Geometric receives SAP ACE Awards 2011 for Customer Excellence

Geometric Limited (BSE: 532312, NSE: GEOMETRIC), a leader in Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), Global Engineering Services and Offshore Product Development (OPD) solutions and technologies, announced that it has received the prestigious SAP ACE Award 2011 for Customer Excellence in the best-run financial systems category.

Geometric received the award at a ceremony held at Hotel Hyatt, Mumbai on November 3, 2011, for its notable SAP IT initiatives in the finance domain, which includes business planning & consolidation, MIS automation and business intelligence.

SAP ACE awards are an industry benchmark to recognize the best-run businesses in the Indian subcontinent. This year SAP evaluated over 300 nominations across 42 categories to recognize and honor business excellence achieved through the adoption of SAP solutions.

On receiving the award, Mr. Sanjeev Joshi said, "It's an honor to win the SAP ACE Award for Customer Excellence 2011. Our alliance with SAP helps various business processes across the organization to achieve operational excellence, improve operational efficiency and maintain unparalleled organizational agility. Our positive and proactive approach towards business drives us to implement effective IT solutions and innovate further for the benefit of our customers".

Tata Consultancy Services, in cooperation with SAP, launches AURA dealer business management service for automotive retailers

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) (BSE: 532540, NSE: TCS), a leading IT services, consulting and business solutions firm, in cooperation with SAP AG (NYSE: SAP), today, launched AURA Dealer Business Management (DBM) Golden Template, a new predefined service based on an innovative, business-ready and 'lean' model built for the auto retail sector.

AURA DBM Golden Template is a result of co-innovation and joint development efforts between TCS and SAP. The new AURA service has been built on the SAP® ERP and SAP Dealer Business Management applications. The service is offered in the form of a packaged implementation service that can help jumpstart business operations of auto retailers, and contains standard baseline functionality, best practices and end-to-end process scenarios for sales, service, parts business, finance, human resources and their related reports. As a fixed-cost service provided in a ready-to-deploy and out-of-the-box format, AURA reduces implementation time, provides an increased return on investment, and facilitates gradual, stage-wise customisation and change management.

"The last few years have seen the automotive retail ecosystem under intense pressure," said Milind Lakkad, head, manufacturing industry unit, TCS. "This service will provide dealers a new path to profitability and help the OEMs and channel providers differentiate their offerings and services in the market space. AURA weaves new business models built on a cutting-edge technology platform. Today there are over 100,000 automotive dealers worldwide, and the AURA solution, integrated with SAP solutions, will enable dealers and automotive OEMs to rapidly upgrade their business operating systems with contemporary best practices."

TCS has established a centre of excellence for dealer business management that will further drive the process of collaboration between TCS and SAP, to support and develop further innovations to this service to auto dealers and retailers.

"SAP Dealer Business Management leverages the power of the SAP Business Suite to increase value for automotive dealers by providing real-time visibility into the entire range of business operations - from customers to vehicles - at a lower, fixed cost," said Holger Masser, head, automotive industry business unit, SAP. "Automotive retail customers will benefit from the co-innovation between SAP and TCS that has resulted in the AURA DBM Golden Template built on SAP ERP and SAP Dealer Business Management. The use of this predefined service will help automotive retail dealers get up to speed quicker with a DBM that supports their end-to-end business process needs."

Defiance to Showcase Enterprise Solutions at the SAPPHIRE® NOW and SAP® TechEd conferences in Madrid

Defiance Technologies Ltd, a leading provider of enterprise and product engineering solutions, is showcasing its services across the enterprise application lifecycle from evaluation, implementation and deployment, upgrades and migration, to maintenance and support of SAP® solutions at the SAPPHIRE® NOW and SAP® TechEd 2011 conferences in Madrid on November 09-10, 2011.

With Defiance's focus on and understanding of discrete manufacturing, automotive and aerospace verticals, we know how to cope with the challenges that manufacturing industry is facing in today's complex competitive environment. Defiance is in a unique position to provide expertise in all areas of engineering, manufacturing and enterprise. This makes Defiance the partner of choice for customers looking for service providers having deep knowledge of end-to-end solutions ranging from engineering to production.

The solutions being presented at SAPPHIRE NOW and SAP TechEd address the broad spectrum of enterprise processes and applications such as product lifecycle management (PLM), customer relationship management (CRM), supplier relationship management (SRM), master data management, and business analytics. They are further complemented by the next generation solutions in the areas of enterprise mobility, social media integration and in-memory solutions.

Speaking on this occasion, Subu D Subramanian, MD and CEO, Defiance Technologies Ltd said, “Enterprises today are at cross roads with disruptive technologies such as mobile and social CRM sharing space with conventional solutions such as PLM and SCM. Simultaneously, next generation innovations such as on-device (smartphones, tablets), cloud and in-memory computing solutions are the focus to run the business better in the competitive market place. Customers world over are willing to adapt to these new changes. At Defiance we remain excited by the value that these new technology solutions bring to our customers worldwide. We are partnering with organizations to help them reinforce their competitiveness for the next phase of their growth by leveraging these solutions. I look forward to being at SAPPHIRE NOW in Madrid”.

Divya Vir Rastogi, Managing Director and Head of Business (Europe), Defiance Tech GmbH said, “Events such as SAPPHIRE NOW present a great opportunity to meet with SAP customers and users. We plan to present some of our latest solutions in the areas of PLM, enterprise mobility and social CRM. All of them address modern day industry challenges. We are looking forward to great interactions in Madrid”.

Ramesh Babu, Global head of Defiance's SAP Practice says, “The enterprise practice at Defiance has been built with a focus on new technology areas of SAP. We have a highly qualified global consulting team delivering business solutions across new devices and platforms and we use modern collaborative technologies to provide better and faster outcomes".

To know more about Defiance offerings in this space, please visit Defiance at booth number 929 in Hall 9. Please also visit .http://www.defiance-tech.com/sapphirenow.

Defiance Technologies, a Hinduja Group Company, is a leading provider of Engineering, ERP and IT services to global customers leveraging the Global Delivery Model. Founded in 1976 in USA, Defiance was later acquired by the Hinduja Group and has a long history of serving top global companies with over 120 global clients including 30 of the Fortune 500 companies. Headquartered at Chennai (India), Defiance has world class development centers at Chennai and Bangalore (India), and Walldorf (Germany), with business offices in USA, Europe, Middle East, South Africa and India. Defiance also has state-of-the-art engineering and validation facilities at Troy and Westland (Michigan, USA).

