SAP, Microsoft Team to Increase Migration to SQL Server 2005

A partnership between SAP and Microsoft is aimed at simplifying and accelerating the adoption of SQL Server 2005 and optimizing it for the SAP Business Suite.

SAP AG and Microsoft Corp. are extending their longtime partnership to win over customers in a bid to reduce the risk and cost associated with migrating to SAP's Enterprise Resource Planning software on SQL Server 2005 from rival products.

The companies are establishing a joint lab in Walldorf, Germany, to generate, test and publish migration best practices for customers migrating off alternative databases to SQL Server and to further optimize SAP Business Suite on SQL Server 2005.

Francois Ajenstat, director of product management for SQL Server, said the program will use enhanced tools, documented best practices and integrated service support to make it easier for non-SQL Server customers to migrate their SAP application from competitive database to SQL Server.

"This collaboration between SAP and Microsoft will help customers lower their total cost of ownership and increase business agility," he said in an interview with eWEEK.

The companies have partnered for more than 15 years, and both count Oracle as a rival - SAP in applications, Microsoft in the database space. Microsoft and SAP officials said the joint approach will offer database conversion tools, documented best practices and deployment services support to ensure a non-disruptive migration to enterprise service-oriented architecture for customers migrating to the next generation of SAP business tools.

"For a large number of our mutual customers, Microsoft and SAP are strategic vendors, and customers expect product interoperability between our products," said Klaus Kreplin, head of SAP NetWeaver Technology, in a statement. "By developing an offering that will optimize our customers to deploy Microsoft SQL Server 2005 for SAP NetWeaver and the SAP Business Suite, SAP and Microsoft are pushing enterprise solutions forward in exciting new ways, enabling customers to harness the power and flexibility of enterprise SOA."

Copyright 2007 by Ziff Davis Media, Distributed by United Press International