Intel Corporation and Microsoft Corporation today announced they are collaborating with SAP AG to provide worldwide customers with early access to pre-production SAP(R) R/3(R) Enterprise solutions and SAP Advanced Planner and Optimizer (SAP APO), a component of mySAP(TM) Supply Chain Management (mySAP(TM) SCM), on Intel(R) Itanium(R) 2-based platforms running Microsoft(R) Windows(R) Advanced Server Limited Edition (LE) and Microsoft SQL Server(TM) 2000 Enterprise Edition (64-bit). The early access program will launch concurrently with HP's Itanium 2-based platform availability in September. Other computer manufacturers will follow shortly. "High-performing, scalable and effective supply chain management and enterprise resource planning management solutions are key to competing in a fast-paced global economy, in which companies must quickly adapt to ever-changing market conditions, maximize revenue opportunities, minimize costs, and improve customer service," said Stephan Rossius, senior vice president global partner management, SAP AG. "We are very pleased to bring our clients early access to the pre-production versions of mySAP SCM and R/3 Enterprise solutions which are based on the Itanium 2 processor, Windows Advanced Server LE and SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition." SAP APO LiveCache 7.4 takes advantage of the Itanium 2 processor's large memory capabilities and addressability, which enable software to tap massive amounts of main system memory for demanding applications such as large databases, business intelligence, enterprise resource planning and fast in-memory databases. SAP R/3 provides the enterprise resource planning functionality that is a prerequisite for any successful business solution and leverages the scalability and performance of Itanium 2-based platforms. "SAP solutions are broadly used today to enable dynamic collaboration across all enterprise processes," said Mike Fister, senior vice president and general manager of Intel's Enterprise Platforms Group. "The combination of SAP solutions with Microsoft's operating system and database and the computational power, large memory capability and scalability that Itanium 2-based systems offer provides the industry with compelling, high-performance enterprise solutions." "Microsoft Windows and Intel-based servers have been the majority SAP platform selected by customers for the past three years running. And, Microsoft Windows 2000 and SQL Server 2000 provide top performance on the SAP Sales and Distribution benchmark* while maintaining a significant price-performance advantage," said Paul Flessner, senior vice president for Microsoft's .NET Enterprise Servers Group. "These 32-bit platform accomplishments now set the stage for an even more exciting new era of 64-bit high-performance enterprise offerings based on SAP's Supply Chain and R/3 Enterprise solutions on Windows Advanced Server LE and SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition." R/3 Enterprise and mySAP SCM are two integral software solutions that provide the technical building blocks for the foundation of the mySAP.com(R) e-business platform. SAP APO LiveCache is a memory-based technology that processes large amounts of data in real-time, offering significant performance improvements for supply chain planning, scheduling and forecasting. The Itanium 2 processor is the second in a family of enterprise-class processors from Intel that brings the performance and volume economics of Intel-based servers to the most demanding segments of enterprise computing. The Itanium processor family enables a broad choice of reliable and scalable platforms and software for high-end servers and workstations at significantly lower costs and greater performance than proprietary offerings. Customers are invited to apply beginning today for access to either the SAP R/3 Enterprise solutions or SAP APO solutions running on the 64-bit Intel, Microsoft and SAP platform. A nomination procedure and form can be found at the SAP Service Marketplace (http://service.sap.com) under the Quick Link MICROSOFT. The nomination period will conclude with the public release of Windows .NET Server 2003.