ASUG Extends Complimentary Admission to Community Focus

The Americas' SAP Users' Group (ASUG), the world's largest independent community of SAP professionals, today announced that it will offer complimentary admission to ASUG Community Focus 2011 at the Hilton Anaheim in Anaheim, Calif., on November 15-16.

"SAP users look for ways to get ideas, insights, and information specifically tailored to their business needs and demands. ASUG Community Focus meets that need with content designed for the issues and conditions facing the SAP Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Enterprise Asset Management (EAM), Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), and Supply Chain Management (SCM) communities," said Bridgette Chambers, ASUG CEO.

ASUG is able to take the unprecedented step of offering complimentary admission to Community Focus due to generous sponsor support and the success of the organization's transformational and cost-containment initiatives, which have allowed ASUG to substantially reinvest in the community it serves.

"The generous support of our sponsors and the success of our ongoing organizational improvements have enabled us to make the Community Focus event available to anyone who wishes to attend," Chambers said. "That means more ASUG members and more business technology professionals will be able to take advantage of the event's exceptional education, networking, and influence opportunities."

ASUG Community Focus is a singular conference for ASUG, structured differently than the organization's other, more broadly oriented events. ASUG Community Focus is designed for professionals to meet in a more intimate setting, similar to the organization's chapter meetings, and will feature education and other programs intended to serve the unique needs of users in the CRM, EAM, PLM, and SCM user communities. This focused setting and approach will help attendees learn from and connect with other accomplished professionals in a direct way. In 116 sessions over two days, the conference will deliver the latest ideas and best practices on topics such as master data, procurement, ideation and portfolio management, among many others.

Jeff Word Ph.D., vice president of product strategy at SAP AG, will be the keynote speaker at the conference. Word, author of the recently released book Integrated Business Processes with ERP, will discuss SAP's five-year, in-memory product strategy, and lay out the roadmap for SAP's in-memory powered applications and technology.

Complimentary admission to ASUG Community Focus is available to ASUG members and non-members. Online registration is available on the event website. For questions regarding ASUG Community Focus, please contact events@asug.com.

CIMdata Publishes SAP PLM Program Review

CIMdata, the leading global Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) management consulting and research firm announces a new paper on SAP, and their collaborative Product Definition management (cPDm) offering, SAP PLM.

Headquartered in Walldorf, Germany, SAP is one of the leading enterprise solution suppliers in the world. SAP PLM, their cPDm offering, was one of the first ERP supplier offerings in the then newly defined PLM market space. Over the last several years, the company has expended significant effort to enhance the functionality and usability of SAP PLM, mainly through organic development. The new functionality released in SAP PLM 7.0 and now planned for 7.01 appears to be moving their offering from manufacturing-centric to being more engineering and enterprise friendly. Their MCAD integrations continue to be improved by their PLM Alliance partners, and have shown acceptance by engineering groups in recent implementations. Support for BOM management and configuration management is also enhanced. One of the biggest philosophical changes for SAP is to put 3D information in the center of the decision-making process. Their acquisition of Right Hemisphere and the deep integration of their offerings in the SAP PLM solution and in the value scenarios illustrate their commitment to this shift in emphasis. SAP has also embedded BusinessObjects technology in SAP PLM with the Business Context Viewer, which provides on-demand business intelligence to support product lifecycle decisions.

This CIMdata Program Review provides more information on the company and their offerings, which have grown to include project and program management, idea management, and collaboration applications. CIMdata is encouraged by SAP’s technology and the go-to-market improvements described in this paper. Some of their initial introductions, like PPM, have contributed to the incremental increases in SAP PLM revenues during the last several years, as reported in our global PLM market study. SAP’s move to the “fuzzy front end” of the innovation process could not come at a better time. Companies are more focused on the top line than ever, and ideation is the starting point. The fact that SAP has developed both an integrated solution called Edison and plans to include solutions to support collaboration outside the firewall like SAP StreamWork in ideation workflows should position them well for the open innovation that many companies see as crucial to their market success.

“SAP PLM Program Review” is available to be freely downloaded from CIMdata’s website at http://www.cimdata.com/publications/reports_complimentary.html.

SAP to Acquire 3-D Visualization Software Maker Right Hemisphere

SAP AG will acquire Right Hemisphere, a leading provider of visual enterprise solutions based in San Ramon, California, and Auckland, New Zealand. The 3-D model-based visualization and communications technologies from Right Hemisphere will enhance SAP® software and enable visual navigation and interrogation of an entire product or asset and all its associated data in one, unified environment.

The addition of visualization capabilities to the core product offerings from SAP stands to help customers across diverse industries accelerate time to market, increase people and asset productivity and improve information quality and processes across all lines of businesses. This acquisition is consistent with SAP’s strategy to complement existing applications and solutions with innovative technologies and capabilities while maintaining its successful track record of organic growth. The companies already share numerous joint customers that are already seeing benefits of the combination of enterprise software and 3-D visualization.

“We are very excited to be part of SAP,” said Michael Lynch, CEO, Right Hemisphere. “The combination of SAP’s vast set of business information and Right Hemisphere’s visualization capabilities will change the way businesses of any size create, manage and deliver products and services across their enterprise and their supply chain.”

“Right Hemisphere technology empowers customers to visualize business processes from design to manufacturing through sales, operations and service, helping people to easily cooperate and communicate using the most powerful human sense — vision,” said Peter Maier, general manager and head of Line of Business Solutions, SAP AG. “By bringing 3-D to the enterprise and enriching it with business data, we’re setting a new standard in helping companies achieve more efficiency, accuracy and flexibility across the value chain.”

SAP customers will get tangible benefits from the acquisition of Right Hemisphere that will help them unify, synchronize and deliver visual product and business information to improve global product development, launch and support processes.

Increase Decision-Making Speed Across Lines of Business

Enterprise visualization technology from Right Hemisphere will enhance industry-leading SAP® Business Suite software to deliver animated views of products and assets, helping development, manufacturing and service personnel to easily design, assemble and service complex products and assets. New solutions resulting from the combination of SAP and Right Hemisphere will increase the speed of decision-making across all lines of business by providing instant access to contextual and reliable visual information such as design collaboration, assembly instructions or up-to-date service procedures and manuals.

