanced strategic sourcing and contract management — two areas integral to helping lower customers’ overall business costs.

“Visionary procurement organizations such as Kerry Group are driving real cost-savings through sophisticated sourcing and superior contract and supplier management,” said Kevin Nix, executive vice president, Line-of-Business Cloud Solutions, SAP. “SAP Sourcing OnDemand is a proven and easy-to-use cloud solution that is helping our customers take full advantage of their existing ERP and SRM investments without having to wait to see a return.”

To learn more about SAP Sourcing OnDemand, visit www.sap.com/sourcingondemand. For more information, visit the SAP Newsroom. Follow SAP on Twitter at @sapnews and @SAPCloud.

Next Major Event: SAPPHIRE NOW
With SAPPHIRE NOW, SAP offers its customers, partners and prospects even more opportunities to engage in dialogue with peers, participants and thought leaders around the globe. To be held in Orlando, Florida, May 14-16, 2012, this enhanced, real-time event connects attendees on site with global participants through state-of-the-art broadcast studios and an online experience that incorporates the latest social media and community functionality. Whether on site or online, participants can gain insight as to how SAP is delivering on its product strategy and helping organizations around the world to run better For more information, visit www.sapphirenow.com. Follow SAPPHIRE NOW on Twitter at @SAPPHIRENOW and visit the Events Newsroom at www.events.news-sap.com.

Media Contacts:
Dorit Shackleton, SAP, +1 (604) 889-7841, dorit.shackleton@sap.com, PDT
Torrey Fazen, Burson-Marsteller, +1 (617) 912-5401, torrey.fazen@bm.com, EDT

Apr 302012
 

WALLDORF — Changing the face of social software by making collaboration more pervasive in organizations and business applications and processes, SAP today announced the availability of new analytics capabilities in the collaborative decision-making application SAP StreamWork. Users can upload, explore, analyze and visualize data directly within SAP StreamWork, and collaborate with teams to make fact-based decisions. People can also connect to data stored in SAP HANA to take advantage of in-memory capabilities for rapid analysis of information.

All SAP StreamWork users can benefit from accessible, easy-to-use analytics – there is no training or prior experience required. For example, people can begin by simply uploading spreadsheets to SAP StreamWork activities via their Web browsers and using the exploration tool to quickly filter, sort and work with data. They can then create and save interactive visualizations from many offered chart types; monitor key metrics by setting visual alerts; and add social features such as pro-con tables, rankings, quick polls and checklists. Additionally, enhanced support for SAP Crystal Reports software means users can now embed, view and save interactive report data within SAP StreamWork activities, without having to download files or switch between applications.

“Collaborative work is about getting the right people, data, content and systems together at the right time, in the work context,” said industry analyst Michael Fauscette, GVP, Software Business Solutions Group, IDC. “Bringing business-contextual data together with social capabilities for hypothesizing, analyzing and making decisions enables people to get work done, which increases the relevance and business value of the system significantly.”

“Collaborative analytic capabilities are critical to how we execute our vision for what social software should be for SAP customers,” said Sameer Patel, global vice president and general manager, Social Software Solutions, SAP. “Our belief is that true collaboration to drive action goes beyond just connecting people well – it requires access to and manipulation of critical data and exception handling in business processes. As social networks become more pervasive, collaborative analytic capabilities enable our customers to bring process, data and content to where employees, customers and partners work. Business users can now easily interact with a variety of critical data, such as sales pipeline analysis, sales and operations planning, or supplier assessment and management.

For more information, visit the SAP StreamWork blog and the SAP Newsroom. Follow SAP on Twitter at @sapnews and @sapstreamwork.

Media Contact:
Susan Miller, SAP, +1 (610) 661-9225, susan.miller@sap.com, EDT
Jeff Shadid, Burson-Marsteller, +1 (214) 224-8419, jeff.shadid@bm.com, CDT

Apr 302012
 

SIDNEY, Nebraska — SAP America Inc., a subsidiary of SAP, today announced that Cabela’s Incorporated has selected the SAP Point-of-Sale (SAP POS) application to support its retail expansion and enhance its legendary customer experience. Cabela’s, the World’s Foremost Outfitter of hunting, fishing and outdoor gear, will leverage out-of-the-box functionality inherent in SAP POS to provide increased customer service, as well as system and sales associate efficiency.

“It is at the point of sale that our customers receive the last impression of our retail stores,” said Michael Copeland, executive vice president and chief operations officer, Cabela’s. “A faster, more efficient system will result in increased sales associate productivity and provide improved service at this vital customer touch point.”

