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Technology Stocks : SAP A.G. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ratan lal who wrote (1263)	7/6/1998 5:29:00 PM
From: Gene Weisskopf	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 3424

SAP Accents Vertical Modules In Upgrade By John Fontana SAP is readying the next version of its R/3 suite with a keen vertical focus on complex manufacturing processes. At its recent user conference in Madrid, Spain, SAP revealed details of R/3 4.5, which offers a host of specialized manufacturing features that cut across its Aerospace and Defense, Automotive, Engineering and Construction, High Tech, Chemical, Pharmaceutical, and Consumer Products modules. Release 4.5 will give users greater control over such functions as materials management, repairs processing, plant maintenance, flow manufacturing, trend analysis, and environmental health and safety. "SAP is biting the bullet and working with every industry," said David Dobrin, an analyst at Benchmarking Partners. "The vertical solutions are key to their strategy." Indeed, most enterprise resource planning suppliers, most recently PeopleSoft Inc., have stepped up their vertical focus, responding to the fact that manufacturers are struggling with generic line-of-business applications that must be heavily customized for industry needs. "Running a steel mill is a lot different than running a dairy," said Scott Lundstrom, an analyst at Advanced Manufacturing Research. R/3 4.5 is expected to begin shipping in the third quarter. SAP also announced three new components for R/3-Strategic Enterprise Management (SEM), Business-to-Business Procurement and Retail Store. SEM is a suite of four applications that allows executives and managers to analyze and evaluate value-based data from the entire R/3 system. SEM is built on SAP's Business Information Warehouse and lets users create scenario modeling, incorporate competitive data from the Web, monitor performance indicators and prepare customized reports. SEM is slated to ship in the fourth quarter. Business-to-Business Procurement, which is part of SAP's Supply Chain Optimization, Planning and Execution Initiative, is a Web-based component that lets employees purchase goods and services directly from their desktops. The system supports integration with third-party electronic catalog applications and is slated to ship in the fourth quarter. Pricing is based on a self-service user license. On the demand side, Retail Store is a Web-based extension to SAP Retail, which was announced last year. Users at branch stores can download the functionality of Retail, including inventory levels and pricing, using a Java-based Store Engine that allows for online and offline use and asynchronous replication with Retail. It is expected to ship in the third quarter. Copyright r 1998 CMP Media Inc.