Immediate Access to Visual Information Boosts Productivity

The abundance and continuous expansion of information requires new ways of navigating and visualizing business data. The combination of Right Hemisphere’s visualization technology with critical data used by SAP Business Suite applications will support users in making accurate and fact-based decisions. In addition, intuitive visual access to a variety of associated information — such as price-per-part, stock availability, quality reports or manufacturing cycle times — will enhance overall productivity across multiple departments and processes in the enterprise.

Visual Information Improves Product Quality

Visual communication is particularly useful for companies that rely on a network of partners, such as suppliers and customers, for product innovation, manufacturing and service delivery. With integrated visualization of products and processes, design and process changes can be communicated immediately across an extended team. Instead of relying on static images, Right Hemisphere and SAP will provide companies an intuitive visual format, giving all workers across geographies complete, up-to-date visual assembly and maintenance instructions and variant simulations, resulting in fewer errors and delays.

Mobility Delivers Speed, Productivity and Quality Anywhere it is Needed

To further drive innovation for customers, SAP intends to integrate the enterprise visualization technology assets from Right Hemisphere into its mobile technologies, allowing business users to access timely visual images of products on a variety of mobile devices. Employees will be able to make process and procedural adjustments on the fly, and sales and customer relations teams will be able to provide their customers with a photo-realistic visualization of the final product from any location, allowing them to give feedback before the product is delivered.

New Release of SAP PLM Integration for MicroStation with Greatly Extended Functionality now available

With the 6.1.2.0 version, the interface has greatly increased its functionality. Numerous customer requests have been fulfilled in the new release.

The basic version of the direct integration now contains the function volume of the CIDEON MicroStation Integration for SAP EAM: To support the complete life cycle of an installation, installation structures can be directly created in an automated form from Microstation in the SAP maintenance component (PM) or linked with existing structures.

This leads to the creation of a bi-directional connection between individual Microstation objects (cells) and equivalent SAP objects (Functional Locations / Equipments). This allows a graphic support of the maintenance processes in a later operation of the installation.

In addition, Version 6.1.2.0 of the SAP PLM Integration for MicroStation now also offers the SAP Browser Pane known from other direct integrations of CIDEON Software. The document structure of its CAD models is displayed therein and edited with a large amount of other useful information.

The configurable Tooltip not only contains DIS data but also a preview picture of the respective model. Together with the Toolbar and the context menu, the SAP Browser Pane offers direct access to SAP functions (e. g. checking in and out and creating new versions).

With its adjustable resolution depth, SAP Browser Pane is a performance aid which is of great help in working with SAP.

In addition, Log Window now offers you extended functions. HLN files can now be directly inserted from SAP.

SAP PLM Integration for Solid Edge and SolidWorks 6.1 Service Pack 2 released

Service Pack 2 of the Solid Edge Integration 6.1 is available immediately as a download on the SAP SAP Servicemarketplace and the CIDEON Websupport. This service pack contains improvements especially geared to the performance and usability for users.

The Service Packs 2 of the SAP PLM Direct Integrations provide you with a wealth of innovations which make the work with SolidWorks / Solid Edge and SAP even easier.

In many functions performance was boosted by up to 30%.

SAP PLM Integration für Solid Edge New and improved functions such as:

configurable customer functions
filling an alternative title block
placing several components
mapping units of weight and measurements
filters in the task pane

make for a clear improvement in usability.

Additional information on SAP PLM Direct Integration for Solid Edge is available here.


SAL PLM Integration for Solid Works 6.1. Service Pack 2 released
Service Pack 2 of the SAP PLM Integration for SolidWorks 6.1 is also immediately obtainable for downloading on the SAP Servicemarketplace and the CIDEON Websupport. Here too improving the usability was a priority, which is evident in several new functions:

In the task pane it is now possible to create and store “all” documents.
Filter options have been made available.
Components loaded in lightweight mode can now be shown in the task pane.
The resolution of structures for Speedpaks has been implemented for the CAD view.


The new service pack has already been tested and compared with SolidWorks KB Article S-054140. It provides an unmistakable increase in performance in the entire SolidWorks as of SW2011 SP3.0 / SP4.0. Additional information on SAP PLM Direct Integration for Solid Edge is available at http://www.cideon-software.com/site/d/en/software/cad-integration-fuer-sap-plm/solidworks/index.php?World_Session=88ad9dd51a9a8382e1138c12ce60dbad

WorkDir-Manager support in managing working directories

The WorkDir-Manager has been developed for the SAP PLM Integrations for the Solid Edge and the SolidWorks 6.1 SP2 version.
This supports the user in removing entire projects/assemblies from the working directory easily and efficiently.
At the same time, of course, parts occurring in other assemblies are taken into account and protected from being deleted.

ITC Infotech partners SAP to offer SAP Business ByDesign solutions

ITC Infotech, a global IT services and solutions company and a fully owned subsidiary of ITC Ltd., today announced a strategic partnership with SAP India Pvt. Ltd to become a solution reseller for SAP® Business ByDesign™. With this partnership, ITC Infotech is now entitled to market, sell and deploy SAP Business ByDesign as well as offer additional services.

With the inclusion of SAP Business ByDesign subscription and implementation services, ITC Infotech now offers its small and medium enterprise customers custom made, fully integrated business management software solutions delivered on-demand, which enable the benefits of large-scale business applications without the need of supporting the corresponding large IT-infrastructure.

Commenting on the partnership, Dr. Sanku Bose, Vice President, ITC Infotech said, “We believe the SAP Business ByDesign platform will further enhance our value proposition among customers. There is a huge traction for such on-demand solutions in the market, and this partnership will help us in addressing customer needs better.” He further added, “We are recognized for our best-in-class competency in SAP services by prominent global industry and analyst forums.”

SAP Business ByDesign is a fully integrated business management solution that delivers the best of SAP software, on-demand. The solution unifies multiple business operations and enables companies to implement preconfigured business processes in order to solve immediate problems. Accessed via a single user interface, SAP Business ByDesign delivers pre-configured software for business processes and supports managing financials, customer relationships, human resources, projects, procurement and supply chain. Built-in analytics provides a 360-degree view of business, which can helps to identify and act on areas for improvement, innovation, and differentiation – ahead of competition.

Speaking on the occasion, Rohit Madhur, Director – SAP Business ByDesign, SAP India said, “We are pleased to have ITC Infotech as a new SAP Business ByDesign solution reseller. Their reputation in the industry and proven track record of success speaks for itself. We look forward to a long and mutually profitable relationship.”

