Latest News from SAP Developer's Journal

Knoa Software Appoints Joseph Ghattas to Role of Managing Director, EMEA

Mon, 27 Aug 2012 16:07:59 EDT

Knoa Software, a provider of user experience and performance management software, has announced the appointment of Joseph Ghattas to the position of Managing Director, EMEA. Ghattas brings more than 20 years of experience in global direct, technical and senior IT services and software sales, including deep domain expertise in Infrastructure Management, Enterprise Application Management, Security and Service Management. Ghattas reports directly to Joseph Lawless, Vice President of Global Sales. As Managing Director, EMEA, Ghattas will be responsible for building Knoa's sales and current customer engagement capabilities, while helping future customers to benefit from the utilization of Knoa solutions and achieve immediate ROI. Ghattas will also work closely with strategic partners, such as SAP®, on the sale and service of Knoa Experience and Performance Manager (EPM). SAP currently resells Knoa EPM as the SAP User Experience Management (SAP UEM) application by Knoa.

SAP UEM by Knoa Change Mgmt Part 2: Application Performance Management

Tue, 21 Aug 2012 15:33:15 EDT

Knoa Software delivers on-premise and cloud-based solutions that monitor, measure and manage how end-users are utilizing enterprise applications to optimize end-user experience, enhance user performance, and deliver return on investment. Uniquely, Knoa automation provides complete and deep insight into all activities, by user, for each application monitored. 20 percent of the Fortune 50 and hundreds of Global 5000 companies have already licensed Knoa software to power their user experience and optimize their performance. User experience monitoring (UEM) is often confused with application performance management (APM). Most analysts view this as a separate category - one analyst includes UEM as a category within APM. In any case Enterprise class user experience monitoring includes capabilities which are unique and highly differentiating:

SAP Innovation Show Remembered

Mon, 30 Jul 2012 15:05:21 EDT

A few month ago I appeared on the SAP Innovation Show, to evangelise about Mobile. You can still check out the on-demand here and also check out what my colleagues... Adrian Simpson, Chief Technology Officer, SAP UK & Ireland as well as Timo Elliott, Innovation Evangelist, SAP... say about Big Data! Here are the main points that I covered, but please check out the above TV Show... One of the main challenges is around consumerisation. ey issue is device Security. Your corporate data is priceless and when taken on the road, the mobile device becomes invaluable and should be secured in many ways. Talks about Remote Security, for example securing with , data fading and wiping devices remotely - Enrolling devices into a MDM platform. I gave a name check to SAP Afaria.

Knoa Software Releases Knoa EPM Version 7.0

Thu, 17 May 2012 16:34:44 EDT

Knoa Software, a provider of end-user experience and performance management software, on Thursday announced the availability of Knoa Experience and Performance Manager (EPM) version 7.0. The new version supports SAP® enterprise software, including the SAP NetWeaver Portal, the SAP Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM) application and SAP BusinessObjects solutions, and enables customers to drive adoption and effective use while lowering the cost of IT services. The solution is resold by SAP as the SAP User Experience Management (SAP UEM) application by Knoa. This new version of Knoa EPM provides complete integration with industry-leading SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence (BI) solutions, enabling analytics that provide a complete view of end-user behavior that expedites insight and action. It uniquely monitors the entire SAP solution-based landscape, analyzes in detail the user’s interaction with the application, and provides remediation recommendations so that customers can take immediate action. The ROI is substantial and immediate.

The Innovation Show

Tue, 01 May 2012 12:06:14 EDT

You're just a few clicks away from the first edition of The Innovation Show, from SAP. This brand new, 30-minute online show on May 3rd 2012 at 1400Hrs London time will update you on the latest technologies and IT innovations that are impacting your business. Innovation is anything but business as usual. Innovative thinking has the power to transform how we work, live, and play. Presented by technologist and broadcaster David McClelland, this first show will discuss two key innovation topics: Big data – big challenge or big opportunity? Our experts will be talking big. Enterprise mobility – from creating business-ready apps to device security and the rise of what analysts are calling the “prosumer.”

