Deliver Your News to the World

SAP NetWeaver® Fund Makes Strategic Investment in Visiprise


WEBWIRE

Companies to Co-Innovate Solutions for Discrete Manufacturing

WALLDORF, Germany - November 08, 2006 - Delivering on its commitment to help customers and partners experience the business value of enterprise service-oriented architecture (enterprise SOA), SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today announced it has made a minority investment in Visiprise, a leading provider of business solutions for integrated manufacturing operations. Today’s announcement marks the third investment for SAP’s $125 million global SAP NetWeaver® Fund and underscores SAP’s commitment to fuel the development of innovative solutions built on the SAP NetWeaver® platform.

“Visiprise is committed to delivering innovative solutions that take advantage of the SAP NetWeaver platform,” said Sean McCloskey, president and CEO of Visiprise. “Our customers want shop-floor to top-floor integration and control on an enterprise level. Collaborating with SAP on behalf of our current and future customers provides the market with a very sophisticated, single-platform, manufacturing solution. This investment will enable us to accelerate our growth and development on the SAP NetWeaver platform.”

Visiprise solutions help customers plan, define, control, execute and analyze manufacturing operations in a single environment, to easily integrate with existing enterprise applications. The combination of the Visiprise Manufacturing business solution and leading enterprise software from SAP – integrated through the SAP® xApp™ Manufacturing Integration and Intelligence (SAP xMII) composite application – offers manufacturers a complete solution for top-to-bottom manufacturing management and control. The seamless integration of solutions from SAP and Visiprise helps mutual customers to reduce operational costs, increase customer retention and rapidly respond to changing market conditions.

Serving industries such as aerospace and defense, electronics, automotive and specialty vehicles, and medical device manufacturing, more than 200 customers around the globe turn to Visiprise for improvements in operating costs, quality and manufacturing visibility. Visiprise is based in Atlanta, Georgia and earned both “Certified for SAP NetWeaver” and “Powered by SAP NetWeaver” status for Visiprise Manufacturing.

“The SAP ecosystem continues to gain momentum and the establishment of the SAP NetWeaver Fund further underscores our dedication to co-innovation and driving real customer value with partners,” said Jim Mackey, head of Corporate Finance for SAP and co-manager of the SAP NetWeaver Fund. “We’re pleased to make this investment and look forward to continuing co-innovation with Visiprise for the benefit of our mutual customers.”

SAP NetWeaver Fund
The SAP NetWeaver Fund was established in May 2006 and focuses on strategic investments in select companies that are committed to the SAP ecosystem and are building innovative solutions based on the SAP NetWeaver platform. Opening up the platform to encourage development and co-innovation has been a key driver for SAP in recent years, and the formation of the SAP NetWeaver Fund represents yet another investment in SAP’s growing ecosystem. Financed out of SAP’s corporate development funds, the $125 million SAP NetWeaver Fund complements the efforts of SAP’s venture arm, SAP Ventures, and is managed jointly by Zia Yusuf, executive vice president of Platform Ecosystem at SAP and Jim Mackey, head of Corporate Finance at SAP.

There are currently more than 1,800 partner solutions and more than 1,000 independent software vendors (ISVs) actively developing on the SAP NetWeaver platform today.

About SAP
SAP is the world’s leading provider of business software*. Today, more than 36,200 customers in more than 120 countries run SAP® applications—from distinct solutions addressing the needs of small and midsize enterprises to suite offerings for global organizations. Powered by the SAP NetWeaver® platform to drive innovation and enable business change, SAP software helps enterprises of all sizes around the world improve customer relationships, enhance partner collaboration and create efficiencies across their supply chains and business operations. SAP solution portfolios support the unique business processes of more than 25 industries, including high tech, retail, financial services, healthcare and the public sector. With subsidiaries in more than 50 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE under the symbol “SAP.” (Additional information at www.sap.com)

(*) SAP defines business software as comprising enterprise resource planning and related applications such as supply chain management, customer relationship management, product life-cycle management and supplier relationship management.

Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “project,” “predict,” “should” and “will” and similar expressions as they relate to SAP are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. SAP undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations The factors that could affect SAP’s future financial results are discussed more fully in SAP’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including SAP’s most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.

Copyright © 2006 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
SAP, R/3, mySAP, mySAP.com, xApps, xApp, SAP NetWeaver and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries all over the world. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies. Data contained in this document serve informational purposes only. National product specifications may vary.

For customers interested in learning more about SAP products:
Global Customer Center: +49 180 534-34-24
United States Only: 1 (800) 872-1SAP (1-800-872-1727)



WebWireID23366





This news content was configured by WebWire editorial staff. Linking is permitted.

News Release Distribution and Press Release Distribution Services Provided by WebWire.