Part of the SAP for Retail solution portfolio, SAP POS provides fast, secure and friendly customer experiences anytime, anywhere, and adapts quickly to changing business needs. The application allows retailers to customize the shopping experience and support better omni-channel operations with seamless store, Web and mobile integration. With SAP POS, employees can learn the functionality quickly and the retailer can benefit from improved staff productivity and lower operating costs while achieving greater flexibility.

“During the deployment of SAP POS, emphasis will be placed on using out-of-the-box functionality and limiting customizations,” said Dave Kardesh, vice president and chief information officer, Cabela’s. “Integration of cross-channel functionality will be incorporated along with other features that our customers are looking for.”

“We are pleased to have Cabela’s embrace SAP’s newest release of point-of-sale software for retail stores in order to deliver an outstanding customer experience,” said Michael Schulze, senior vice president and general manager, Retail, SAP. “We look forward to continued collaboration with one of North America’s most innovative recreation brands.”

For more information, visit the SAP Newsroom. Follow SAP on Twitter at @sapnews.

Media Contacts:
Atle Erlingsson, +1 (415) 858-8149, atle.erlingsson@sap.com, PDT
Rachel Granger, +1 (610) 308-5956, rachel.granger@sap.com, EDT

Apr 192012
 

WALLDORF — SAP today announced it received the PR News CSR Award for its 2010 sustainability report. The interactive report covers the company’s innovations in the areas of software for energy management and sustainable operations, describes SAP’s efforts to transform into a more sustainable company and illustrates the overall importance of sustainability for businesses worldwide. The report features enhanced capabilities for engaging with readers, from interactive charts and stories of business transformation to a mechanism that allows readers to speak out on what matters to them.

PR News’ CSR Awards is the industry’s best showcase for the most powerful, impactful social responsibility and green campaigns. The finalists in the awards program set new standards of excellence and point the way for other organizations to follow. To learn more, read the PR News CSR Awards special issue [PDF].

“We continue innovating our solutions for customers, our own operations and how we invest in society,” said Peter Graf, chief sustainability officer, SAP. “Our impact has been significant, from helping hundreds of millions of people consume healthy and safe products, to increasing our own energy efficiency for the fifth year in a row, all the way to impacting a million lives through our social investment activities. The ideas and passion of our customers, partners, employees, shareholders and the public are the source of our innovation that turns our vision of helping the world run better and improving people’s lives into a reality. We designed the SAP sustainability report to engage a year-round conversation with our stakeholders by using the report as a conversation starter.”

SAP published its fifth sustainability report in March 2012. Available at www.SAPSustainabilityReport.com, the report is linked and published concurrently with the 2011 Annual Report.

For more information, visit the SAP Newsroom. Follow SAP on Twitter at @sapnews and @sustainableSAP.

Media Contact:
Evan Welsh, SAP, +1 (610) 203-9742, evan.welsh@sap.com, EDT

Apr 192012
 

WALLDORF — SAP today announced that it will work closely with Citi and The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to co-innovate a cloud-based services platform. The highly interoperable, multi-bank platform aims to seamlessly integrate banks with their corporate customers. A combination of SAP’s deep expertise in enterprise resource planning (ERP), treasury management software and new cloud services technologies is driving the solution development. Together with the industry expertise and global networks of Citi and RBS, SAP aims to deliver a new, innovative solution to the corporate banking marketplace.

“SAP has prided itself in customer-centric innovation, in this case creative innovations in banking that can increase the velocity of information flow between banks and their corporate customers,” said Sanjay Poonen, president, Global Solutions, SAP. “Integrating banks with corporate ERP and treasury systems has always been an expensive proposition for banks and corporations alike. Furthering SAP’s commitment to the cloud, the banking industry and our many thousands of corporate customers, this solution will dramatically ease corporate banking. This will allow corporate customers to seamlessly extend their ERP and treasury systems and interface with multiple banks.”

Due to size, complexity and a reliance on non-standardized legacy systems, banking architectures have historically been isolated entities unique to each bank. This has led to businesses and banks shouldering the burdens of higher connectivity costs and juggling multiple relationships with one another. SAP, Citi and RBS have tasked themselves to define a new, more flexible architectural model that reduces the cost and time-to-value of these interactions.

SAP is taking the lead in developing the solution, which is intended to more closely link banks’ transaction systems with the ERP and treasury systems at corporate businesses. This aims to help streamline financial transactions, such as payments, while enabling new, on-demand banking services to be delivered via the cloud.