SAP Acquires Syclo – A Second Cup of Coffee and 25 Comments

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 17:25:00 EDT

This is the second article in this series on SAP's announced intent to acquire Syclo. You can read Part 1 here. I am now on my second cup of coffee, a different day, but still pondering SAP's announced acquisition of Syclo. On the Linkedin group, SAP Enterprise Mobility (you should all join!), I conducted a poll. The question was, “Do you think SAP's announced intention to acquire mobility vendor Syclo is a good move?" Here are the poll results and comments as of this afternoon (73 respondents):

Mobility, SAP, Hana and Risk Management

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 17:43:00 EDT

This weekend I drove past a tragic fatality accident near Bend, Oregon. It was a head-on collision between two cars. One of the witnesses quoted in the paper the following day expressed his long held belief in the danger of the particular stretch of road where the accident happened. That got me thinking. This afternoon, I decided to grab some delicious take-out Indian food for lunch here in Boise, Idaho. As I was returning to my office, I drove past another traffic accident in a section of the road that I always felt was dangerous. That incident pushed me past thinking to writing. I want a mobile solution, or an in-vehicle navigation system that utilizes SAP's Hana solution to wirelessly and speedily analyze big data about traffic and safety and predict the safest routes. One that is also location aware, and can provide me with a list of route options based upon their relative safety. I know some back roads, where the speed limits are slow and the traffic light, that must be far safer that congested streets with fast speed limits. I want that information. I bet insurance carriers would appreciate the same.

SAP Executive Interview with Chris McClain

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 08:47:00 EST

At Mobile World Congress last week in Barcelona, I had the great fortune to interview...Chris McClain, Executive Vice President, Global Mobile Sales & Solutions, SAP. Chris is responsible for SAP’s driving customer success with SAP Mobile products. This organization supports SAP’s objective to lead the Mobile market with the Sybase Unwired Platform as the industry's platform of choice and launch new mobile applications. In this interview I find out...

Enterprise Cloud Services – SAP

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 05:00:00 EST

As the name suggests one of the key factors of ‘Enterprise Cloud’ is that it’s intended for the enterprise market, in particular the enterprise applications that they use such as SAP, Oracle and JD Edwards amongst others. Where Cloud Computing overlaps with this sector is ‘Enterprise Cloud Computing‘, and you can follow this topic via … Continue reading »

SAP Reports Record Third Quarter 2011 Software Revenue

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 01:02:00 EDT

SAP AG on Wednesday announced its financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2011. "We are very pleased with the exceptionally strong top-line growth this quarter. Continued efficiency gains combined with operational excellence led to a very strong operating margin performance," said Werner Brandt, CFO of SAP. "Our momentum puts us on pace to achieve a record cash flow year." "SAP's third quarter software revenue grew at its fastest rate in a decade because customers are shifting their investments to software that helps them grow and innovate. Our core solutions together with our industry-leading innovation in mobility, in-memory computing and cloud deliver exceptional value to our customers across all regions and industries," said Bill McDermott, Co-CEO of SAP. "This is a growth company executing on a powerful vision." "Our strong performance and market share gains clearly show that our customer-focused innovation strategy is winning," said Jim Hagemann Snabe, Co-CEO of SAP. "Delivering innovations in non-disruptive steps reduces the costs for our customers so they can invest in our breakthrough technologies to speed up decisions, strengthen customer relationships and drive growth. When our customers win, we win."

Palantir and SAP Boost Public Safety With Intelligence Analysis

Wed, 25 May 2011 02:00:00 EDT

New SAP® Solution Extension for Public Sector by SAP Partner Palantir to Help Public Safety and Security Agencies Run Better, So That Communities Run Safer

Oracle Damages Hurt SAP Profits

Sun, 30 Jan 2011 13:45:00 EST

SAP’s Q4 earnings were off 36% after it set aside $1.3 billion to pay the record damages Oracle won in court last year. Revenues were up 27%, beating its own forecasts, and it plans to increase its dividend 20%. It expects its operating profit to be up ~16% this year to at least $6.1 billion on heightened spending in the US and emerging markets tickled by analytics and Sybase’s mobile contribution to SAP applications. Software revenues should be up 10%-14%, roughly what it did last year. The company’s re-launched web-based Business ByDesign software reportedly had over 250 customers at the end of Q4. The company is hoping to boost the number to 1,000 this year. It’s expecting to add a ByDesign for Subsidiaries this half.

