VMware just put out a press release announcing that SAP is providing support for Windows production applications running on VMware ESX Server. Here is the first paragraph:
“VMware, Inc., the virtualization software leader, today announced that SAP AG will provide immediate full support to its solutions in 64-bit Windows- and Linux-based production environments running on VMware ESX Server. Servers from Dell, Fujitsu-Siemens, HP, IBM and Sun have achieved hardware platform certification for SAP® solutions running on Windows and Linux with VMware ESX Server, a component of the VMware Infrastructure software suite. VMware Infrastructure supports SAP solutions with both Windows and Linux on industry-standard hardware. SAP and VMware will assist joint customers in cooperative support services and problem resolution, backed by a global technology partnership agreement and dedicated support staffing.”
We are very happy to be able to announce this news. The negotiations took some time to complete because both companies wanted to create a framework that would have the systems and processes in place to guarantee the relationship would mean a better experience for our joint customers. Finalizing the contract is gratifying for me especially as the alliance director, but the whole team celebrated together last week in Walldorf where we were gathered to talk about our plans for 2008.
What this agreement means is that, with NO limitations, SAP supports
- SAP Netweaver-based applications, industry solutions, components, and add-ons (Linux for NetWeaver 2004 and NetWeaver 7.0, and Windows for NetWeaver 7.0)
- running in any environment (dev, test, or production)
- running on Linux or Windows 64-bit on VMware Infrastructure, as long as the hardware on which the stack runs has been certified by SAP.
Also, with the agreement VMware is now a Global Technology Partner of SAP.
Talking with customers we’ve heard about multiple pain points that VMware Infrastructure is a great solution for, such as server and infrastructure sprawl in the multiple SAP component landscape, impending upgrades to 64-bit, provisioning dev and test environments that sometimes require more hardware than production environments, availability (“job one” for the SAP administrator), and integrating new technologies like NetWeaver, ESOA and xApps.
In September we gave a webinar called “The benefits of deploying SAP Enterprise Applications on Virtual Infrastructure” and if you’d like to replay it you can find it on the VMware-SAP web page (www.vmware.com/sap) or you can go directly to it here .
- Christoph Reisbeck
