NetWeaver integration moving toward more critical apps |
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By Robert Westervelt, News Editor
24 Aug 2005 | SearchSAP.com |
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A software vendor working closely with SAP to monitor NetWeaver implementations is beginning to see early adopters integrate more critical applications onto the platform.
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We're starting to see a growing trend, slowly moving in the direction of more critical apps.
Ameet Jani,
Product Manager, Wily Technology
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Brisbane, Calif.-based Wily Technology, which produces software to monitor applications integrated with NetWeaver, is being used by SAP Active Global Support centers to monitor customers' applications. Developers of the software have been working with SAP support engineers to prepare the software for general availability.
SAP has been working with partners Wily and Mercury Interactive Corp. to oversee NetWeaver implementations. SAP's Global Support personnel are using Mercury's LoadRunner analysis software to conduct remote synthetic load tests before customers go live with an implementation, and Wily's technology is being used once NetWeaver applications are rolled into production.
Wily currently has 400 customers focused on monitoring NetWeaver integrated applications. Early adopters started integrating less critical applications onto the platform, but are planning to port more critical apps, said Ameet Jani, a product manager with Wily's Introscope software.
"Customers are still testing their less critical apps," Jani said. "We're starting to see a growing trend, slowly moving in the direction of more critical apps."
The ability of early adopters to easily integrate applications with NetWeaver will be key for SAP as it rolls out its Enterprise Services Architecture, said Henry Morris, a group vice president and general manager at IDC. The transition for most customers will take years, as many companies look to the early adopters for the best practices and issues encountered, he said.
"This architecture puts SAP in a position where they'll be able to define processes and automation in very specialized areas with partners," Morris said, of SAP's Enterprise Services Architecture. "The ability to have a services-based architecture will take a while to get there, but it's a clear direction for applications, and servers and the early adopters will benefit."
It takes customers time to understand the changes associated with NetWeaver and the architecture shift using Web services and eventually a service-oriented architecture, Jani said. Configuration issues and application problems are more difficult to detect with the added complexity, he said.
The Wily software allows IT managers to create customized dashboards to monitor applications. The product can send an alert when a problem is detected and aid in helping diagnose bottlenecks and failures.
"We can follow a real transaction as it crosses complex heterogeneous environments," Jani said. "While NetWeaver looks to ease integration issues, customers are dealing with more complex applications, and it can be difficult to detect and treat a problem."
Wily released Introscope for general availability this week. The software provides transaction-level monitoring of the NetWeaver J2EE Engine, SAP Enterprise Portal, SAP Knowledge Management, SAP XI and SAP CRM.
Siemens Business Services, the commercial business division of Siemens, is among the first customers deploying Introscope to monitor the performance of its employee portal and several HR applications, which are integrated with NetWeaver.
The employee portal currently supports more than 110,000 employees and will be extended to more than 150,000 users by the end of 2005.
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