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To: re3 who wrote (54704)	5/3/1999 10:01:00 AM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Respond to of 164684

SAP <SAPG_p.F> taps Internet for new users, growth By Paul Carrel NICE, France, May 3 (Reuters) - SAP AG <SAPG_p.F> on Monday announced a strategic initiative to create an Internet marketplace where businesses can buy and sell each other's products. The initiative also includes a second effort that would let SAP users access its business software over the Internet, opening its programme to new classes of users and possibly reducing the cost of installing the software for some companies. "We are going Internet big-time," said SAP co-Chief Executive Hasso Plattner said in a speech at the group's annual Sapphire customer conference in Nice. Under the marketplace initiative, called "mySAP.com" and due to be implemented later this year, SAP would provide an interactive online directory that would link corporate buyers with potential suppliers of a variety of goods from computers to office products. That would enable companies to trade over the Internet more easily and help reduce their costs, Plattner said. SAP would also let companies create their own more specialised directories. "The market place will be a portal. We will host this portal on SAP computers," Plattner said. The mySAP.com site would be open to other companies who could extend the opportunities for trade over the Internet or diversify the market accessibility. "It is open. We host only the directory," Plattner said. The move comes amid criticism from some sector experts that SAP has been slow to develop competitive business software that can be used over the Internet. Analysts say SAP rival Oracle Corp <ORCL.O> has been quicker to market such web-enabled software. Plattner said global companies including Siemens AG <SIEG.F>, IBM Corp <IBM.N>, Federal Express Corp <FDX.N>, Dell Computer Corp <DELL.O> and Compaq Computer Corp <CPQ.N> had already agreed to join the initiative as selling partners. Microsoft Corp <MSFT.O>, AT&T Corp <T.N> and Motorola Inc <MOT.N> would provide some of the technology needed to create mySAP.com. Under the initiative's second prong, SAP hopes to extend the reach of its R/3 enterprise resource planning programme beyond the current core of users who work in inventory, purchasing and finance departments. SAP aims to add "occasional users" who work in marketing, sales, and other areas but could still use R/3 to check inventory, price products, and confirm production plans. As part of this effort, the firm plans to allow users to tap into R/3 from handheld computers. Most users now access R/3 from desktop PCs or mainframe terminals. Some companies now have 10 to 15 percent of their employees using R/3, but Plattner thinks this could go much higher if R/3 were open to more occasional users. SAP controls about a third of the world market for EPR software -- programmes that corporations use to manage their inventory, purchasing, production and finance operations. But its once-rapid growth has tailed off in the last several quarters, and the company has sought to expand into new fields. In the Internet area, it launched a joint venture with Intel Corp, called Pandesic, to help start-ups sell goods electronically. But so far the venture has been a flop.