Working together: IBM and SAP to develop first joint software product
By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 1/23/2008 9:38:00 AM
IBM and SAP have announced plans to launch their first joint software product. Code-named "Atlantic," the solution will integrate IBM Lotus Notes software with the SAP business suite.
The announcement was made at Lotuspshere, the annual gathering of Lotus users, taking place this week in Orlando.
IBM said its combined efforts with SAP will result in a new style of applications that present information and data in the context of users familiar with the Lotus Notes desktop.
Currently planned for inclusion in the first release of project "Atlantic" is support for SAP workflows, reporting and analytics, and the use of roles from within the Lotus Notes client. Michael Rhodin, general manager of Lotus Software at IBM, said, "We're creating a richer collaboration environment. Businesses are looking to find better ways to collaborate and manage their business processes. This IBM-SAP solution addresses both challenges in one seamless package for millions of users."
IBM Lotus and SAP have thousands of mutual customers who have been asking for the functionality that "Atlantic" software will provide, Rhodin said, adding that the majority of IBM’s top 100 customers also use SAP solutions.
"SAP and IBM Lotus are strategic partners to The Coca-Cola Company," said Jean Michel-Ares, CIO, Coca-Cola Company. “Our IT goal is to help our people to be more responsive, productive, and effective; and SAP and IBM Lotus have helped us get closer to that goal. The partnership between IBM Lotus, SAP, and The Coca-Cola Company promises to deliver additional value to our associates and improve the tools they use every day."
This working agreement between IBM and SAP is similar to one that SAP entered with Microsoft in 2006. That compact produced a set of applications under the banner
that allows users to access SAP data directly from Microsoft Office applications.
An independent software vendor known as
has created solutions that allow users to tap into SAP applications from Microsoft desktop.
