The huge potential of the SAP market in SA - as well as the existing installed base - has led to Sun Microsystems establishing a SAP conceptual and test centre in KwaZulu-Natal.
The main objectives are to help customers achieve the greatest returns from SAP R/3 and mySAP.com on Sun and to reduce implementation time and minimise risks.
The centre has been developed jointly by business partners Sun, Comparex Africa and SAP Africa.
Sun, a SAP Global Technology Partner, in conjunction with Comparex Africa, have installed SAP R/3 on a Sun Enterprise Server, linked up to SunRay thin clients.
SAP has provided the core application system as well as its international demonstration and education system (IDES).
Commenting on the formation of the centre, Patricia Martins, technology alliance manager at SAP Africa, says it is extremely positive to note that SAP's partners show such commitment to SAP solutions for the benefit of their customers.
"A competency centre such as this is ideal for the industry. It offers proof of concept, demonstrates SAP running in a Unix environment and allows customers to see first hand the benefits of our applications. At the same time, configuration and sizing specialists can familiarise themselves with SAP's software allowing them to size our applications and identify correct hardware architecture," says Martins.
Renee Ramdew, senior systems engineer at Sun's KwaZulu-Natal office, says existing and potential SAP users are encouraged to contact the centre for assistance with technical architecture reviews, configuration and sizing, and designing high-availability solutions.
"It will be very useful for ERP users that are considering migrating to SAP - or for those currently running in that environment - to view the facilities that are available and test their concepts or ideas.
"Many existing hardware systems that SAP run on, are reaching the end of their lifecycle and are up for review. This centre, which is fully equipped with systems and skills, allows companies to examine their strategic IT directions without incurring unnecessary costs," says Ramdew.
She adds that Sun's SPARC/Solaris platform provides high availability, reliability and scalability from the front-end to the back-end on one platform, which is critical in a SAP environment.
Howard Middleton, sales support executive at Comparex KZN, says a further benefit of the centre is for SMEs (small to medium enterprises) considering implementing ERP systems, as they can visit the centre and view applications that run on an entry-level Sun server.
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