SAP Partners Up with HP, IBM

May 06, 2008

SAP revealed plans to further extend its recently announced fast-start program for SAP Business All-in-One solutions by expanding the strategic partnership with IBM that looks back on a long history of close collaboration in the areas of technology, channel and services. The two companies now take their established, reliable and scalable solutions that are specifically packaged and featured for small and midsize enterprises (SMEs) to achieve optimal implementation times and total cost of ownership (TCO) for customers. The components will include IBM Power Systems, System x and BladeCenter servers, SAP Business All-in-One and an optimized database and operating system. Midsize companies in the services, trade and manufacturing industries are expected to gain significant benefits from these comprehensive offerings, as they allow for quick time to deployment of end-to-end business processes at a low TCO.

SAP and IBM are currently evaluating three potential offerings based on IBM Power Systems, System x and BladeCenter servers to provide customers with the flexibility to fully leverage their existing IT infrastructure, while benefiting from proven and pre-tested combinations optimized to meet the unique demands of midsize customers. For IBM System x, the companies intend to enable customers to choose between System x or BladeCenter servers with either IBM DB2 or SAP MaxDB with SAP Business All-in-One and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server from Novell. The companies also intend to incorporate the IBM i InstallOption for SAP, dubbed “KOBI, under the fast-start program. Customers will be able to order a preconfigured IBM Power Systems server consisting of SAP Business All-in-One and IBM DB2 running IBM i (formerly i5/OS).

“The joint business relationship between SAP and IBM is in keeping with the interest of midsize businesses in preconfigured and pretested ERP software that runs on preferred hardware types,” said Ray Boggs, vice president of SMB research, IDC. “The flexibility in hardware platform choice combined with appropriate software will help encourage midsize firms to invest in ERP and related solutions that are becoming easier to implement.”

The expanded relationship will allow SAP, IBM and their respective partner channels to deliver industry-specific, end-to-end solutions based on SAP Business All-in-One and IBM hardware and services. These new offerings for SAP Business All-in-One are designed to combine software, database and hardware into one package, with all components optimized to help midsize companies drive down TCO while protecting their overall IT investment. The offering will be made available via value-added resellers of SAP and business partners of IBM.

“This agreement represents IBM’s continuing commitment to deliver targeted industry solutions for the mid-market,” said Rainer Zinn, general manager, Global IBM SAP Alliance. “We look forward to working even closer with SAP to bring innovative business solutions to our joint SME clients.”

Furthermore, SAP intends to introduce preconfigured, pretested and preinstalled SAP Business All-in-One solutions on HP BladeSystem and HP ProLiant server technology. The turnkey solution will include SAP Business All-in-One and the SAP MaxDB database, which will be based on SUSE Linux Enterprise from Novell and delivered with systems built on the HP BladeSystem c3000 enclosure. The resulting solution will deliver seamless interoperability, high performance and reliability, lowered costs and an enhanced set of functionality for midsize companies in the manufacturing, service and trade industries.

The HP BladeSystem c3000 running SAP Business All-in-One integrates computing, networking, management, power and cooling, storage and data protection within a single, affordable and easy-to-manage enclosure designed specifically for midsize businesses. The modular and reliable design of this turnkey solution simplifies setup, operation and change management, while the intelligent tools and built-in management interfaces provide efficient remote solution management. All components of the application and IT infrastructure are tested and documented as an HP Solution Block to provide an extremely reliable and stable environment that helps ensure maximum system availability and productivity. HP Insight Control software further reduces TCO by automating management tasks from a single control.

“This new offering further simplifies the deployment and use of on-premise solutions and helps drive the adoption of integrated business solutions in the SME market,” said Robert Vetter, senior vice president, Global SME Business Development, SAP.

PharmLog, a logistic service provider for pharmaceutical companies, is one of several hundred SAP Business All-in-One customers already reaping the benefits of using the HP infrastructure. PharmLog chose the combination of SAP Business All-in-One, SAP MaxDB, SUSE Linux Enterprise and HP infrastructure because it needed a business management system capable of reliably handling the demanding logistics of its business — up to 1.0 million packaging units per day in the German market — while still being easy touse and affordable.

“SAP MaxDB is a very stable and easy-to-use database,” said Matthias Rempe, SAP administrator at PharmLog. “After the very easy installation, it needs minimal maintenance. Minimal maintenance by the system administrator is much more important than the lower license fees.”