In a major move for Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, the company has expanded its long-term relationship with SAP AG. A number of SAP solutions will be certified to run on Azure by the end of the second quarter, the companies announced.
The move is a massive boost for the burgeoning Azure cloud initiative and the companies will also expand their partnership in a number of other areas of business. When certification is complete, preconfigured SAP software packages will be ready to launch to Azure within minutes through SAP’s Cloud Appliance Library.
On the enterprise cloud computing side, SAP’s Business Suite, Business All-in-One, mobile platform, Adaptive Server Enterprise database and the developer version of the Hana in-memory platform will be certified for Azure. The companies are also working on improved interoperability between Microsoft Office and data from SAP applications as well as general availability of connectivity for SAP BusinessObjects BI offerings and the Microsoft Power BI solution. SAP will also work with Microsoft on enhancing mobile productivity via expanded development and support for Windows and Windows Phone 8.1.
The move will benefit SAP customers, as they’ll be able to realize reduced infrastructure costs as well as total cost of ownership by using Microsoft’s pay per use model in Azure. Scalability will also be easily enabled through Azure’s resources, leading to a variety of efficiencies.
"For our customers, SAP and Microsoft are among the top strategic vendors relied upon to drive their business' success,” said Steve Lucas, president, platform solutions, SAP. “We are proud of how we listened to our customers and together developed — and will continue to develop — innovative new programs focused on the cloud, mobility, analytics and interoperability that we expect will provide unparalleled value for our customers."
Additional benefits of the expanded partnership include a new version of the SAP Gateway for Microsoft, which will expand interoperability between the applications and platforms as well as help customers automate business processes by accessing SAP applications and data via Microsoft Office 365 and Azure. The new version is expected to become available in the second half of the year.
On the mobile front, the companies will collaborate to help customers conduct business anywhere and at anytime through new SAP mobile apps for Windows and Windows Phone 8.1 Apps will be managed and secured through the SAP Mobile Secure portfolio or through Windows Intune.