SAP Realigns Global Field Organization

Mon, 17 Jan 2011 02:00:00 EST

SAP AG on Monday announced new appointments in its Global Field Organization (GFO) and ensuing changes at the helms of its North American and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) regions. The global field realignment is aimed at further simplifying the company structure, increasing the speed of innovation, delivering customer value and strengthening its commitment to an open ecosystem.

SAP Licenses IV’s Patents

Sun, 16 Jan 2011 14:00:00 EST

It’s unclear what SAP’s worried about – having been royally trashed by Oracle and ordered to pay a landmark $1.3 billion in copyright infringement penalties for the wholesale looting of Oracle IP – but the German software company has licensed Intellectual Ventures’ patent portfolio of 30,000 patents “for defensive use” apparently like the deals IV cut recently with Samsung and HTC, which Apple is suing. Terms were not disclosed. Intellectual Ventures is the usually quiet patent-acquiring outfit put together by ex-Microsoft biggie Nathan Myhrvold. Late last week a Texas judge set aside a jury verdict ordering SAP to pay Versata $138.6 million for patent infringement. There will be a new trial on damages.

Wall Street Analyst and SAP Enterprise Mobility

Tue, 28 Dec 2010 14:05:00 EST

I received an interesting call yesterday from a Wall Street analyst. He wanted my opinion on SAP's acquisition of Sybase. His premise was that there was not $5.8 billion worth of value in Sybase. I responded that I had no expertise in valuation so could not help him in that determination. However, I did have more than enough opinions on enterprise mobility to share. I provided him the following list for his consideration during his valuation exercise.

Likewise Announces SAP Support

Thu, 16 Dec 2010 10:55:36 EST

Likewise has announced support for SAP NetWeaver and SAPgui - giving Likewise Open and Likewise Enterprise customers using SAP single sign-on capability. Likewise also announced it expects SAP certification to be completed in early 2011. Likewise Open joins desktops and servers running Linux, Unix, and Mac OS X to an organization's existing Active Directory. With more than 80,000 organizations worldwide, Likewise Open is the most widely-used Active Directory authentication engine for Linux, Unix, and Mac OS X systems. Likewise Enterprise builds on the authentication engine of Likewise Open, making it easy for IT managers to authenticate users, control access to applications and data, centrally manage settings with group policies, and create reports for regulatory audits. "Our customers are increasingly asking to be able to sign-on to SAP using their credentials provisioned in Active Directory," said Glenn Curtis, director of engineering, Likewise. "We're helping to integrate SAP with all of the various platforms in a modern heterogeneous environment."

[Updated] SAP Told To Pay Oracle $1.3 Billion

Wed, 24 Nov 2010 07:00:00 EST

A federal jury of eight men and women decided late Tuesday that SAP should pay Oracle $1.3 billion for ripping off its software. The jury only got the case Monday. SAP, which hoped to get away with paying no more than $40 million for its admitted transgressions, indicated it will probably appeal. It said in a statement, “We are, of course, disappointed by this verdict and will pursue all available options, including post-trial motions and appeal if necessary. This will unfortunately be a prolonged process and we continue to hope that the matter can be resolved appropriately without more years of litigation.” Oracle sued in 2007.

Sybase 365 Survey: Consumers to Put Money Where Their Mobile Devices Are

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 14:36:00 EST

Conditions are ripe for the mobile economy to play a bigger role than ever this holiday season, according to a national survey conducted by Sybase 365, a subsidiary of Sybase, Inc., the global leader in mobile messaging and mobile commerce services. The survey of 1,000 consumers found that one out of three respondents who are willing and able to do so with their current devices would purchase goods or services this holiday season using their device if they were presented with mobile-based incentives.