NextLabs Provides Attribute Based Access Control for SAP PLM

New Release Provides Advanced Data Security for Collaboration Across Global Supply Chain.

NextLabs®, Inc., a provider of policy-driven Information Risk Management software, today announced the release of Entitlement Manager for SAP with support for PLM. This latest version extends Access Control Contexts (ACCs), introduced in SAP PLM 7.0, to provide advanced data security through attribute based access control. As a result, customers can collaborate externally, while enforcing intellectual property rights and complying with data protection regulatory requirements.

Entitlement Manager for SAP with support for PLM is built on NextLabs Control Center, a policy management platform based on XACML, an industry authorization standard. When managed by Control Center policies, critical SAP PLM data can be protected consistently across SAP applications, including SAP Portal, SAP GUI, and other popular collaboration applications, such as SharePoint, file share, email, and instant messaging.

With this release, NextLabs empowers global organizations to unify business processes and consolidate SAP instances worldwide, while providing data level access control to meet regulatory and industry requirements. As a result of regulatory requirements and lack of data level intellectual property controls, companies have traditionally maintained SAP data within local jurisdictions or made significant customizations to a global SAP instance. Maintaining SAP data in each jurisdiction fails to realize the benefits of a global shared services operating model, whereas a customization-oriented approach increases the cost of deployment, maintenance, and upgrade, leading to broken business processes.

NextLabs is the only certified “Powered by SAP NetWeaver®” solution that enables customers to unify business processes by consolidating SAP instances, while providing safe collaboration and proper data protection, so organizations can reap the benefits of global shared services. “By using a standards based authorization platform, our customers are able to significantly drive down the total cost of ownership of implementing SAP PLM and ERP globally. They can improve product innovation and improve response to customer demand by tapping into the global manufacturing and supplier network, while effectively addressing cross-border regulations and protecting intellectual property” said Keng Lim, Founder and CEO of NextLabs.

NextLabs’ Entitlement Manager for SAP with support for PLM offers the following benefits:

Global Business Process Unification

Reduce the cost of managing disparate, locally managed business processes and SAP instances. Instead, manage a global, consolidated SAP instance that provides dynamic attribute based access control, enabling compliance with regulatory and industry requirements.

Extend Access Control Contexts Using Attribute Based Access Control

Enable safe access to core PLM business objects by external users, including Materials, Documents, BOMs, and Change Numbers. Use attributes, such as project-level Access Control Contexts, to limit external access to specific PLM business objects.

Consistent Access Control Across SAP Portal and SAP GUI

Enforce access consistently across SAP’s PLM and ERP environment, over SAP Portal and SAP GUI, using a common policy set that is centrally managed in Control Center.

Integrated Rights Management

Protect data leaving SAP by automatically and transparently applying digital rights protection to downloaded documents. Integrate with NextLabs Enterprise Data Protection to prevent improper duplication and use of SAP data on endpoint devices.

Leverage ERP as the Centralized Source of Classification

Make the most of existing SAP master data (e.g., Materials or Parts), to eliminate the need to classify data elsewhere. Secure data objects and documents dynamically across key business applications, using existing SAP classification, while preserving existing business processes.

Availability

NextLabs Entitlement Management for SAP with support for PLM, the only product that provides advanced security for PLM objects through both SAP Portal and SAP GUI, is available immediately.

SAP Makes Collaboration Core to Business Applications

SAP® StreamWork™ Application Integrates With SAP® Applications to Bring People, Information and Processes Together to Deliver More Efficient Problem-Solving, Faster Decision-Making and Greater Productivity.

WALLDORF, Germany - Delivering on its strategy to bring collaborative capabilities to every application and facet of work, SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today announced that the cloud-based collaborative application SAP® StreamWork™ is now available to integrate with SAP business software. SAP enables individuals, teams and entire organizations to better collectively problem-solve, brainstorm and make decisions directly within their business applications and with the information they know and use every day — without switching to another disconnected collaboration solution or having to rely on mountains of email to drive projects forward.

Since the launch of SAP StreamWork and the addition of advanced security and integration capabilities in the enterprise edition of the product, it has been used by people in thousands of cities around the world. Building upon this momentum, the new integration capabilities expand its reach even further so that all types of people — employees, clients, partners and suppliers — can have the opportunity to benefit from secure social collaboration in the context of their work. For IT, SAP StreamWork delivers a secure, social solution that companies can standardize on across complex landscapes with many applications, eliminating the management of multiple collaborative solutions with differing technology and security capabilities.

SAP and partners have already delivered integrations with SAP StreamWork, and additional integrations are in development. SAP StreamWork can be integrated easily into SAP applications with the help of a consultant, SAP partner or by a customer's own IT department.

"Social and collaboration capabilities have the potential to improve the quality and transparency of decisions and drive positive outcomes if they can be married to a user's existing applications, information and business processes," said Rita Sallam, Gartner research director. "Collaborative decision-making applications that are linking with existing business processes like performance management, CRM, forecasting, and procurement, bring the right people together and provide the tools they need to make better decisions. For example, BI users, such as sales managers evaluating sales performance across regions or products, or product managers deciding which new product ideas to fund, or finance managers allocating capital expenditures across strategic projects now have an efficient way to bring the right people together to analyze and discuss results and agree on a course of action – and capture the entire process – rather than the disconnected manual efforts of the past."

SAP StreamWork, enterprise edition, now offers integration with several SAP applications, including the SAP® Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM) application for social CRM, enabling sales leaders to bring teams together — sales, customer service, consultants and more — to help close sales opportunities more quickly. Sales teams can also collaborate directly with their customers to help ensure the products and services are delivered when expected and to help address the requirements defined.

Other integrations for SAP StreamWork have already been delivered for the SAP® Product Lifecycle Management (SAP PLM) application, helping drive product ideation and uncovering insights to bring innovative, differentiated products and services to market, as well as the SAP® BusinessObjects™ Strategy Management application, helping companies become more productive, agile and risk-aware by collaborating and defining key performance indicators (KPIs) across the organization. Additionally, SAP is currently planning for the integration of SAP StreamWork with the SAP® BusinessObjects™ Business Intelligence (BI) platform, which would give customers the ability to deliver collaborative BI throughout their organizations, giving end-users the freedom to data hypothesize, analyze and make fast, informed decisions with the team.

