“SAP’s first shipment of its R/3 business application on Linux
is expected in the third quarter of this year. The software giant
plans to detail its Linux strategy and announce its partners for
the initiative at CeBIT 99, to be held later this month in
Hannover, Germany. At the show, the firm plans to demonstrate SAP
R/3 running in the Linux environment.”
“‘I think Linux is clearly gaining some mind share out there,’
said Steve Bonadio, analyst at the Framingham, Massachusetts-based
Hurwitz Group. ‘The fact that SAP is taking a look and deploying
applications on Linux amounts to them saying we want to offer as
much choice as possible and we don’t want to rely on
Microsoft.'”
“‘It’s driven by customer demand and market demand,’ said Peter
Barth, a technology and marketing manager for SAP. ‘This is a
platform suitable for business computing. We really think Linux is
ready for prime time.’
SAP plans to port its entire suite of core back office
applications to Linux, Barth said, meaning customers will be able
to run any applications they now run on Unix or NT on Linux.”