SAP's Perfect Plant and Enterprise Mobility

Mon, 08 Nov 2010 22:01:00 EST

Enterprise mobility is a term often used in the context of remote and traveling workers, but it can also be used for situations inside the four walls of a manufacturing plant. This article explores the use of enterprise mobility solutions within the four walls of a plant using SAP. First, let's review what SAP says about their "Perfect Plant" initiative. SAP is enabling companies to create a framework for the “Perfect Plant” by integrating planning, asset management and execution with real-time visibility. As a result, manufacturing networks are more agile, responsive and operationally efficient with SAP solutions. Manufacturers embarking upon the journey towards a “Perfect Plant” gain visibility into all aspects of manufacturing operations, providing the ability to respond faster and minimize impact to the business and bottom line, driving increased yields, asset utilization and order fulfillment. The “Perfect Plant” is the ultimate goal for manufacturers looking to optimize utilization of their manufacturing assets and drive increased production performance in concert with enterprise objectives.

SAP Business One Mobile with Coresuite

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 14:15:16 EDT

Small and midsized companies can now access the information and data critical to their business right on their mobile device, with SAP Business One and Coresuite Mobile, an innovation from Coresystems. SAP Business One is a centralized business management solution by SAP, built specifically for small and midsized companies that provides a platform for the standard processes and operations in a modern business. Coresystems is an SAP Software Solution Partner out of Europe that builds an amazing array of solutions that bring SAP Business One into the world of mobile business and e-commerce.

SAP Reports 20% Growth in Software and Software-Related Service Revenues

Wed, 27 Oct 2010 01:00:00 EDT

13% Growth in Non-IFRS Software and Software-Related Service Revenues at Constant Currencies

[Updated] SAP Wants Lawyers in Oracle v SAP Trial Gagged

Tue, 26 Oct 2010 10:30:00 EDT

Geez, what a killjoy. Last Friday SAP asked for and got a gag order that will make it impossible for any of the attorneys involved in Oracle's billion-dollar suit against SAP for massive theft of intellectual property from speaking to the press while the trial's going on. The trial starts Monday, November 1, and Oracle has hired the famous headline-grabbing David Boies to represent it. And Boies is supposed to call ex-SAP CEO Léo Apotheker to the stand as a witness and Léo officially starts his new job as CEO of HP on Monday so Larry stands to get a twofer out of the spectacle. SAP has already admitted culpability. The trial is supposed to put a price on it. Oracle's demanding upwards of a billion dollars. SAP only wants to pay tens of millions.

SAP Mentor John Appleby on SAP Enterprise Mobility Plus News and Thoughts

Sun, 24 Oct 2010 13:36:00 EDT

Fellow SAP Mentor John Appleby published a terrific and well thought out article summarizing his views on the current state of SAP enterprise mobility. He works as a technical consultant in the UK for Bluefin Solutions Ltd., so has a much more technical view than I can provide. I recommend reading it. I do have a question that has been in the back of my mind this week. If mobility is so important to SAP, where were all their mobility executives at SAP TechEd? Where was John Chen, Bob Stutz, Kevin Nix, etc, which are the folks responsible for SAP enterprise mobility? There were over 5,000 attendees. My session on the Future of Enterprise Mobility had over 200 registrants. It seems in hindsight, that SAP should have brought the big boys of mobility to the show.

Enterprise Mobility

Sun, 24 Oct 2010 12:43:00 EDT

Today (Thursday) I was able to finally get enough time to sit down in the Innovation Center with SAP folks and see demonstrations of their new enterprise mobility applications. I loved the SAP Prove application because of the GUI. It was an image of a desk with a crumpled piece of paper on it that had an expense request written on it. Next to it were two rubber stamps. One that said Approved, the other Rejected. By tapping one or the other it would stamp the paper. I loved it. I kept stamping all of them with Reject, Reject, Reject. I could do that all day. What power!