Customers Collaborate More Efficiently With Social Integration

For the Toronto Chapter of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers, SAP StreamWork has enabled the organization to increase communication and collaboration among its members and move projects forward between board meetings. Within the application, board members conduct polls to approve board meeting minutes, vote on new initiatives and gather feedback on committee work. And when meetings run out of time, SAP StreamWork provides an avenue for them to keep discussions moving along while making sure everyone is informed.

"I love the fact that SAP StreamWork integrates seamlessly with our existing infrastructure, instead of forcing us into using a separate solution," said Adrian Davis, president of the Toronto Chapter of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers. "SAP StreamWork is intuitive and easy to use, and it brings structure to what could otherwise be unstructured communication. We can also tie it into any project we're working on, both inside and outside of our organization. The Business Tools Catalog is particularly useful, because it helps give life to more fruitful collaboration and discussion around the decisions we have to make, which allows us to achieve better results and grow."

"More and more our customers ask us how they can use collaboration strategically in their businesses," said Jack Miller, global vice president, Global Collaboration and Cloud Analytics, SAP. "With SAP StreamWork, we've delivered a contextually-relevant approach that's easy for business people to learn and use within their current processes, while at the same time serving the security and flexible management needs of IT."

SAP StreamWork is currently available in enterprise, professional or basic editions. For more information, visit the Business Analytics newsroom. Follow SAP BusinessObjects on Twitter at @businessobjects and SAP StreamWork at @sapstreamwork.

Next Major Event: SAPPHIRE® NOW Conference

With SAPPHIRE® NOW, SAP offers customers, partners and prospects even more opportunities to engage in dialogue with peers, participants and thought leaders at the premier educational and networking event. Being held in Orlando, Florida, May 15-18, 2011, the SAP customer conference connects attendees on site with global participants through state-of-the-art broadcast studios and an online experience that incorporates the latest social media and community functionality. Whether on site or online, participants can gain insight as to how SAP is delivering on its product strategy and helping organizations around the world to run better. For more information, visit www.sapphirenow.com. For announcements, blog posts, videos and other coverage leading up to and during the event, visit the SAPPHIRE NOW newsroom at www.sapphirenow.news-sap.com. Follow SAPPHIRE NOW on Twitter at @SAPPHIRENOW.

CIDEON Integrates CATIA V6 in SAP PLM

Since CIDEON Software introduced SAP PLM Integration for AutoCAD onto the market as a first standard integration in SAP PLM in the 1990s, the product and solution range has been consistently increasing. With CATIA V6, the range of CAD direct integration for SAP PLM has now increased by another leading CAD system. This will also lead to an increase in the current number of 35,000 users.

This solution is being spearheaded by the staff in the new Leinfelden-Echterdingen branch near Stuttgart and in close cooperation with the other SAP PLM CAD integration teams at CIDEON Software. The many years of experience of the new colleagues in the CATIA and SAP environment and the use of synergy effects and longstanding experience ensure that a best-in-class integration with an optimal quality and a maximal range of functions is also being created here.

To synchronize the data between CATIA V6 and SAP PLM, CIDEON Software developed a server solution with the PLM synchronisation server to link CATIA V6 and SAP that was optimised with regard to stability and data security. At the same time, CIDEON Software of course also provides the link from CATIA V5 in the environment of the CIDEON Conversion Engine for SAP, the CIDEON Collaboration solution and from Import PDM / PLM for SAP.

According to Lenz Finster, managing director of CIDEON Software, “the development of the CIDEON Integration CATIA V6 for SAP PLM will help us to continue on our growth course after a very successful business year in 2010 and to continue to extend our market position in all of our business divisions.” A company growth rate of more than 35% in 2010 has helped to increase the consolidated turnover of CIDEON AG to an all-time high of 45.1 million Euro.

Lenz Finster again emphasized that “during the development of the sixth direct integration, our customers can also rely on our know how and our many years of experience in developing software and integrating systems.”

IBM signs 10-year agreement with Caparo India

IBM announced that it has signed a 10-year agreement with Caparo India, for the implementation of SAP ERP and outsourcing of datacenter infrastructure including managed services. Caparo chose to host the datacenter on IBM’s Power Systems in a cloud model over competitor HP systems because the IBM solution will lower its upfront investments up to INR 1 crore.

IBM Global Financing (IGF) will support the Implementation and Licenses at Caparo India to help them manage project investments efficiently and wisely. With this arrangement, Caparo India will be able to manage processes at its production plants better, improve customer service and focus on growth plans.

Caparo India offers solutions in designing, developing and manufacturing automotive systems, assemblies, modules and components for Indian automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and the engineering industry, including premium clients such as Maruti, General Motors, Ford, Honda, Tata Motors, Nissan and others. The company’s strategic decision to deploy a SAP ERP solution, replacing incumbent ERP, for all their manufacturing plants gives them improved inventory visibility across various sites and optimization of resources and cost.

IBM, with its end-to-end capability to handle client requirements -- from concept to delivery and transformational outsourcing -- will provide Caparo India with a variety of services, including ERP implementation, hardware deployment, hosting the datacenter, managed services contract, and financing. SAP ERP will bring better organizational efficiency and business process controls while the outsourcing of IT infrastructure will enable Caparo to focus more on business functions rather than IT management.

“Caparo works with some of the biggest automotive manufactures in the world. To support our continued business growth we needed a partner that could offer advanced technologies and global expertise in technology based services,” said Suneel Khanna, Director Finance & IT “While we looked at solutions from other vendors, IBM’s provided the most compelling offering to support us by owning entire project management as a single vendor for IT so that Caparo can focus on managing it’s core business more efficiently. IBM’s global experience has assured us of highest levels of SLA on server uptime. Also we would not need to hire or train new IT staff since the infrastructure management rests completely with IBM”.

Vivek Malhotra, Vice president, General Business, North & East region, IBM India/South Asia said, “This is a first of its kind implementation in North India Our financing policy helps clients acquire the IT solutions that their business needs in the most cost-effective and strategic way possible. Customers can choose from a variety of financing options to address their unique solution requirements and help manage the cash flow and assets”.

Experts predict manifold growth for the auto components industry in India, the second-fastest growing market globally. India, in auto sector, is turning to be a sourcing base for the global auto majors. As a result it is a booming time for OEM suppliers like Caparo India to grow their business too multi-fold and robust IT will become the backbone for operational success.

“Considering aggressive future business plans of Caparo, it was absolutely essential to have a robust ERP implementation and we hope that the expertise of IBM in Auto sector will be useful in achieving this” said Rajesh Prasad, MD & CEO, Caparo India.

