SAP Portals and Cap Gemini Ernst & Young Sign Global Partnership Agreement

Business Wire, Feb 14, 2002

Business/High-Tech Editors

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 14, 2002

Agreement to Focus on Delivery of Enterprise Portal and

Business Intelligence Solutions To Targeted Clients Worldwide

SAP Portals, Inc., a leading provider of enterprise portal and business intelligence solutions and a wholly owned subsidiary of SAP AG (NYSE:SAP), and Cap Gemini Ernst & Young (PSE:CAP), one of the largest management and IT consulting firms in the world, today announced that they have signed a global agreement aimed at helping companies develop and implement strategic enterprise portal solutions.

By joining with SAP Portals as a Global Systems Integration Partner, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young can leverage the SAP Portals(TM) open and collaborative partner ecosystem to help maximize revenue and increase client satisfaction.

As a partner, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young participated in SAP Portals' first partner shipment for the SAP Portals Enterprise Portal(TM) solution. The two companies are working together to develop joint marketing plans, leverage joint investment funds and create collaborative go-to-market strategies around target industries. Together with SAP Portals, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young already has won several significant customer engagements, including Florida Power & Light, which is an extension of an existing SAP(R) R/3(R) project.

Cap Gemini Ernst & Young's relationship with SAP Portals will include the following components.

Centers of Excellence

Cap Gemini Ernst & Young has established a Center of Excellence in four cities: Walldorf, Germany; Dallas; Chicago; and Paris, using a life-cycle tool set for enterprise portal discovery, assessment, development and hosting. These centers provide a common platform for the creation of industry-specific solutions, such as those already created for the automotive and consumer products, retail, and distribution industries. Building on its experience in these industries, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young also looks to further develop specific solutions through this partnership for other key industries including energy, chemical, utilities, manufacturing and high technology.

DareStep

Through DareStep, its interactive design practice, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young recognizes that the ultimate acceptability of a portal will be largely dependent on the end user experience. Cap Gemini Ernst & Young therefore looks to the DareStep practice for thought leadership and methodology around the user experience. Every SAP Portals engagement will be evaluated against DareStep's 12 principles of effective user experience to ensure the maximum user acceptance.

Portals Index

The Cap Gemini Ernst & Young Portals Index is a rapid assessment tool set that helps organizations evaluate the effectiveness of their transactions and understand the impact portal and BI solutions can have on both internal and business partner productivity as well as cost of ownership. The index contains a migration philosophy along two continuums, Connectivity and Transactional Effectiveness, enabling organizations to optimize their portal and BI solutions using a series of prescribed steps, each delivering an immediate return on investment.

According to Peter Kroll, global SAP leader at Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, "Our focus at Cap Gemini Ernst & Young is to support our clients in the creation of a value-driven, adaptive enterprise. This new partnership combines the SAP Portals Enterprise Portal solution with Cap Gemini Ernst & Young's service offerings, empowering us to create powerful solutions to deliver predictive business intelligence, analytics and collaboration capabilities through the enterprise portal that generate an immediate return on investment."

"We are impressed with the vision and thought leadership that Cap Gemini Ernst & Young brings to each joint client engagement," said Gil Perez, vice president of Global Alliances and Partners at SAP Portals. "This new partnership will help deliver powerful technology solutions to drive positive return on investment for our joint customers."

About Cap Gemini Ernst & Young

Cap Gemini Ernst & Young is one of the largest management and IT consulting firms in the world. The company offers management and IT consulting services, systems integration, and technology development, design and outsourcing capabilities on a global scale to help traditional businesses and "dot companies" continue to implement growth strategies and leverage technology in the new economy. The organization employs more than 59,000 people worldwide and reports global provisional revenues of about 8.5 billion euros (2000 pro forma). More information about individual service lines, offices and research is available at http://www.cgey.com.

About SAP Portals

SAP Portals is a wholly owned subsidiary of SAP AG with headquarters in Silicon Valley, Calif. The company employs more than 900 professionals worldwide, with approximately 6 million users and more than 5,000 customers.

SAP Portals empowers collaboration and intelligent action by unifying applications, information and services to achieve higher levels of efficiency, enhance the quality of relationships and maximize value across the business. The SAP Portals portfolio includes enterprise portals, business intelligence, premium content offerings and professional services. SAP Portals provides value-driven solutions that significantly impact companies' total cost of ownership, achieving a return on investment beyond other software providers.