HP Picked Apotheker over Five Others

Fri, 01 Oct 2010 12:30:00 EDT

HP's board had five other finalists that "could have done" the CEO's job besides Léo Apotheker, according to what HP's lead outside director Robert Ryan said in answer to a question during a conference call with Wall Street Friday morning, but it unanimously picked SAP's castoff CEO as the "very best" choice. No one else was offered the job. Ryan claimed the company conducted a "thorough and deliberate process" and searched "far and wide" to fill what was "a very desirable job." In response Wall Street, wondering if Apotheker was really the best the largest technology company in history could have done, pushed HP's stock price lower. It has yet to recover from the shock of losing Mark Hurd and was down mid-morning around 3%, the whole experience sheering billions off the stock.

SAP SVP to Present at Cloud Expo Silicon Valley

Thu, 23 Sep 2010 12:15:00 EDT

SAP's Sales OnDemand solution is designed to address customers' and their users' specific business opportunities and challenges. In his session at the 7th International Cloud Expo, Nicholas Cumins, Senior Vice President of Solution Management at SAP, will demonstrate Sales OnDemand and show how SAP is developing solutions that complement customers' existing investments and combine process, business, and mobile capabilities to deliver instant value.

SAP to Present at Cloud Expo Silicon Valley

Wed, 22 Sep 2010 10:15:00 EDT

Many companies are already experiencing the benefits of on-demand solutions. With SAP's on-demand strategy and offerings, you can harness on-demand for competitive advantage. In their session at the 7th International Cloud Expo, David Meyer, EVP, OnDemand, Productivity and Sustainability at SAP, and Nicholas Cumins, Senior Vice President of Solution Management at SAP, will discuss SAP's on-demand strategy, provide an overview of the portfolio offerings, and demonstrate how on-demand can extend investments.

Finding the Flaws of the Whole, Not Just the Flaws of the Parts

Wed, 15 Sep 2010 12:30:00 EDT

It would seem like the last thing we need in SAP systems is more metrics. Automated solutions that investigate, monitor and track ERP systems are common, so why are major corporations increasingly employing automated metrics for SAP systems? Like all systems that span the enterprise, SAP systems suffer from the “six blind men and the elephant” problem – each man is able to envision his own part of the elephant, but putting together a picture of the whole animal is a problem. It is this “whole is greater than the sum of its parts” view that SAP developers need to get their arms around. In what has become an all too frequent post-customization scenario, SAP developers are called to fix a transaction performance problem. Usually they find that availability is great, there’s nothing wrong with the code – no odd changes – but somehow latency is in the tank. So what’s wrong?

Crystal Reports for SAP Business One

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:06:39 EDT

Crystal Reports 2008 for SAP Business One is now fully available to the tens of thousands of companies running SAP Business One worldwide. With built-in business intelligence for SAP Business One, small and midsized companies can now get a true 360 degree view of their business with easy to use tools and pre-built reports. Orchestra has been bringing our readers the frontline news on Crystal Reports for SAP Business One, so we thought it fitting to put together this resource.

SAP Business One BI in the Cloud

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 08:58:41 EDT

In this video, Richard Duffy, SAP Business One Product Evangelist, takes a deeper hands-on look into SAP Business One 8.8. He'll take a quick look at integrating SAP Business One 8.8 "on premise" with Business Intelligence tools "in the cloud" using the latest BI innovations from SAP - BI OnDemand. SAP Business One is an integrated business software that tailors its application around the needs of small and midsize business owners. In one single application, this tool manages all primary facets of your business, including Financials, Sales, Purchasing, Inventory, Banking, Manufacturing, Forecasts, Budgets, Reporting and more. SAP Business One 8.8 is the latest version of the software, and it really elevates the application to a new level of functionality and performance.

SAP Business One Microsoft Sharepoint Integration

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 08:54:40 EDT

SAP Business One is an integrated business software that tailors its application around the needs of small and midsize business owners. In one single application, this tool manages all primary facets of your business, including Financials, Sales, Purchasing, Inventory, Banking, Manufacturing, Forecasts, Budgets, Reporting and more. In the video below, we'll see SAP Business One 8.8 Integration with Microsoft Sharepoint.

