Event Summary
"SAP AG has chosen SQL Server 7.0 as its strategic database for the Windows
platform. The companies also will cooperate to make the Windows 2000 OS available
as a platform choice for customers wishing to implement mySAP.com solutions.
Microsoft also announced that it is the first mySAP.com customer to use Windows
2000 for its product implementation of SAP inter-enterprise software solutions.
mySAP.com is an open collaborative business environment of personalized solutions
on demand that lets organizations of all sizes fully engage employees, customers,
and partners to capitalize on the Internet economy.
This
announcement extends an October 1999 agreement between SAP AG and Microsoft
Europe under which the companies are working to expand acceptance of Windows
2000 and SQL Server 7.0 as a cost-effective, scalable platform for implementations
of mySAP.com for end-to-end Internet collaboration. Both companies are investing
in technical pre-sales and sales support personnel, skills transfer, and cross
training of respective sales forces and consulting organizations.
"The
internal adoption by SAP of SQL Server 7.0 is a significant testimonial to the
increasing confidence SAP has placed in our database and will help improve all
aspects of our joint solutions," says Paul Maritz, Microsoft Developer Group
vice president."
Market
Impact
On the heels of the defection by SAP to IBM for their strategic database platform,
this announcement is bound to hurt Oracle in the marketplace (See TEC News Analysis
article: "Oracle
gets SAP'ed by IBM" December 8th, 1999)
Although Oracle 8i will continue to be a strategic choice for database platforms,
their competition in the ERP market space continues to hurt them. Other ERP
and CRM vendors increasingly perceive Oracle as a competitor and not a partner,
and this trend is expected to continue. We believe that Oracle will try to reverse
the trend, but their strong push into applications software (especially ERP
and CRM) will prevent them from succeeding. According to one source, more than
50 percent of new SAP U.S. installations on Windows NT have been on SQL Server.
User
Recommendations
Customers evaluating SAP should be very careful evaluating what back-end database
is used for the system. The current price war between Oracle and Microsoft may
have a bearing on decisions regarding databases. Oracle's current difficulties
should provide customers with strong leverage to improve prices in software
licensing, maintenance, and support. IBM's DB2 Universal Database and Microsoft's
SQL Server 7.0 should also be considered.