“We are working toward a solution with SAP to remove integration barriers and facilitate greater connectivity to Citi’s global network of more than 90 countries and over 100 currencies,” said Naveed Sultan, global head, Treasury and Trade Solutions, Citi. “As a leading international bank, it is always Citi’s desire to bring new innovations to the forefront of the industry. Leveraging the cloud is one effort in Citi’s goal to be the world’s ‘Digital Bank.’ Through our pioneering work here, we hope to bring banks and businesses closer together and create a springboard to new innovations and value creation in the future.”

“The cloud-based corporate-to-bank initiative is an important step for corporate customers toward simplifying the complexity of connecting with their banks,” said Kevin Brown, global head, Transaction Services Product, International Banking, RBS.

For more information, visit the SAP blog Banking View and the SAP Newsroom. Follow SAP on Twitter at @sapnews and @sapforbanking.

Media Contacts:
Johannes Gillar, SAP, +49 (6227) 747177, johannes.gillar@sap.com, CET
Anthony Suarez, Burson-Marsteller, +1 (212) 614-4331, anthony.suarez@bm.com, EDT
Nina Das, Citi, +1 (212) 816-9267, nina.das@citi.com, EDT
Aoife Reynolds, RBS, +44 20 3361 1588, aoife.reynolds@rbs.com, GMT

Apr 192012
 

MADRID — SAP today announced that the Electricity Service Department of City of Cape Town successfully went live with SAP Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) Integration for Utilities software. The project enables the City of Cape Town to read meters on demand while integrating the smart meters and the processes in the back office. The focus for the first phase was on large commercial and industrial customers. The project is the first implementation of the software in the Republic of South Africa. The announcement was made at the SAP Conference for Utilities 2012, being held April 17-19 in Madrid.

With SAP AMI Integration for Utilities, the City of Cape Town is able to read meters remotely, eliminating issues of premises access and travel time and helping prevent errors. In addition, the utility can offer tailored billing services based on actual consumption data and meter reading that better match consumer needs.

Information on customer energy usage is collected from smart meters and stored in a meter data unification system (MDUS) provided by local company Elster Kent. SAP AMI Integration for Utilities facilitates the continuous exchange of master and transactional data between MDUS and SAP for Utilities solutions. This information is then used in business processes such as invoicing and customer service or for analysis of energy consumption.

“SAP AMI Integration for Utilities is the foundation of our smart metering infrastructure,” said Andre Stelzner, CIO, City of Cape Town. “We will be able to analyze consumption profiles and then use them to more accurately predict demand and align supply. We thereby increase energy efficiency by balancing demand, delivery and supply.”

To learn more, visit the SAP AMI Integration for Utilities page on sap.com. For more information, visit the SAP Newsroom. Follow SAP on Twitter at @sapnews.

Media Contact:
Birgit Krauter, SAP, +49 (0) 151 44614373, birgit.krauter@sap.com, CET
Christoph Weissthaner, Burson-Marsteller, +49 (0) 30-408 194 5-54, christoph.weissthaner@bm.com, CET

Apr 172012
 

MADRID — SAP and RheinEnergie, the energy provider for Cologne, Germany, have reached a major milestone right on schedule in helping Cologne become a “smart city.” Through the installation of smart meters, around 30,000 households in Cologne now benefit from the most modern meter technology available. The announcement was made at the SAP Conference for Utilities 2012, being held April 17-19 in Madrid.

Advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) integration technology allows customers to keep an eye on their current and previous energy consumption at all times. The transparency helps them better control their consumption, use energy more efficiently, protect the environment and save money.

“This innovative flagship project for the German market impressively shows how intelligent meter technology can optimize business processes, and highlights the crucial role played by a ‘smart’ customer information system,” said Thomas Breuer, executive board member, RheinEnergie.

RheinEnergie has installed around 30,000 smart meters in 350 larger apartment buildings in Cologne. The devices record electricity, gas and water data, and were specially designed to meet the requirements of RheinEnergie and its home city. They are an important building block for the future “SmartCity Cologne,” and enable high data security. SAP AMI Integration for Utilities software helps ensure a reliable networking of technical and commercial processes. As a result, RheinEnergie can now better react to the needs of its customers and offer special services and rates.

To learn more, visit the SAP AMI Integration for Utilities page on sap.com. For more information, visit the SAP Newsroom. Follow SAP on Twitter at @sapnews.

Media Contact:
Birgit Krauter, SAP, +49 (0) 151 44614373, birgit.krauter@sap.com, CET

Mar 132012
 

SAP today announced support for SAP HANA from SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation, version for SAP NetWeaver.