Klee Associates, Inc. Launches New Blog on ERPtips.com

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 09:05:00 EDT

Klee Associates, a SAP training and education provider, has announced the launch of a new blog dedicated to SAP training and education. The new blog, titled SAP Training: Taming the Beast, will serve as an ideal setting for SAP users to obtain free information and education on SAP's ERP software packages. The blog will offer frequent discussions on all aspects of SAP training and education, SAP best practices, SAP certification, SAP configuration, SAP how to instructions, SAP integration, and SAP implementations. Jocelyn Hayes, Klee Associates' resident SAP expert, will provide educational discussion and information on SAP software and provide visitors with excerpts from ERPtips' SAP training manuals. Accompanying her as a fellow blog author is Andy Klee, founder of Klee Associates, who will offer interviews with SAP training experts, his views on ERP training, and his observations on the ERP industry.

SAP Trails Oracle; Its On-Demand Widgetry About to Pop

Sun, 01 Aug 2010 08:45:00 EDT

SAP’s quarter didn’t turn out quite as well as Oracle’s, its great competitor. Oracle’s earnings in the calendar second quarter were up 25%, helped by the Sun acquisition. SAP’s profits were up 16% to $638 million (€491 million), or 52 cents a share, but not as much as the punters thought they should be and it didn’t boost its sales outlook as much as expected either. It did say that its acquisition of Sybase should increase software and software-related services by 9%–11% this year, up from 4%–8%, with an operating margin of 30%–31% and its Q2 results, especially in the U.S., where software revenue was up 64%, seem to indicate that the spending freeze has thawed.

SAP Reports 16% Growth in Software and Software-Related Service Revenues

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 01:00:00 EDT

SAP AG on Tuesday announced its preliminary financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2010. "Customers continue to invest for growth across large, midsized and small enterprises and within many industries," said Bill McDermott, Co-CEO of SAP. "We had outstanding growth in strategic markets like the U.S. and we saw continued double-digit growth in key emerging markets in Latin America and Asia. This solid performance is due to renewed customer confidence, an ever-expanding ecosystem, as well as focused execution on our go-to-market strategy."

Public Clouds Not Yet Ready for Mission-Critical Apps: SAP CTO

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 11:45:00 EDT

"Technology's just not at a point where you can run a mission-critical application on a public cloud," said SAP's CTO Vishal Sikka in a report that BusinessWeek.com is carrying this morning quoting a "recent interview" with Sikka.

Mobile Enterprise Users Need Simplicity

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 11:25:00 EDT

SAP has a section of their SDN/SCN portal for enterprise mobility. On this site they have a diagram depicting an end-to-end mobile solution. This diagram does a good job of causing fear in just about everyone. The diagram shows a deep stack of technology components, each with their own complex technical design and functionality. I can just imagine an enterprise IT team gasping in distress at this diagram. However, understanding how everything in your car works is not necessary in order to drive it. Let me give you an example. ClickSoftware is an SAP mobility partner and the developer of a host of workforce automation and service chain optimization applications. They have already mobilized field services applications and implemented them with SAP. It is now available out-of-the-box. The complexity of the implementation has largely been removed.

Linking Pulldown Attributes in NW IDM 7.1

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 16:11:00 EDT

One of the coolest things about NetWeaver Identity Manager is that there are always new tricks to learn. The development team keeps finding new and interesting ways to extend the functionality of the product. This, in turn, allows us to further extend what we can offer to our customers. Sometimes what I learn for a particular customer is brand-new, sometimes it's functionality that's been around for years, but either way, it's usually of use to someone, so I like to share when I can.

New Research Shows the Importance of Mobility to SAP Customers

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 11:31:00 EDT

I received an email today from a firm that just completed face to face meetings with over 100 SAP customers. In these meetings the SAP customers identified the SAP solutions they would like to learn more about and then prioritized them. The fifth hottest topic among these SAP customers was SAP enterprise mobility. NICE! SAP, systems integrators and enterprise mobility vendors should all take note of this research. SAP's customers are wanting to learn more about enterprise mobility. SAP's SDN site, this blog, the SAP Enterprise Mobility group on Linkedin, and Kevin's Mobility News Weekly are all sites dedicated to sharing information on enterprise mobility.

