SAP
SAP is a German software corporation that provides enterprise software applications and support to businesses of all sizes globally. Headquartered in Walldorf, Germany, with regional offices around the world, SAP is the largest enterprise software company in the world (as of 2009).It is also the largest software company in Europe and the fourth largest globally. The company's best known products are its SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (SAP ERP) and SAP Business Objects software.
BUSINESS AND MARKETS
SAP is the world's largest business software company and the third-highest revenue independent software provider (as of 2007). It operates in three geographic regions: EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa), the Americas, and Asia Pacific Japan (APJ), which represents Japan, Australia, India, and parts of Asia. In addition, SAP operates a network of 115 subsidiaries, and has R&D facilities around the globe in Germany, Turkey, Canada, China, Hungary, India, Israel, Bulgaria, and North America.
SAP focuses on six industry sectors: process industries, discrete industries, consumer industries, service industries, financial services, and public services. It offers more than 25 industry solution portfolios for large enterprises and more than 550 micro-vertical solutions for midsize companies and small businesses.
According to a press fact sheet from SAP, "SAP is the only enterprise applications software vendor that is both building service-orientation directly into its solutions and providing a technology platform SAP NetWeaver and guidance to support companies in the development of their own service-oriented architectures spanning both SAP and non-SAP solutions."
SAP focuses on six industry sectors: process industries, discrete industries, consumer industries, service industries, financial services, and public services. It offers more than 25 industry solution portfolios for large enterprises and more than 550 micro-vertical solutions for midsize companies and small businesses.
According to a press fact sheet from SAP, "SAP is the only enterprise applications software vendor that is both building service-orientation directly into its solutions and providing a technology platform SAP NetWeaver and guidance to support companies in the development of their own service-oriented architectures spanning both SAP and non-SAP solutions."
PRODUCTS & MODULES
SAP's products focus on Enterpise Resource Planning (ERP). The company's main product is SAP ECC. The current version is SAP ECC 6.0 and is part of the SAP Business Suite. Its previous name was R/3. The "R" of SAP R/3 stood for realtime - even though it is not a realtime solution. The number 3 related to the 3-Tier Architecture: Database, Application Server and client (SAPgui). R/2, which ran on a Mainframe architecture, was the predecessor of R/3. Before R/2 came System RF, later dubbed R/1.
SAP ECC is one of five enterprise applications in SAP's Business Suite. The other four applications are:
While its original products were typically used by Fortune 500 companies, SAP now actively targets small and medium sized enterprises (SME) with its SAP Business One and SAP Business All-in-One.
On 19 September 2007 SAP announced a new product named SAP Business ByDesign. SAP Business ByDesign is a software as a service (SaaS) offering, and provides a fully integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, On Demand. SAP Business ByDesign was previously known under the code name "A1S". In October 2007, SAP AG announced the friendly takeover of Business Objects. This acquisition expanded SAP's Product Suite of Business Intelligence (BI) solutions and increased the customer installed base to 89,000.
In February 2009 SAP AG, which invested in Coghead, purchased the start-up’s intellectual property. SAP will only be using the company’s technology as an internal resource and has no plans to offer Coghead’s products to its customers.
In May 2010 SAP AG announced that it is buying the database software maker Sybase for US$ 5.8 billion in cash. The deal closed at the end of July 2010. Sybase will continue to run as a separate, independent unit but will be leveraged across the other SAP areas.
SAP officials say there are over 100,600 SAP installations serving more than 41,200 companies in more than 25 industries in more than 120 countries.
SAP ECC is one of five enterprise applications in SAP's Business Suite. The other four applications are:
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM) - helps companies acquire and retain customers, gain marketing and customer insight
- Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) - helps manufacturers with product-related information
- Supply Chain Management (SCM) - helps companies with the process of resourcing its manufacturing and service processes
- Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) - enables companies to procure from suppliers
While its original products were typically used by Fortune 500 companies, SAP now actively targets small and medium sized enterprises (SME) with its SAP Business One and SAP Business All-in-One.
On 19 September 2007 SAP announced a new product named SAP Business ByDesign. SAP Business ByDesign is a software as a service (SaaS) offering, and provides a fully integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, On Demand. SAP Business ByDesign was previously known under the code name "A1S". In October 2007, SAP AG announced the friendly takeover of Business Objects. This acquisition expanded SAP's Product Suite of Business Intelligence (BI) solutions and increased the customer installed base to 89,000.
In February 2009 SAP AG, which invested in Coghead, purchased the start-up’s intellectual property. SAP will only be using the company’s technology as an internal resource and has no plans to offer Coghead’s products to its customers.
In May 2010 SAP AG announced that it is buying the database software maker Sybase for US$ 5.8 billion in cash. The deal closed at the end of July 2010. Sybase will continue to run as a separate, independent unit but will be leveraged across the other SAP areas.
SAP officials say there are over 100,600 SAP installations serving more than 41,200 companies in more than 25 industries in more than 120 countries.
