SAP's Kagermann sees competition, cooperation with Microsoft

And he said there are no plans to revive merger talks

By John Blau

April 26, 2005 12:00 PM ET

IDG News Service - SAP AG intends to compete against Microsoft Corp. in the midsize market for business software but collaborate in the development of technology to link their core products in the enterprise and desktop markets, respectively. It's a juggling act that SAP CEO Henning Kagermann maintains the German company will master.
"The two companies are going to [cooperate] to deliver a solution that customers have requested," Kagermann said today in a news conference at the company's European Sapphire user event in Copenhagen. "But we're also going to compete. We will continue to fight with Microsoft in the midmarket. We have no intent to change our competitive strategy in this segment."
The deal is nonexclusive, according to Kagermann, meaning that Microsoft is free to develop a similar product with others.
When asked if merging the two companies wouldn't be the easiest way to integrate their product lines, Kagermann smiled nervously and said the company had already answered that question last year.
As part of its bid for a foothold in the enterprise applications market, Microsoft initiated merger discussions in 2003 with SAP (see story). The talks ended several months later, after Microsoft decided that the deal and the postunion integration would be too risky. Both SAP and Microsoft said in written statements last year that they have no intention of reviving their merger talks.
Later this year, SAP and Microsoft plan to deliver a jointly developed product, code-named Mendocino, that links SAP's flagship ERP software and Microsoft's Office products (see story). Both companies, however, expect the new product to interoperate with their newest products, such as R/3 successor mySAP ERP and Office 2003.
"We could port already all the way back to DOS, but we have to stop somewhere," said Shai Agassi, president of SAP's product and technology group and a member of the board. "Customers want innovation at some point."
As for the channel, the two companies will sell the new joint product only and not products from each other's portfolios, according to Kagermann. "The deal is totally focused on the jointly designed and supported product," he said.

Reprinted with permission from

IDG.net
Story copyright 2009 International Data Group. All rights reserved.

Recommend Digg Twitter ShareThis

Email Print Send Feedback Reprints

Additional Resources

Xerox

Win a color printer!

By using solid ink technology only from Xerox, you could save up to 65% by printing color for the cost of black and white. Enter for a chance to WIN a PhaserTM 8860 network color printer!

Microsoft

Upgrade to Internet Explorer 8 today.

Save time and mitigate security risk. Deploy it now.

Sybase

NEXT-GENERATION MOBILITY PLATFORMS

In this white paper, IDC analyzes the role of next-generation mobile enterprise platforms as organizations seek a more strategic deployment of mobile solutions.

Learn the important issues you must consider before starting your next mobility initiative. Get your mobility white paper from IDC now, compliments of Sybase.

White Papers & Webcasts

File Integrity Monitoring: Secure Your Virtual and Physical IT Environments
Learn how integrity monitoring software solutions enable IT organizations to achieve and maintain configuration control. Tripwire® Enterprise is the first solution to effectively...

Managing And Protecting Your Ever Increasing Mobile Assets
(Source: Absolute Software) Your users are becoming more mobile each day. This is great for productivity - yet challenging for IT control. Natalie...

Differentiating With Technical Support: JBoss Customer Support Study
JBoss' expert technical support services is clearly acknowledged by its client base. The comprehensive nature by which their service is unsurpassed. Every category...

IDC Webcast: Linux Adoption in a Global Recession
Join Al Gillen from IDC and Michael Applebaum from Novell in this on-demand webcast to see how Linux has emerged as an even...

The JBoss SOA Assessment Tool: Spend Less, Do More
SOA does not have to be overly complex or expensive. The JBoss SOA Assessment Tool can help you chart a course to a...

Novell Opens PR Video
Is the Linux desktop for me? Customers are looking for ways to be more flexible and save money. Using Linux offers a great...

The CIO's New Guide to Design of Global IT Infrastructure
Is it possible to eliminate the impact of distance? This paper explores the 5 key principles successful CIOs are using to redesign IT...

2 Minutes to IT workload automation
Take just 2 minutes to watch this short CONTROL-M flash video. Well show you how BMC CONTROL-M can put money back into your...

IBM Lotus Notes Performance Brief
This is a Performance Brief that illustrates how Riverbed Steelhead appliances accelerate Lotus Notes R7....

Security Configuration Management
In this web video, follow along with Jim Hansen, Senior Product Manager with Big Fix, as he explains why Security Configuration Management is...

All White Papers | All Webcasts