SAP PLM 7.0 introduces major enhancements

Industry practices and concepts such as Six Sigma and lean manufacturing are now supported by the solution, as is compliance to regulatory, environmental and health standards.

SAP has launched the latest release of its SAP Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution, heralding the introduction of significant enhancements that bring new levels of support for continuous product innovation, integrated development and embedded product compliance.

“Not only does SAP PLM 7.0 introduce many new features, but it is now also integrated with the various other SAP Business Suite applications, thereby enhancing overall business integration and collaboration,” explains Shabir Ahmed, Pre-Sales Manager: Process & Service Industries, SAP Africa. “There were a number of key market trends that influenced the enhancements to SAP PLM, with the most crucial being the need to support greater simplicity, continuous innovation and embedded compliance.

It is an established fact that in many product development processes roughly 80% of existing products do not meet the initial expectations or goals as defined at the outset. Furthermore, about 70% of product costs are locked down during the design phase, and companies are increasingly being held accountable for the environmental and safety performance of their products. Obviously, such trends have a major impact on the product development process and our main goal is to provide a comprehensive solution that can address these major challenges.

“SAP PLM 7.0 now provides a comprehensive integrated product development solution that spans across the entire value chain, from idea generation, through to project and portfolio management, engineering, manufacturing and procurement, providing greater visibility, collaboration and compliance across the product development process.

“Additionally, we have addressed companies' ever-present pressure to cut costs and the need to increase productivity and efficiency. Historically, SAP PLM has always provided strong capability to support discrete manufacturers; however, other factors have been driving the product development needs in the non-discrete manufacturing industries such as process industries, for example. These include, among others, compliance with ever-changing government regulations, operational documentation, and extensive functionality testing that must be completed before production can begin. The PLM solution has now been extended to support these specific industry requirements.

“Embedded compliance is a distinct feature of the solution, allowing companies to effectively comply with the various environmental, occupational, and product safety regulations and corporate policies. Via the new features supported for embedded product compliance, the design process and the compliance process are integrated with each other.”

Checks and balances across the product development process are integrated into the overall product quality management process. This allows for automated verification across the product development process at specified points to ensure that quality checks and approvals are adhered to. Ahmed adds that best practice concepts in manufacturing that aim to improve efficiencies and productivity, such as the Six Sigma and lean manufacturing principles, are now also supported by the solution.

“With SAP PLM 7.0 we also give our customers the ability to be innovative in the early phases of the development process such as during the idea generation phase. A lot of intellectual capital and knowledge is invested in this process; however, this knowledge is not always captured or visible to the key stakeholders. This kind of knowledge, also called 'tacit knowledge', is difficult to share. But now we can capture all the information relevant to those product development ideas and manage the product and service development process more effectively by transforming 'tacit knowledge' into 'explicit knowledge'. Explicit knowledge is well structured and therefore much easier to share.

As a result, one of the new features introduced into the solution is the ability to share selected information with outside parties, thereby strengthening collaboration and communication between various stakeholders who are involved in the product development process.

“A company can now have seamless integration and collaboration with both internal and external stakeholders via a secure, friendly Web-based user interface that allows access to the necessary information, without the need for external parties having to install any additional software other than their Web-browsers,” says Ahmed.

SAP Delivers New Templates for Manufacturing Execution

WALLDORF — SAP AG is now delivering preconfigured, best practice templates for its SAP® Manufacturing Integration and Intelligence (SAP MII) application to support light weight manufacturing execution in batch manufacturing industries. The batch manufacturing with SAP MII templates are cost-free and extend the SAP MII architecture by providing prebuilt, plant and role-specific composites to support manufacturing preparation, execution, documentation and reporting.

The templates cover nine application areas: role-specific manufacturing operations cockpits, manufacturing order list, material identification, work instructions, quality control, production confirmation, shift book, monitoring and logging, and manufacturing performance. The templates are a complementary extension to the "Manufacturing Visibility, Intelligence and Integration" package, offered as part of the Best-Run Now initiative from SAP. The fast time-to-benefit is a key value driver for the Best-Run Now packages.

Sika AG, a manufacturer of specialty chemicals for construction and industry based in Baar, Switzerland, is the forerunner to the batch manufacturing project. The company defined and implemented SAP MII composites developed by SAP partner Trebing + Himstedt with a new plant opened to increase production of its Sikaflex product. Sika AG successfully made productive use of SAP MII for manufacturing execution with functionality for order execution, while enjoying lower licenses and implementation costs in comparison to traditional manufacturing execution systems. The results of these developments and implementation formed a central part of the new templates now being delivered.

The development of these templates showcases the strength of SAP MII as a highly specified infrastructure for developing plant to enterprise integration and creating powerful composites for manufacturing execution that can run decoupled from the enterprise resource planning (ERP) application SAP® ERP. The pre-built templates can be used in their entirety or extended to meet additional customer requirements.

Autodesk Chooses SAP® Carbon Impact On-Demand Solution

To Help Measure and Manage Carbon Footprint and Sustainability Efforts.

WALLDORF, Germany - As a leading provider of design and engineering software tools to nine million architects, designers and engineers around the world, Autodesk develops software that enables its customers to make more sustainable design decisions. But when the company needed to better measure and manage its own carbon footprint it quickly realized the tools it had been using were not up to the task. To provide a strong foundation for sustainability efforts both now and in the future, Autodesk chose the SAP® Carbon Impact on-demand solution from SAP AG (NYSE: SAP). SAP Carbon Impact will help Autodesk more clearly measure, mitigate and monetize greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts across its internal operations and supply chain.

Autodesk is not only working to improve its own corporate sustainability practices, it is also using its innovative design software to equip customers with the tools they need to make the smartest sustainable design decisions possible. The company has 6,600 employees in more than 100 offices worldwide, and offers the broadest and deepest product portfolio in the design world, including products such as AutoCAD®, its flagship product and the foundation for CAD (computer-aided design) worldwide.

“SAP Carbon Impact meets our near-term sustainability needs and is also flexible enough to keep pace with changing dynamics and regulations,” said Emma Stewart, senior program lead for Autodesk’s sustainability initiative. “Having researched other vendors in this space, we feel confident that the SAP software was the best choice and that it more than meets our needs now and can grow with us as our sustainability needs increase. Our goal as a company is to not only prove that our environmental performance efforts positively impact our bottom line, but that there is also a relationship between our sustainability investments and our top line. SAP Carbon Impact will play a significant part in our effort to do just that.”