Open Text's VP SAP Solutions Group Patrick Barnert

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 19:42:00 EDT

I am a big believer in the saying "content is king!" So when I read recently that Open Text announced they were going to mobilize their enterprise content management products with a solution called Open Text Everywhere, I was intrigued but skeptical. Open Text provides powerful enterprise content management solutions, the SAP Invoice Management solution, and collaboration and social networking tools for the enterprise, but now mobile solutions as well? At Sapphire I was able to schedule a video interview with Open Text's VP SAP Solutions Group, Patrick Barnert. One of the first questions I asked Patrick was, "Are you serious or just playing around with mobility?" You can watch and hear his response here.

Sky Technologies' Steve Ware

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 13:23:00 EDT

I was able to meet up with Sky Technologies' CTO, Steve Ware, at Sapphire a few weeks ago and unfortunately for him I had a digital video camera in my hands. SAP had provided us SAP Mentors with very small Flip digital video cameras, and I recorded his views on MEAPs (mobile enterprise application platforms. I also noted this week that Sky Technologies is now supporting Sprint's enterprise initiative for the new Android phone HTC EVO 4G as described below: Sprint's new HTC 1GHz EVO- 4G smart-phone enables true multi-tasking while on the move. Road warriors can now view documents and files while simultaneously having a conversation with a colleague on the phone.

Mobile Middleware for Instant Value or Mobile Micro-Apps

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 13:18:00 EDT

Mobile middleware is more than synchronizing databases and providing basic application integration. It needs to include support for business process extensions, and it must provide a set of features and functions that support lightweight, "Instant Value" or "Mobile Micro-Apps" smartphone applications. There are many features and functions that are needed by mobile workers that are not easily supported by smartphone operating systems like iPhone or BlackBerry. Often the data set is large and the software application is an ERP. The mobile user does not need access to the full ERP or the full data set, just a subset. In these cases it would be useful to have a mobile middleware layer that recognizes the needs of the mobile user and provides an optimized mobile application with functionality that supports either browser based or mobile micro-apps.

SAP CRM Partner EntryPoint Consulting Looks to Mobility for Growth

Wed, 14 Apr 2010 11:53:00 EDT

I read with interest today a press release about SAP partner EntryPoint Consulting. I know them, and they are a long term SAP consulting and channel partner that is involved in the CRM side of SAP. They were involved in some of the earliest implementations of mobile SAP CRM several years back and experienced a lot of first mover pain as a result. I know they have been watching the SAP mobility evolution with keen interest for several years. From today's press release it looks like Pete Martin, managing partner at EntryPoint has decided it is time to get serious about SAP mobility again, and he partnered with SAP mobility partner Sky Technologies to deliver mobile SAP CRM capabilities. I spoke to him several months back, and he said 100% of his SAP CRM sales opportunities this year were asking about mobile device support so he was very interested in the SAP mobility ecosystem.

Monetizing Mobile Applications in the SAP Ecosystem

Wed, 14 Apr 2010 09:30:00 EDT

SAP is trying to figure out the best way to monetize enterprise mobile applications and B2C mobile applications. These are complex issues. Extending the functionality of SAP to mobile users is a key goal for SAP. They want to enable many, many more users to benefit from SAP. The mobile workforce and consumers are both areas where SAP can extend value, but how do they charge for it?

Redbox, M2M and Mobile SAP Micro-Apps

Tue, 06 Apr 2010 10:27:00 EDT

M2M is not only a cool acronym, kind of James Bond like, but a very interesting category in the wireless industry. M2M in this context means machine-to-machine wireless connectivity. A few other terms that describe this category are "the Internet of Objects" or the "Internet of Things." All of these terms relate to machines that can talk or exchange data with other machines via wireless connectivity. One strange example that I wrote about a few months ago was a bathroom scale that would wirelessly tweet your body weight to your Twitter list every time you weighed yourself. The scale, a machine, was collecting data and sending it automatically via a wireless connection to another machine (server). A recent example that I found particularly interesting was Redbox. These are the DVD rental kiosks that we see everywhere now days. Did you know that Redbox machines are M2M enabled? You can go to the Redbox website, find a kiosk near you that has a movie you want and reserve it online. You can also use their micro-app for iPhones to find a movie in a kiosk near you and rent it.

