FSN: Atlantic - IBM and SAP agree to develop their first joint software product

Atlantic - IBM and SAP agree to develop their first joint software product

4th February 2008
IBM and SAP have announced plans to deliver their first joint software product codenamed “ Atlantic ” that will integrate IBM Lotus Notes software with SAP Business Suite. The combined efforts to create “ Atlantic ” will result in a new style of applications that present information and data in the context of users familiar with the Lotus Notes desktop. This they say will make it easier for users to do their jobs and greatly enhance the return on investment that companies have made in their SAP applications.

IBM and SAP have announced plans to deliver their first joint software product codenamed “ Atlantic ” that will integrate IBM Lotus Notes software with SAP Business Suite. The combined efforts to create “ Atlantic ” will result in a new style of applications that present information and data in the context of users familiar with the Lotus Notes desktop. This they say will make it easier for users to do their jobs and greatly enhance the return on investment that companies have made in their SAP applications.

IBM Lotus and SAP have thousands of mutual customers who have been asking for the functionality that “Atlantic” software will provide. The majority of IBM's top 100 customers also use SAP solutions.

“Lotus has been an innovator in collaboration for 20 years. This agreement is great example of how SAP enables our customers to empower their users by providing easy access to SAP business processes and data through productivity tools and user interfaces of their choice,” said Vishal Sikka, CTO, SAP. “Furthermore, it reaffirms the strong commitment we have to our partnership with IBM.”

Currently planned for inclusion in the first release of project “Atlantic” is support for SAP workflows, reporting and analytics, and the use of roles from within the Lotus Notes client. In addition, tools are planned to be included to provide the ability to extend and adapt these roles and capabilities, as well as leverage additional collaborative and offline capabilities inherent in Lotus Notes and Domino products. The initial release is planned to ship in the fourth quarter of 2008 and will be sold by both companies.

If customization of the product is required, IBM Global Business Services will be available to provide consulting and perform services. SAP practitioners, other global and regional systems integrators will also be enabled to customize “Atlantic” software to meet demand.

IBM Lotus Notes and Domino 8 enterprise collaboration software was developed with input from more than 25,000 customers. Lotus Notes 8 software transforms the inbox into an integrated workspace. It brings together email, calendar, instant messaging, productivity tools like Lotus Symphony, collaborative applications, and the ability to build and deploy customer business or third-party applications, including help desk, customer relationship management, sales force, discussion forms and blogs.

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