Autodesk joins other industry leaders, including Intuit, SunPower, Casella, the University of Buffalo and others, that use SAP Carbon Impact to help reduce the cost of maintaining a comprehensive carbon emissions inventory, identify opportunities for carbon reduction, and enhance brand value by providing a system to document sustainability initiatives and related carbon reductions. To help customers keep up with ever-changing regulations and advancements, the Web-based SAP Carbon Impact on-demand solution is updated regularly with new functionality and reference content, such as emission factors, financial models for reduction projects and support for carbon reporting protocols.

“Autodesk is demonstrating to customers and markets that it is a forward-looking example of using IT technology to drive sustainability initiatives,” said Peter Graf, chief sustainability officer and executive vice president of Sustainability Solutions, SAP AG. “The wide range of features in the SAP Carbon Impact on-demand solution allows customers like Autodesk to reliably measure their carbon footprint, make a business case for reduction and take action to improve.”

Sparta Consulting to merge with KPIT Cummins

Combined practice to provide a credible alternative to Tier 1 suppliers in Enterprise consulting.

PUNE– KPIT Cummins Infosystems Ltd has announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement with Sparta Consulting, a California, USA based firm and a leading provider of high end SAP solutions. The all-cash agreement is for a milestone based consideration of USD 38 million which includes a bonus of USD 4 million.

Expressing his views on this occasion, Mr. Kishor Patil, MD & CEO, KPIT Cummins, said “Sparta Consulting is an excellent strategic fit and growth accelerator to our focused business model. It has a very committed team with extensive experience in rapidly scaling up ERP consulting business and we see a large market opportunity in this area. We are particularly impressed with the excellent track record of the Sparta team. The team has created a SAP services business which has grown nearly 300% year-on-year under trying economic conditions. The same team has earlier successfully created and grown an Enterprise consulting business to over USD 250 million. We welcome this merger and look forward to jointly helping our customers achieve their post-downturn growth objectives”.

Paul Freudenberg and Lokesh Sikaria, the two key principals at Sparta Consulting, added: “We have found an excellent partner in KPIT Cummins and are very excited about joining a focused solutions leader. KPIT’s larger geographic presence specifically in Europe and Asia Pacific complement our strong relationships in the SAP ecosystem. We are confident that our combined and complementary strengths create a leadership position in the SAP centric solutions business. We see great synergy in market verticals and domain focus. In addition, the IT services capabilities of KPIT Cummins beyond SAP, makes it a perfect strategic fit to accelerate the growth of Sparta Consulting by creating even more value for customers.”

Strategic Rationale

The merger of Sparta Consulting, based in Folsom, CA, USA, further strengthens KPIT’s business model to sharply focus on select industries and achieve market leadership by creating best in class practices/offerings that help customers achieve their operational & strategic objectives.

This transaction is in line with KPIT’s stated growth strategy and is expected to result in greater efficiencies and increased market share. Key Highlights:

o Accelerates Growth: With over 1000 consultants in the combined entity, the SAP-led consulting practice provides a scalable alternative to Tier 1 companies which usually pursue larger (USD 25 million+) multi-service opportunities. With global demand for SAP based services growing at 24+%, the SAP led consulting practice has the potential to grow into a USD 100+ million business in next 3 years.

o Reinforces current SAP strengths of KPIT and the strategy to create a best in class SAP practice. Sparta’s dynamic team and proprietary templates/methodologies reinforces KPIT’s current strengths in value added SAP solutions to Automotive, Hi-Tech and Industrials sectors.

o Provides a headstart into an adjacent vertical: Sparta’s footprint in the Energy & Utilities sector would provide KPIT a headstart into this adjacent space.

Impact of merger on Sparta Consulting

o Expand vertical reach: In addition to the existing verticals, Sparta Consulting will now also be able to address the growing SAP market in Automotive and Industrials (KPIT has 100+ customers in this space).

o Extend Global Presence: Sparta would be able to leverage KPIT’s global presence and effectively scale in regions such as Europe & Asia Pacific.

The transaction is subject to legal and other clearances.

BITS Pilani and SAP Labs India launch collaborative MS Software Engineering

Bangalore: BITS Pilani and SAP Labs India signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and launched on 08 August 2008, the four year MS Software Engineering work integrated learning program for candidates holding BSc or equivalent qualification recruited and sponsored by SAP.

On 06 August 2009, in a brief function organized at Bengaluru, SAP Labs and BITS Pilani launched the two year MS Software Engineering work integrated learning program for candidates holding B.E / B.Tech or equivalent qualification recruited and sponsored by SAP.

Mr Ramakrishna Yarlapati (Ramki) Senior Vice President BST – Business Suite Core India, SAP Labs welcomed the gathering for the launch function and gave highlights of the BITS Pilani - SAP Labs collaboration and HRD focus of SAP.

Mr Joachim Hechler Corporate Officer and Executive Council Member of SAP AG Group and EVP for SAP Business Suite who had specially flown to India for this occasion emphasized on the importance of continuing education and urged the prospective candidates to make the best use of the opportunity.

Apart from Swaminathan Vemur, Expert - Learning and Talent management, Human Resources SAP Labs, who had tirelessly worked out the details to make the launch function a grand one, several senior executives of SAP Labs and prospective candidates enrolling for the program attended the launch function

Prof BR Natarajan Dean Work Integrated Learning Programmes from BITS Pilani presented the salient features of the BITS model of Work Integrated Learning programmes with focus on the customized two year MS Software Engineering programme specially designed to address the HRD needs of SAP Labs. Mr Sai Sekhar Das faculty member of BITS Pilani who is spear heading various off campus activities of the Institute at Bangalore which include collaboration with various industries for degree programs and Practice School was also present for the launch function.

SAP World Tour unveils "CLEAR" Enterprise strategy for Indian companies

To Be "Best Run," Companies Must Embrace Change and Act with Greater Transparency and Accountability.

India – SAP customers, partners and industry experts in India gather on July 23rd at Le Meridian for IT industry’s premier business and technology road show hosted by SAP. Under an event theme of “See Your Way Clear: Strategies for Success in the New Reality,” SAP World tour seeks to explore how Indian companies can achieve transparency in every area of their operations to be best-run businesses in today’s challenging economic environment. Attendees at the annual event learn how to harness the power of SAP® solutions to run lean operations, capture greater profitability and gain transparency in their operations. The event is being held in 100 cities across 50 countries. In India, the SAP World Tour unveiled ‘Clear New World’ a new mid-term strategic thrust which shows Best-Run Businesses how to attain the vision they need to thrive in the new reality.

