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First Customer Deploys xApp to Deliver Increased Visibility to Plant Assets; SAP Announces New SAP xApp to Support Product Design and Development
NEW ORLEANS, La. - November 12, 2002 - SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today announced growing adoption by customers, partners, and independent software vendors of its new breed of packaged, composite applications—known as SAP xApps™—that “snap on” to an existing heterogenous IT environment to create new, cross-functional business processes. The announcement was made at SAP® TechEd 2002, held over four days at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, drawing more than 2,800 attendees—including developers, consultants, and systems administrators—and more than forty-five SAP partner exhibitors.
TransAlta Deploys New SAP xApp
SAP also announced that TransAlta, Canada’s largest non-regulated electric generation and marketing company with operations in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Australia, is deploying xApp Visual Information for Plants (xVIp) to improve productivity and support plant decision-making processes. xVIp was developed by independent software vendor NRX, a provider of equipment information-management solutions, in conjunction with TransAlta, using SAP xApp methodology and technology.
xVIp unifies disparate asset management applications, including product life-cycle management, financials, asset life-cycle management and stand-alone databases where current equipment maintenance and performance information data resides. xVIp leverages this disparate plant operating data and adds new process capabilities, such as support for unexpected maintenance problems. xVIp creates new value for companies like TransAlta, in capital-intensive industries, to maximize plant asset value by supporting improvements in equipment maintenance and performance, and by helping to avoid lost opportunities related to non-performing equipment and minimize disruptions that lead to equipment-related incidents.
xVIp will support plant teams and work processes at TransAlta by delivering critical intelligence related to plant operations in an aggregated form, providing the tool set and capabilities for plant managers, planners, operators, engineers, and managers to perform proactive planning and rapid execution of plant maintenance work.
“By deploying xVIp we unleash the value in all of our underlying systems in supporting multi-disciplinary plant teams and work processes,” said Paul Kurchina, manager, Program Management, TransAlta. “It extends the reach and effectiveness of IT on the shop floor to generate increased productivity and profitability in asset-intensive industries.”
SAP Announces New SAP xApp Product Definition
Also at TechEd ’02, SAP announced it has begun development of another new SAP xApp, for release later next year. SAP xApp Product Definition (SAP xPD) streamlines the process of developing and designing new products. It works across existing applications that support development from idea to implementation, including lifecycle management, customer relationship management, project data, enterprise resource planning, and supply chain management. SAP xPD supports the process by collecting and managing ideas and requirements from all involved business areas at each initial stage of development, helping companies define and evaluate new product concepts, collaboratively design new products, and drive products to market faster.
System Integrators Seize Opportunity to Rapidly Deliver Their Expertise
SAP also announced that key global partners Accenture, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, Deloitte Consulting (soon to become Braxton), and BearingPoint have continued to expand their commitment to developing and bringing industry-specific xApps to market, utilizing SAP xApp methodology and technology.
Since June, Accenture has introduced four xApps that support real-time integration, collaboration, and supply chain capabilities for the oil and gas industry; easy link-ups between companies and their distributors for the chemicals industry; and easily customized knowledge-exchange capabilities for insurance and a variety of other industries. Accenture has a team in place to develop and market these xApps globally.
Deloitte Consulting is also moving forward to create new xApps initially targeted at clients in the public sector, consumer business area, and manufacturing industry, with emphasis on such business processes as service management, supply chain integration and customer profitability.
Cap Gemini Ernst & Young has more than 100 internal resources focused on the identification and development of xApps targeted at customers in the consumer products, general manufacturing, high tech, and automotive industry.
“xApps are the next generation of packaged business applications targeting innovative cross-functional processes,” said Shai Agassi, member of the SAP executive board. “With support from system integrators and independent software vendors, we’re working to drive innovation through a vast network of developers to customers like TransAlta.”
First SAP xApp Developed Exclusively by SAP on Schedule for Delivery This Year
The first SAP xApp—SAP xApp Resource and Program Management (SAP xRPM)—was announced at SAPPHIRE® ’02 Orlando in June. SAP xRPM will help corporations execute on a strategy by giving business managers and teams control over a portfolio of projects, available resources, and continuous program results in order to make smart, informed decisions. SAP xRPM begins shipping in thirty days.
About SAP
SAP is the world’s leading provider of e-business software solutions. Through the mySAP.com® e-business platform, people in businesses around the globe are improving relationships with customers and partners, streamlining operations, and achieving significant efficiencies throughout their supply chains. Today, more than 18,800 companies in over 120 countries run more than 56,000 installations of SAP® software. With subsidiaries in over 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)
Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "believe," "estimate," "intend," "may," "will," "expect," and "project" and similar expressions as they relate to SAP are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. SAP undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. The factors that could affect SAP's future financial results are discussed more fully in SAP's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), including the SAP Annual Report on Form 20-F for 2001 filed with the SEC on March 28, 2002. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.
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