INDUSTRY

With Linux gaining momentum as the open-source solution worldwide, enterprises relying on SAP solutions now have a compelling new option for implementing flexible IT infrastructures. Today Silicon Graphics announced that SAP solutions are now certified, supported and available on the award-winning SGI Altix server platform for Linux environments. The certification means that both new and existing SAP customers can leverage the same scalable and high-throughput SGI servers already adopted by many of the world's leading automakers, energy giants, pharmaceutical companies, and manufacturers. With Altix driving their Linux enterprise infrastructures, SAP customers can more easily and affordably consolidate their resources to reduce ownership costs. Meanwhile, new customers now have a proven, scalable and cost-efficient platform for deploying SAP solutions on Linux, which is rapidly becoming a preferred option among enterprise IT managers. In fact, by 2008, 60 percent of enterprises with 500 or more employees will migrate 80 percent of their UNIX applications to Linux, according to Gartner, a leading global consulting firm. SAP customers will also reduce ownership costs with the economies of scale offered by Intel Itanium 2 processors and the open-source Linux operating system. With industry-standard Linux platforms like SGI Altix, IT directors no longer are dependent on single-vendor solutions. As a result, they can minimize risk and lower the expense of upgrades, migrations and consolidations. "Intel Itanium 2 processors, SGI Altix servers, and SAP enterprise applications deliver three things today's organizations require: scalability, versatility and cost-effectiveness," said Kirk Skaugen, vice president, Digital Enterprise Group at Intel Corporation. "This powerful combination should allow SAP users to consolidate or expand their server deployments as their needs demand, all while reducing the cost and complexity of owning and maintaining SAP enterprise solutions." SAP customers facing data center consolidation also can benefit from the flexibility of SGI Altix systems, which easily scale from 2 to 64 processors and beyond, and even accommodate multiple terabytes of memory in a single system. SGI Altix systems are built on SGI's unique shared-memory architecture, which allows even large databases to be held entirely in memory, enabling fast data access for optimal application performance. "Across the globe and throughout every industry, customers are seeking out tools that will help them make informed business decisions in real time," said Dave Parry, senior vice president and product general manager, SGI. "With SGI Altix servers driving SAP applications, enterprises worldwide now can achieve that goal in a Linux environment featuring unparalleled scalability. Now SAP customers can cost-effectively consolidate their applications on a proven, award-winning platform based on industry-standard technologies and featuring SGI's renowned shared-memory architecture."