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IBM and Sun Microsystems Announce Technology Co-Development Agreement

Strategic Insights

— 2 min read

IBM and Sun Microsystems announced a technology co-development agreement that will allow SAP customers to use both DB2 Universal Database and Sun Enterprise servers without having to choose between them. This agreement will enable companies to select a Sun server as the R/3 database server and run IBM's DB2 Universal Database, or employ Sun servers as their R/3 application server for IBM S/390 customers running DB2. The companies are also developing a project to enable DB2 to run with SAP Business Information Warehouse (BW) on Sun systems.

Key Takeaways:

  • The agreement allows SAP customers to use both DB2 Universal Database and Sun Enterprise servers without having to choose between them.
  • Companies can select a Sun server as the R/3 database server and run IBM's DB2 Universal Database.
  • IBM S/390 customers running DB2 can now employ Sun servers as their R/3 application server.
  • Sun, IBM, and SAP are developing a project to enable DB2 to run with SAP Business Information Warehouse (BW) on Sun systems.
  • The first configuration, IBM's DB2 database with the SAP R/3 application, both on Sun's Solaris platform, is scheduled for planned first availability in May.
  • The second configuration with DB2 for OS/390 database server and R/3 application servers on Sun systems is scheduled for planned first availability in September.
  • The third configuration of DB2 with BW on the Sun(TM) platform will be released according to SAP's schedule for release of BW version 2.0.
  • Janet Perna, general manager of Data Management at IBM, stated that DB2 Universal Database is the foundation for e-business applications such as ERP and Business Intelligence.
  • Doug Kaewert, vice president of market development for Sun Microsystems, Inc., stated that this makes good business sense for a company looking to leverage its DB2 investment while choosing scalable Sun Enterprise servers to run SAP R/3 software.

Statistics:

  • The agreement will benefit SAP customers by providing them with the choice of running SAP R/3 solutions on Sun servers while storing their data in DB2 on either Sun Solaris(TM) operating environments or OS/390 systems.
  • The first configuration, IBM's DB2 database with the SAP R/3 application, both on Sun's Solaris platform, is scheduled for planned first availability in May.
  • The second configuration with DB2 for OS/390 database server and R/3 application servers on Sun systems is scheduled for planned first availability in September.
  • Sun Microsystems has over $11 billion in annual revenues.

Sources:

  • IBM and Sun Microsystems. SAPPHIRE'99/Europe, NICE, France, May 4 /PRNewswire/.
  • Sun Microsystems, Inc. About Sun Microsystems, Inc. (http://sun.com).
  • IBM. About IBM (http://www.ibm.com).
  • SAP. About SAP (http://www.sap.com).

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