SAP NetWeaver: Special Report

An Americas' SAP Users' Group (ASUG) study released at Sapphire indicated that almost 60% of SAP customers were planning to make NetWeaver their "strategic platform" in 2008, and the company now has more than 13,000 live NetWeaver installations. Issues such as cost, the man-hours required for the upgrade process, and getting end users to take advantage of the technology are holding some companies back. Nevertheless, NetWeaver and NetWeaver upgrades continue to be important topics among SAP customers. This SearchSAP.com Special Report provides news, analysis and expert advice to help users navigate their NetWeaver decisions.

SAP NetWeaver news and analysis

• Demystifying SOA in SAP NetWeaver: Upgrades are a fact of life in enterprise IT, but the benefits of SOA make a convincing case for NetWeaver adoption.
  
• Lessons from the Supply Chain Top 25: Supply chain efficiency must be driven by customer demand and depends on the right IT systems, according to AMR's recent ranking of the top-performing companies. And any SAP user hoping to emulate these companies should take a long, hard look at NetWeaver, AMR added.
  
• Shai Agassi's (missing) Sapphire 2007 keynote: Shai Agassi's resignation before Sapphire had attendees wondering what he might have said if given the chance. Agassi answered with a blog post on what his keynote would have been, including his thoughts on NetWeaver.
  
• SAP buzzwords: What's hot, what's not, and why you should care: NetWeaver and Duet are hot, Basis and Portals are not. Subtle shifts like these may have a bigger impact on your professional marketability than you think. In this guest column, SearchSAP.com careers expert Jon Reed examines the relevance of SAP terms for your particular skill set. Also, check out Part 2 for information on NetWeaver BI.
  
• Sapphire 2007: The state of NetWeaver: NetWeaver continues to be a point of emphasis for SAP. Sapphire attendees have mixed thoughts on the obstacles and benefits of NetWeaver upgrades.
  
• Duet, NetWeaver upgrades and MDM problems on users' minds at Sapphire 2007: Duet, master data management, and governance, risk and compliance were some of the topics on the minds of Sapphire 2007 attendees.
  
• SAP jobs of the present: SAP career guru Jon Reed analyzed the news and messages from Sapphire and has advice on how to be a more marketable SAP professional right now. NetWeaver is near the top of the list.
  
• SAP in BPM: Leading player or losing ground?: SAP was recently knocked down in one integration-centric BPM ranking. Guest columnist Dennis Byron disagrees, and NetWeaver's rapid rise in BPM market share is only part of the story. Also, read the original article "SAP slips in integration-centric BPM market" here.
  
• Happy 10th birthday, NetWeaver: SAP NetWeaver is now 10 years old. Analyst Dennis Byron reflects on NetWeaver's past and the strengths and weaknesses of SAP's approach in middleware and service-oriented architecture.
  

SAP acquisitions

• The battle of the acquisition strategies: SAP goes small, hoping to strike it big: SAP is upping the ante in its competition with Oracle, this time on the M&A front, and the last three deals highlight an important difference between SAP and its chief rival. A look at these acquisitions reveals some interesting nuances about SAP's thinking regarding M&A and NetWeaver.
  
• SAP acquires Maxware, Wicom Communications: SAP will acquire European companies Wicom Communications and Maxware and fill in NetWeaver's contact center functionality.
  
• SAP acquires OutlookSoft for performance management: SAP announced Tuesday that it will acquire performance management software vendor OutlookSoft.
  
• SAP Acquisitions: Special Report: SAP's "tuck-in" acquisition strategy, where it makes targeted purchases to fill "holes" in NetWeaver, doesn't generate the same type of buzz as Oracle's big moves, but SAP has been an active buyer in its own right. This page features news and commentary on SAP's recent purchases, as well as the effects of Oracle's moves on SAP customers.
  

Podcasts and blogs

• SAP jobs present and future podcast, with David Foote : The SAP jobs market is hot, with some SAP skills paying more than the general market. This podcast with David Foote looks at the present and future of the SAP jobs market, including where NetWeaver fits in.
  
• MySAP ERP upgrade advice with ASUG's Matt Rickard: According to SAP, Americas' SAP Users' Group (ASUG) and others, this year will see an increase in the number of customers upgrading to mySAP ERP. In this podcast, Matt Rickard, ASUG's director of groups and chapters and a member of its board, discusses some common upgrade questions.
  
• Podcast: ESA and SOA trends with author Scott Campbell: Scott Campbell, co-author of the new book Mastering Enterprise SOA with SAP NetWeaver and mySAP ERP, discusses common issues with SOA deployments, best practices, and advice for SOA projects and how SAP professionals can best progress from the R/3 environment to NetWeaver.
  
• More on SAP jobs, ESA ecosystem: Scott Campbell answers some follow-up questions on SAP jobs, NetWeaver and SOA.
  
• SAP's Enterprise SOA in perspective: NetWeaver 7.1 is a major milestone for SAP that packs plenty of juice, with a full Enterprise Services Repository that enables users to dig into ES composite use and creation, as well as laying the groundwork for SAP's business process initiative.
  

Expert answers and tips

• Is it wise to convert to an SAP NetWeaver EP/XI career from a Java/J2EE background?
  
• What are the hardware requirements for SAP 6.4 GUI and NetWeaver 2004s?
  
• Upgrading to mySAP ERP 2005 ECC 6.0 with NetWeaver 2004s
  
• Is NetWeaver the right fit for an MS developer with experience in Web services?
  
• Making sense of Java usage in SAP NetWeaver
  
• Third-party plug-ins to support UML modeling in NetWeaver
  
• The best NetWeaver component to add to SAP XI
  
• Tips for studying for the SAP NetWeaver Solution Consultant exam