WALLDORF, Germany, and REDMOND, Wash., Jan. 12, 2005 — Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq “MSFT”) and SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today announced availability of the Portal Development Kit for Microsoft® .NET (PDK for .NET) within SAP NetWeaver (TM) , delivering on their ongoing commitment to enabling enterprises to maximize their business-critical SAP solution investments on the Windows® platform. With the new solution, which is a direct result of the work SAP is doing through the Microsoft Visual Studio®
Industry Partner (VSIP) program, SAP customers will be able to achieve lower costs and reduce complexity through close integration of SAP NetWeaver and Visual Studio .NET 2003.
“With the expansion of Microsoft’s long-standing relationship with SAP in May 2004, we continue to focus on enabling customers with the 40,000 SAP installations using the Windows platform to achieve greater efficiencies and drive better business results,” said Tim O’Brien, senior product manager for Microsoft. “The availability of the new development kit is a key part of our partnership, helping our joint customers achieve richer integration between Visual Studio .NET and SAP NetWeaver.”
Provided as an add-in to the Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003 integrated development environment, the PDK for .NET enables SAP customers to build content for the SAP Enterprise Portal, the portal component of SAP NetWeaver, using any of the supported development languages, including Microsoft Visual C#® and Microsoft Visual Basic®
.NET.
“With this announcement, SAP and Microsoft are delivering on the promise to deepen integration between SAP NetWeaver and .NET in order to help customers better integrate their enterprise,” said Peter Graf, senior vice president of product marketing, Collaborative Solutions, SAP. “SAP NetWeaver’s open integration and application allow customers to leverage their existing software investments to drive innovation through the flexibility enabled by interoperability of third-party platforms like .NET. Thousands of shared customers will benefit from the improved level of interoperability that the PDK for .NET enables.”
Using the PDK for .NET, developers and SAP customers are able to fully utilize the capabilities of the Microsoft .NET Framework to build interactive business content for SAP Enterprise Portal. This business content running on the SAP Enterprise Portal and the .NET Framework leverages key portal services, such as user management, SAP Single Sign On (SAP SSO) and specialized content. Developers can build the user interface of this interactive business content using any combination of the standard SAP .NET controls and user interface controls of SAP NetWeaver. The .NET portal business content is easily deployed through SAP NetWeaver and the Portal Runtime for .NET that processes the .NET business content code and integrates the results in SAP Enterprise Portal.
The PDK can be downloaded from the SAP Developer Network at http://www.sdn.sap.com .
About SAP
SAP is the world’s leading provider of business software solutions. Today, more than 24,450 customers in over 120 countries run more than 84,000 installations of SAP®
software — from distinct solutions addressing the needs of small and midsize businesses to enterprise-scale suite solutions for global organizations. Powered by the SAP NetWeaver (TM) platform to drive innovation and enable business change, mySAP (TM) Business Suite solutions are helping enterprises around the world improve customer relationships, enhance partner collaboration and create efficiencies across their supply chains and business operations. SAP industry solutions support the unique business processes of more than 25 industry segments, including high tech, retail, public sector and financial services. With subsidiaries in more than 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 )
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
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