SAP AG today announced its intention to combine two of its subsidiaries, SAP Markets, Inc., and SAP Portals, Inc., into one subsidiary dedicated to the rapid delivery of integration technologies and collaborative applications that target heterogeneous system environments through the use of open standards. The combined company's solutions will be delivered by SAP to customers as part of mySAP Technology and other mySAP.com solutions, and also licensed to other technology companies for distribution with third-party software offerings.
The combined company will maintain the charter of providing an open integration technology that unifies people, content and business processes in heterogeneous environments and across business boundaries. Building on a single platform, which combines an enterprise portal with content management and exchange technology, the company will deliver a suite of business solutions for supplier relationship management, extended e-selling and business intelligence. This solution suite empowers collaboration and intelligent action by unifying applications, information and Web services to achieve higher levels of efficiency, enhance the quality of relationships and maximize value throughout the extended business network.
"Both SAP Markets and SAP Portals have continually proven themselves able to develop, sell and maintain technology platforms and business solutions that benefit companies no matter how heterogeneous their environments," said Hasso Plattner, co-chairman of the executive board, chief executive officer and co-founder of SAP AG. "Customers pursuing integration projects are increasingly demanding solutions that incorporate both SAP Markets and SAP Portals software. By centralising these initiatives in one entity and leveraging our relationship with Commerce One, we will continue to aggressively pursue business outside the SAP customer base and increase deployment of these technologies in non-SAP environments."
Currently, more than 5,000 companies use products developed by SAP Markets or SAP Portals. The combined company will remain committed to driving customer success by maintaining and evolving its current solutions. In addition, the SAP subsidiary expects to expand the existing partnerships that SAP Markets and SAP Portals have with Commerce One, Inc., and Yahoo!; consulting firms Accenture Ltd.; Cap Gemini Ernst & Young and PwC Consulting; and others.
"This is exciting news from SAP because it reinforces the decision we made to partner with SAP and SAP Markets more than 20 months ago," said Mark Hoffman, CEO of Commerce One. "For Commerce One, this move means we can more efficiently partner with one dedicated organization that offers the complete set of integration technologies and collaborative applications which will allow our customers to be more competitive."
The combined company will have its headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif., and offices in New York, Chicago and Houston as well as France, Germany, Great Britain, Israel and Singapore. It will employ more than 1,700 people worldwide, and Shai Agassi, currently CEO of SAP Portals, will be the chief executive officer. Hasso Plattner, currently the CEO of SAP Markets, will serve as chairman of the board.
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SAP Markets is the exchange company of SAP AG. We deliver extended selling and buying solutions as well as integration into related business services, providing competitive advantage by enabling collaboration with all trading partners. Exchange-based solutions from SAP Markets transform your value chain into one integrated, collaborative and seamless cycle. We can help you remove inefficiencies, transcend heterogeneous systems, master growth and complexity, and realize the full potential of your value chain. At SAP Markets, we take your Business Beyond Boundaries.
SAP Markets opened for business in May 2000 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif., with offices in St. Leon-Rot (Germany) and Singapore. To date, the customer base comprises more than 1,200 organizations worldwide. More information is available at http://www.sapmarkets.com.
SAP Portals
SAP Portals, Inc., is a wholly owned subsidiary of SAP AG with headquarters in Silicon Valley, Calif. The company has approximately 6 million users and more than 2,000 customers.
SAP Portals empowers collaboration and intelligent action by unifying applications, information and services to achieve higher levels of efficiency, enhance the quality of relationships and maximize value across the business. The SAP Portals portfolio includes enterprise portals, business intelligence, premium content offerings and professional services. SAP Portals provides value-driven solutions that significantly impact companies' total cost of ownership, achieving a return on investment unattainable by any other software provider.
More information about SAP Portals is available on the Web at http://www.sapportals.com or by calling (800) 360-3328.
SAP
SAP is the world's leading provider of e-business software solutions. Through the mySAP.com e-business platform, people in businesses around the globe are improving relationships with customers and partners, streamlining operations, and achieving significant efficiencies throughout their supply chains. Today, more than 17,000 companies in over 120 countries run more than 44,500 installations of SAP software. With subsidiaries in over 50 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE under the symbol "SAP." (Additional information at http://www.sap.com)
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