The SAP World Tour features four Industry tracks covering Government, Utilities, operational excellence and strategic IT. SAP customers delivering presentations at SAP World Tour include ONGC, ABB, RIL, Unilevers, BPCL and Hero Honda.

New Technologies and Strategies Will Radically Change the Way Organizations Operate and Respond to Market Fluctuations

The event features keynote presentation from Ranjan Das, Managing Director, SAP Indian subcontinent. The Keynote focuses on how technology enables companies to derive increased understanding, visibility and value — both of their own operations and those of their partner networks, ultimately allowing them to capitalize on strategic opportunities to increase profitability.

To survive in today’s business environment, companies must see clearly, think clearly, and act clearly. Becoming clear allows companies not only to survive and thrive in the near term, but to be sustainable over long term. Clear enterprises operate with increased speed, relevance and accuracy and can therefore drive their businesses with the ability to adjust strategies, processes, business network quickly in response to changing market conditions. This year’s agenda focus on the following topics:

Midsize company and small businesses solutions and services –

Consider SAP solutions for midsize companies and small businesses, a comprehensive portfolio of affordable, easy to implement, scalable solutions. Find out about SAP's new solutions for the midsize companies – the SAP Business ByDesign solution.

SAP ERP application –

Improve alignment of your strategies and operations and enhance productivity and insight within your enterprise. With the SAP ERP application, you get the power to adapt quickly to changing industry requirements.

Enterprise service-oriented architecture –

Learn how enterprise service-oriented architecture can enable business and IT to work better together to improve your company's ability to change and grow.

Business process platform –

Discover how having a successful business process platform, which enables change through enterprise services that unite technology and applications, can deliver fundamental business functionality supported by highly reusable parts of SAP software.

Innovation and improvements in the SAP Business Suite applications –

Learn more about the SAP Business Suite applications and their new functionality.

SAP Services –

Learn about the cutting-edge service program innovations and comprehensive, best-practice services the SAP offers which span all phases of your solution life cycle. With SAP Services you can align your IT and business strategies, get SAP software up and running fast, and keep it operating at peak levels.

Hosting an on-demand solutions –

Find out more about the hosting and on–demand solutions that can help your company achieve its goals.

Business Process Outsourcing powered by SAP –

How can BPO help in these times of uncertainty?

“In today’s business environment our customers need to see clearly, think clearly and act clearly to thrive. Gaining clarity and then acting upon it, both within their organisation and across their wider business network, ensures our customers become Best-Run businesses,” said Ranjan Das, Managing Director, SAP Indian subcontinent. “The SAP World Tour 2009 provides business-oriented decision makers with valuable insights and best practices, to help them solve key business challenges.”

One of the highlights of SAP World tour is Asia Leadership dialogue, which SAP is bringing to each stop in partnership with the Platinum circle – a private community of enterprises. The Asia Leadership dialogue in India features a key note and discussion with Gaurav Dalmia, Board Member, Dalmia Group & Chairman, Landmark Holdings, who will speak about Leadership in new Asia.

First-ever SAP Research and Innovation Award in India

Mumbai: SAP Research, the global research unit of SAP and SAP Labs India, jointly announced the first-ever SAP Research and Innovation Award in India for funding research projects at leading Indian universities and research institutes. This unique initiative seeks to establish collaboration between Indian academics and SAP’s research and development departments.

Karsten Schulz, Vice President, SAP Research, APJ region commented on the initiative, "The awards demonstrate SAP’s firm belief in India’s great potential and bolster the company’s commitment to its presence in the subcontinent. I am impressed by the number of high-quality research proposals that we received and confident that the five selected projects will provide valuable insights to the Indian IT ecosystem".

Kush Desai, Managing Director, SAP Labs India opined, "SAP has always believed in the research and innovation potential that exists in India, and the Indian academia is renowned for being at the forefront of pursuing research and innovation opportunities. An industry-academia partnership seeds such opportunities and both bodies stand to gain tremendously from this symbiotic relationship."

As part of the awards program, 5 successful projects that were selected in a highly competitive process will be awarded a research grant of Rs. 1,100,000 for a project duration of 12 months. The winners will also get an opportunity to collaborate on an ongoing basis with SAP Research and its partners following the end of the sponsored projects.

The list of recipients of the research grants and their winning projects includes:

* Rapidly developing software using globally distributed teams, by Prof. Pankaj Jalote, Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Delhi
* A framework for Visual and Formal Modeling of services, by Prof. Sundar Balasubramaniam, Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani
* Effect of subcontractor relationship ‘closeness’ on MES integration requirements for shop floor visibility in distributed manufacturing, by Prof. Sanjay Kumar, Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI), Jamshedpur
* Data Mining techniques in healthcare informatics for rural health management and disease prevention, by Prof. Srinivas and Prof. Kumar, People’s Education Society Institute of Technology (PESIT) Bangalore
* Extending QoS- based routing in asynchronous distributed event based systems to deal with multiple event types, by Prof. Umesh Bellur, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay

The winners will also get an opportunity to collaborate on an ongoing basis with SAP Research and its partners following the end of the sponsored projects.

"SAP has established formidable alliances with some of the best academic institutions in India and will continue to sustain these long-term engagements. With SAP Research and Innovation awards, we are further encouraging co-innovation and fruition of new ideas in the Indian IT ecosystem. Congratulations to all the winners of the SAP Research and Innovation award!", Kush Desai added.

SAP Research and SAP Labs India invited entries on contemporary and relevant research topics including advanced web technologies; real-world awareness; real-time enterprise transparency; future manufacturing; next generation enterprise Service-Oriented Architecture; service ecosystems; security and trust; technologies for emerging economies; end-to-end simplicity; business-centric networks and industrialization of software development.

Prof. Sanjay Kumar, Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI), Jamshedpur commented, "We are grateful to SAP Research for providing us with a platform for incubating our ideas into business projects. We are excited to work with researchers at SAP Labs India, as this will foster sharing of best practices among the industry and the academia, a quintessential element that ensures success in innovation."

The selection process involved an initial round of online submission of a project brief, while in the second round, the contenders with the most promising proposals were required to submit a full-fledged project proposal. Post this, the third selection round witnessed 8 short-listed candidates presenting their projects with stipulated 12-month duration at SAP Labs India to a committee of SAP Research experts.