Introducing Captain Chaos

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 18:00:00 EDT

It’s hard to believe that I’ve been working in product marketing and product management for over 15 years. Amazingly I still find the job exciting and challenging. There is never a dull day and never a day when you think to yourself “What should I do?”. Product Marketing is the hub of activity both internally and externally for a software company. Now don’t get me wrong. Product Marketing isn’t a very easy job. The role is never ending and the responsibilities go up to the highest level of the company. If the company doesn’t make the quarter immediately its a problem with the story. Development relies on Product Marketing to provide feedback on what’s working and what’s not. Customers rely on the story being accurate and not leading them astray down a dark road. Some days I think that I’m Captain Chaos where it’s up to me to bring order to the entire organization and make sure that sales, marketing, development & customers are all on the right track.

Opinion: Sybase, iPad and an Analysis

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 08:45:00 EDT

I am mostly nice on this blog, but come on Sybase!!! What were you thinking with this report, "...Sybase has announced the results of a survey on mobile device usage, commissioned by Sybase and conducted by Zogby International. The survey, which was compiled from an online survey of 2443 adults with a mobile phone, 770 of which own smart phones, uncovered that the #1 reason U.S. consumers would use a device such as the Apple iPad is for "working on the go."

Oracle Goes "All In" at Cloud Expo in New York - I

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 09:15:00 EDT

Oracle is not only the sole Diamond Sponsor at Cloud Expo at the Javits Center in New York April 19-21, it has stepped up to participate in no less than eight sessions during what will be, by far, the largest show about Cloud Computing produced to date. (The exhibit floor alone is larger than all other Cloud events combined.) Here is a review of four of the Cloud Expo sessions that feature presenters from Oracle: Essential IaaS Security Speaker: Glenn Brunette Date: April 19, 2:40 pm-3:25 pm In this session, Cloud Expo delegates will learn essential concerns, best practices and techniques to help better maximize the security posture of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) deployments. The session will feature specific architectural models, configuration ideas, and deployment techniques that will help reinforce your services from attack.

Savvis VP Ken Owens to Present at World's Largest Cloud Computing Event

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 18:45:00 EDT

For a cloud to be considered enterprise, it must provide a high-availability solution that accounts for every aspect of an Enterprise IT Infrastructure environment, from development to production including provisioning and maintenance of servers, network, storage, security and software. The value of the enterprise cloud solution is simple: It enables businesses to adapt to the rapidly changing economic and technological environment with speed, excellence and efficiency while reducing the total cost of ownership. In his session at the 5th International Cloud Expo, Ken Owens, Vice President of Security and Virtualization Technologies at Savvis, will introduce the Virtual Private Data Center concept, which provides the high-availability infrastructure, management, support, and multiple levels of QoS required to optimize the delivery of mission-critical applications in the enterprise cloud

Best Practices of Successful Cloud Users

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:00:00 EDT

Is your website available to end users 99.8% or more of the time? If not, then count yourself in the “laggard” category, according to standards set by The Aberdeen Group, in its 2008 report “The Performance of Web Applications: Customers are Won or Lost in One Second.” In that study, laggards had web application availability only 86.3% of the time. If 99.8% of the time seems a little unrealistic to you, consider the title of Aberdeen’s study – and that you can lose a customer in one second (to a competitor) if any part of their online experience goes sour.

A-Server to Unveil DAAS.com at Cloud Expo

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 12:00:00 EDT

A-Server, a specialist in datacenter virtualization, will launch a new version of its Datacenter-as-a-Service platform at SYS-CON's 5th International Cloud Computing Expo, which will take place on April 19-21, 2010, at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City. A-Server, a silver sponsor for the event, will unveil its fully configured and installed cloud rack solution tailored to the needs for Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and Cloud Service Providers, offering rapid deployment of reliable, flexible and cost-effective cloud computing. A-Server opened its first sales office in North America earlier this year and already has several successful service provider customers in Europe, most known includes SymetriQ in the UK that delivers a product comparable to Amazon web services using DAAS.com.