IBM has announced that SAP AG has certified its capabilities to deliver and manage clients' implementations of SAP applications via a hosted delivery model and IBM's Cloud Platforms. The certification enables IBM to provide enterprises around the world with hosted and cloud-based support of the entire SAP solution portfolio, including business software applications for customer relationship management, enterprise resource planning, product lifecycle management, supply chain management and corporate services.

"Clients looking to deploy SAP applications in the cloud can rely on IBM to help them manage, maintain and scale their solution requirements in a safe and secure cloud environment that allows for flexible services and lower operating costs," said Jim Comfort, IBM's vice president of Offering Management for its outsourcing business. "Running SAP applications on IBM's Cloud Platforms and services can help clients meet their business goals, explore new markets and drive growth."

To achieve these certifications, IBM went through extensive testing by SAP to validate its hosting and cloud computing infrastructures, processes and technical staff. The audit also included a technical review of the physical and logical security processes supporting IBM's hosting and cloud environments spanning servers, software and storage capabilities.

"The certification of IBM as a global provider of cloud and hosting services confirms its knowledge, experience, capabilities and breadth of services for delivering SAP applications in a hosted, private cloud," said Kevin Ichhpurani, senior vice president, Business Development and Strategic Alliances, Global Ecosystem and Partner Group, SAP AG. "Customers deploying SAP applications via IBM's Cloud Platforms can benefit from comprehensive and innovative services that are scalable, provide cost savings, and help them meet their technical and security requirements."

IBM's cloud computing offerings support SAP applications and give clients access to templates for faster application development and secure deployment, while improving the cost structure of application management on a usage basis.