Pascal Gibert, director of Duet product management at Microsoft.
REDMOND, Wash. – Nov. 18, 2009 – Microsoft today announced intent to deliver Duet Enterprise for Microsoft SharePoint and SAP, a new product jointly developed with SAP that increases the interoperability of SAP applications with Microsoft SharePoint 2010 and Microsoft Office 2010. The solution expands the long-standing partnership between the companies demonstrated by their first joint product, Duet for Microsoft Office and SAP, introduced in 2005, which allows access to common SAP functionality through the Office interface with a set of pre-packaged solutions.
“Duet Enterprise will empower people to blend SAP data and processes with Microsoft SharePoint content and collaboration tools to increase personal and team productivity across the PC, phone and browser,” said Pascal Gibert, director of Duet product management at Microsoft. “We heard from customers their strong desire to generate more value from their existing IT investments. Historically, customers who integrated Microsoft SharePoint and Microsoft Office with SAP applications faced a number of challenging tasks, including authentication between Microsoft SharePoint and SAP services, and the building and deployment of combined services and solutions.”
Duet Enterprise addresses the need to connect Microsoft and SAP solutions with unprecedented options to create solutions that blend SAP processes and data with Microsoft collaboration and productivity tools. Duet Enterprise will provide the interoperability, building blocks, templates and tools for developers and IT professionals to build solutions for end users.
Developers will be able to focus on creating value through increased functionality, rather than worrying about how security will be delivered, or how to access data models of SAP objects.
IT professionals will also be able to use Duet Enterprise to quickly build flexible solutions that address business needs, have the assurance of support from Microsoft and SAP, and are backed by a rich partner ecosystem that can respond to specific organizational requirements.
Michael Reh, senior vice president of the Information Worker Product Technology Group at SAP.
“Employees require business context to be effective in their daily tasks,” said Michael Reh, senior vice president of the Information Worker Product Technology Group at SAP. “Business context, as I define it, is relevant and accurate information supporting a business decision. SAP runs customers’ business processes, and by bringing these processes into context with Microsoft SharePoint, we create a combination that improves personal and team productivity. Duet Enterprise enables that while ensuring end-to-end security, data and process integrity.”
For instance, business development professionals may need data about customers and their service expectations. To do this, they will work with a team of people to plan and document their strategy. With Duet Enterprise, the team can share a single collaboration site in Microsoft SharePoint, which enables them to access critical resources such as customer information from SAP and connect with people across the organization. This boosts team collaboration and, in turn, helps the team close on deals with customers.
Microsoft and SAP have been jointly delivering great value to customers for more than 18 years.
“We’re in alignment across our organizations on the topics that are important to our customers,” said Microsoft’s Gibert. “Because we work together closely, we can respond to challenges quickly, and customers can be confident that they have the support they need, when they need it, from two industry leaders.”
Duet Enterprise is expected to be available in the second half of 2010. Customers and partners can kickstart their Duet Enterprise experience by deploying SharePoint 2010 today and becoming familiar with its new capabilities.
