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SAP, Microsoft Push To Automate Business
By David Utter
Expert Author
Article Date: 2005-05-20
Cisco and Intel, along with Microsoft, have licensed SAP's technology to automate business processes.
According to an InformationWeek report, the companies will build service-oriented architectures (SOA) utilizing SAP's software for customer and supplier relationship management.
SAP announced several other licensees at its Boston customer conference; in addition to those mentioned, SAP adds Adobe, CA, Macromedia, EMC, Symantec, and Veritas.
The SOA utilizes web services based on XML, a standard for formatting data content. Any business process requiring information from another process can retrieve it and have that information available in a fully-compatible format, thanks to the standard.
The key part of the SOA will be the data schema. The schema provides a base for defining content in XML format throughout an enterprise. Part of the recent licensing agreements gives the licensees early access to those schemas used by SAP in its software.
The organizations can then build applications and interfaces with development tools provided by SAP.
In related news Microsoft and SAP had previously joined on a partnership that will allow Microsoft Office applications like Excel to work with SAP on the backend. This gives front-line personnel familiar with Office the ability to tap into SAP data in a familiar way. The jointly developed product will be licensed and sold by both companies when it is completed.
About the Author:
David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.
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