ERP-Link Introduces the IT Industry's First Product to Deliver Full Interoperability Between SAP Systems and Microsoft Applications

Business Wire, May 14, 2007

New ERP-Link iNet Business Process Optimization Platform Links SAP and Microsoft Assets for Intelligent Business Optimization Anywhere, Anytime, for Any Business Purpose

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Please replace the release with the following corrected version due to multiple revisions.

The corrected release reads:

ERP-LINK INTRODUCES THE IT INDUSTRY'S FIRST PRODUCT TO DELIVER FULL INTEROPERABILITY BETWEEN SAP SYSTEMS AND MICROSOFT APPLICATIONS

New ERP-Link iNet Business Process Optimization Platform Links SAP and Microsoft Assets for Intelligent Business Optimization Anywhere, Anytime, for Any Business Purpose

ERP-Link[TM] Corporation rolled out the IT industry's first and only software product to provide full interoperability across all levels between SAP R/3 and mySAP Business Suite with Microsoft's platforms and office applications. The unique ERP-Link iNet Business Process Optimization Platform[TM] (BOP) delivers SAP-Microsoft interoperability without requiring SAP upgrades or modifications. The iNet BOP delivers a high Return-on-Current-Investment (ROCI) in SAP, and does so at about one-twentieth the cost and time spent on the typical Microsoft-SAP integration project. ERP-Link is a leading developer of .NET Business Optimization and Business Intelligence software and services for companies using SAP AG Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems.

iNet BOP enables enterprises to enhance and extend business processes in their SAP systems by leveraging the existing user familiarity with and extended capabilities of Microsoft's platforms and tools such as Office Business Applications, SharePoint Server, SQL Server, and BI tools. Optimized business processes with optimal user interfaces delivers the best of two worlds to users.

"ERP-Link's iNet BOP closes the user productivity gap that's common in companies running SAP," said J. Eric Anderson, president and CEO of ERP-Link. "The iNet BOP extends companies' investments in SAP, and gives all employees -- not just the few SAP specialists -- broad and deep access to business information and processes. In addition to the iNet BOP, ready-to-use iNet BOP solutions are available for SAP business scenarios such as electronic bill presentment, corporate performance management, sales force automation, electronic invoice payment, and more. The ready-to-use BOP and modules eliminate long, expensive integration and deployment projects. Our customers are delighted with the unique benefits and tremendous value of our new solutions."

"PSC, Inc. uses ERP-Link's iNet BOP to give employees real-time, on-demand access to our SAP R/3 installation," said Joel Smith, Information Technology Engineer at PSC, Inc., the world's leading provider of automatic data-capture technology, products, and services. "For example, the iNet.BI component for Microsoft SQL Server executes nightly extractions of SAP Query objects to the SQL Server. The data then undergoes post-processing and is used to keep a variety of applications updated and ready-to-use for our employees. In addition, the iNet BOP provides immediate access to new SAP Query objects and automatically creates and maps SQL Server tables from the user interface. This saved us several days of valuable time during a recent high-profile application integration project here."

The $7 Billion Market for Enhancing SAP Use

Analysts estimate that more than $7 billion will be spent in 2008 on third-party add-ons for extending and enhancing the functionality of SAP systems. There are approximately 38,000 SAP installations running on Microsoft Windows -- more than all other platforms combined and two-thirds of all new SAP installations. These SAP systems are often islands of IT automation, remaining unconnected from users' Microsoft desktop and tools. In addition, it's common for only ten to 15 percent of a company's licensed SAP users to possess a deep understanding of how to use the system. Instead of relying on a few super-users to accomplish important business functions, companies want broad employee participation in optimizing business processes, increasing operational efficiency, and enhancing the oversight of corporate performance. They can achieve this through full interoperability between their SAP and Microsoft tools.

Unlike Java middleware products and point tools from Microsoft, SAP, and others, only the new ERP-Link iNet BOP delivers the benefits of on-demand availability of processes, documents, and business intelligence in real time to all personnel, not just SAP super-users. iNet BOP is the only product that provides 100 percent .NET-based interoperability with SAP. It exposes 100 percent of SAP information, reporting, documents, and business objects and is .NET-ready for incorporating into composited business scenarios. It requires no technology upgrades or deep development to implement, and its deployment costs average less than one-twentieth those of other solutions.

About the New ERP-Link iNet Business Process Optimization Platform (BOP)

With ERP-Link's iNet BOP, all three SAP Business Process Object types -- documents, transactional business objects, and information objects -- can be composited or used individually in SAP-.NET distributed business process scenarios. The ready-to-run iNet BOP bridges the productivity gap by seamlessly bringing these functions, plus data and documents, from SAP into the familiar Microsoft interfaces. In addition, the iNet BOP exposes native SAP objects as .NET and MOSS2007 Web Services-ready while providing enterprise-class business process services for secured, real-time transactional information delivery and the execution of business process activities. For optimum flexibility and for support of incremental optimization scenarios, the iNet BOP comes as a universal platform and as three stand-alone product modules.