SAP Delivers Rapid Installer for the SAP NetWeaver™ Technology Platform

SAP NetWeaver Rapid Installer Significantly Cuts Installation Time for SAP NetWeaver and Gives Organizations a Jump-Start in Evolving Their IT Landscapes into Enablers of Change; SAP Partners Sun and HP First to Deliver SAP NetWeaver “Out of the Box”

WALLDORF, Germany - June 23, 2004 - SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today introduced SAP NetWeaver™ Rapid Installer, a new tool created to help customers expedite and simplify the implementation and administration of the SAP NetWeaver platform. Now available in its first stage, SAP NetWeaver Rapid Installer can help customers cut SAP NetWeaver front-end component implementation time from days to hours, allowing for ease of integration and delivering common usage scenarios through pre-configured integration with existing systems. The installation tool drives customer efficiencies through the delivery of pre-packaged business scenarios and pre-defined configurations.

SAP NetWeaver Rapid Installer reduces IT complexity for companies by relieving the system administrator of administration and configuration tasks while also providing connectivity to backend systems in an easy, intuitive way to best leverage business scenarios. For example, it offers support for the common task of sales reporting using the business intelligence and portal capabilities of SAP NetWeaver through pre-configured integration with mySAP™ Customer Relationship Management (mySAP CRM).

SAP NetWeaver Rapid Installer leverages a company’s existing IT platform by offering support for small, medium and large configuration settings for business scenarios. With this approach, customers can easily scale the system according to the number of portal users and add new hardware as necessary, ensuring good response time in a secure and reliable production environment. The tool includes a wizard-based installation process, which provides simple guidance in setting up the portal platform, knowledge management and collaboration capabilities, as well as the Java application server.

“We are working to ensure that our solutions are easy to install so that customers have more time and resources to focus on their core business,”said Shai Agassi, member of the executive board, SAP AG. “With its pre-tested setup and configuration, SAP NetWeaver Rapid Installer decreases the total cost of ownership by reducing installation and configuration time significantly.”

First Optimized for HP and Sun Hardware
SAP NetWeaver Rapid Installer is also optimized for select hardware. SAP global partners HP and Sun offer hardware specifically configured for the needs of SAP NetWeaver Rapid Installer, delivering an ideal price-performance ratio and saving customers considerable implementation time. Both HP and Sun offer a single point of contact for technical support for SAP NetWeaver Rapid Installer.

“With SAP NetWeaver Rapid Installer, customers have a complete solution that can be up and running in a matter of hours,” said Ron Eller, vice president and general manager, Enterprise Solution Alliances, HP. “Because we have optimized and pre-tested all SAP NetWeaver Rapid Installer systems before they are shipped and delivered, customers have the benefit of reduced time to production and lower total cost of ownership.”

“We believe customers should spend time focused on their business, and not on the business of technology,”said Stuart Wells, senior vice president, Market/Industry Development, Sun Microsystems. “Rather than shipping software and hardware separately, Sun can deliver an integrated solution via our Customer Ready System program. And based upon customer requests, we can pre-install SAP NetWeaver Rapid Installer on Sun systems, including Sun’s Java Enterprise System, providing customers with a secure, highly available ‘out-of-the-box’ solution.”