SAP Bets On Web Services

SAP is betting heavily on NetWeaver, its Web-services-based computing engine. The enterprise-software company says every future application it ships will include the technology. Within three years, SAP will have retooled its entire software suite to run on NetWeaver and SAP's Enterprise Services Architecture. "This is a big commitment from SAP," chairman and CEO Henning Kagermann said to attendees at SAP's user conference last week.

NetWeaver and the Enterprise Services Architecture, designed to provide a heterogeneous IT environment that lets companies rapidly assemble business processes, was unveiled more than a year ago. Back then, SAP wasn't sure just how far its commitment would go. "We've validated that the company can bet the farm on this architecture," says Shai Agassi, a member of SAP's executive board.

SAP customer Ian Robertson, director of IT in the Americas for the Wrigley Co., approves of the services-based approach: "An architecture that's open, can be interconnected with other platforms, and is interoperable is the right thing to do."