SAP R/3 Reaches New Heights of Performance on Sun Systems; Largest-Ever Number of Users Verified in Client-Server Environment

Business Wire, April 3, 1995

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 3, 1995--Sun Microsystems Computer Company and SAP AG today released performance results for SAP's R/3 application suite running on Sun(TM) SPARC(R) systems. In tests at Sun's new SAP Enterprise Lab, Sun and SAP achieved 1,800 financial and 600 sales- and-distribution benchmark users, the largest number of users to date for an R/3 benchmark.

According to SAP, Sun has quickly become SAP's fastest-growing system vendor, signing more than 180 contracts worldwide since the R/3 application suite on Sun platforms began shipping in April, 1994. "This is excellent news for SAP customers," stated Dr. Hasso Plattner, vice chairman of SAP. "Sun has moved quickly to provide a highly scalable platform to support the rapid growth of SAP."

"Customers want concrete verification that they can achieve mainframe-class results in very large R/3 implementations," said Scott McNealy, chairman, president and CEO of Sun Microsystems, Inc. "These results not only set an industry record, but more importantly demonstrate Sun and SAP's joint commitment to deliver integrated network computing solutions for the largest enterprises."

This announcement shows that network computing solutions can benefit even the largest enterprise applications and can provide business flexibility far beyond mainframe-style architectures. The flexible three-tier architecture of R/3 keeps enterprise data integrated, while allowing for distribution of the application servers that perform the business logic and user interface processing.

The test configuration included a SPARCcenter(TM) 2000 database server and several SPARCserver(TM) 1000E application servers running the Solaris(TM) 2.4 environment, which optimizes network computer connectivity and the threading of the application across multiple processors. The SAP R/3 standard benchmarks simulate financial and sales-and-distribution users performing intensive and frequent transactions.

To ensure successful customer implementations, SAP and Sun have formed SAP-Sun Competency Centers, located in the U.S., Europe, the Far East, and Africa. These centers provide technical assistance for the configuration/sizing, installation and operation of SAP R/3 applications on Sun systems. With the Platinum-level, round-the-clock service program from Sun Service, SunSpectrumTM, and more than 12,000 systems installed in mission-critical environments, Sun is delivering the benefits of network computing to enterprises around the globe.

The SPARCcenter 2000 is Sun's mainframe-caliber server that offers a reliable, powerful, scalable platform with all the benefits of open systems and network computing. In addition, the inherent scalability of the Solaris 2.4 operating environment lets customers achieve the lowest cost incremental growth path as their needs expand or change. The combination of the SPARCcenter 2000, Solaris 2.4 and the customer's choice of Informix OnLine, Oracle7 or Software AG's ADABAS D provides an ideal platform for the database server in R/3's client-server architecture.

As an R/3 application server, each SPARCserver 1000E is capable of supporting more than 175 financial benchmark users. When combined with Solstice(TM), Sun's enterprise management solution, customers can reduce the complexity of network computing by using a manageable number of servers to run their data centers.

This testing program, under the auspices of Sun's new SAP Enterprise Lab, was a cooperative engineering project between Sun, SAP, and Sun database partners to study the characteristics of very large network computing applications. Not only did the companies demonstrate what can be delivered today, but the results are now driving development plans for future products capable of even larger implementations.

Founded 22 years ago, SAP has grown to become one of the largest independent software companies in the world and is the market leader in standard business applications. The company, which is headquartered in Walldorf, Germany, now employees 5,200 people. Currently comprising 30 subsidiaries and affiliates, as well as 25 additional offices, the SAP Group is represented in 34 countries and 50 different locations worldwide. With its standard systems, R/2 for mainframes and R/3 for client-server platforms, SAP serves over 4,000 customers in 41 countries.

Sun Microsystems Computer Company (SMCC), the world's top supplier of open network computing solutions, is part of Sun Microsystems, Inc. Built on Sun's legacy of "The Network is the Computer(TM)," SMCC's SPARC(R)/Solaris(TM) product family leads the open systems market. The company has its headquarters in Mountain View, Calif.

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Note: Sun, the Sun logo, Sun Microsystems, Solaris, Solstice, SunSpectrum, SunSpectrum Platinum and The Network is the Computer are trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. All SPARC trademarks, including the SCD Compliant logo, are trademarks or registered trademarks of SPARC International, Inc.are licensed exclusively to Sun Microsystems, Inc. SPARCcenter and SPARCserver are licensed exclusively to Sun Microsystems, Inc. Products bearing SPARC trademarks are based on an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. All other product or service names mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective owners.