SAP updates users on plans - SAP America Inc. will expand client/server products in U.S - Field Report - Brief Article

Officials of SAP America, Inc. and its parent firm, SAP AG, outlined plans for the appliction software firm's entrance into the client/server arena during the company's recent North America user group meeting in New Orleans.

Company officials noted that the Waldorf, Germany-based parent firm has registered revenue increases of more than 30% in recent years, with a 50% increase projected for 1991. The parent firm had recorded sales of $332 million for 1990. Company officials said SAP expects the United States to be its major market for expansion. The U.S. operation is headquartered in Lester, Pa.

Hasso Plattner, vice chairman and cofounder of the parent firm, depicted the company's new R/3 software as a client/server version of SAP's mainframe integrated business systems software. The system incorporates financial, fixed asset, cost accounting, project planning, sales, production control, materials management, quality assurance, plant maintenance and human resource modules.

Character-based terminals are out, Plattner told users, and client/server technology cannot reside on traditional online transaction processing (OLTP) mainframe systems. He added, though, that the current R/2 technology won't be disappearing anytime soon. Plattner also acknowledged that the company was unsuccessful in an effort to port the SAP software system to OS/2.

SAP officials told users that the company plans to unveil Verson 5.0 of its R/2 mainframe-based offering under a pricing scheme that will offer a 20% discount to users in a homogeneous (R/2) environment, and a 30% discount to users in a heterogeneous environment (R/2 and R/3). The new pricing scheme is also based in part on the number of active users.

SAP was founded in the early 1970s by four former IBM engineers who built a customer list of 1,600 companies. Those companies included E.I. Du Pont de Nemours & Co., Wilmington, Del.; Exxon Corp., New York City; Dow Chemical, Midland, Mich.; Coca Cola, Atlanta; General Electric Co., Fairfield, Conn.; Eastman-Kodak Co., Rochester, N.Y.; and Mobil Oil Co., New York City.

Gillis is president of Computer Based Solutions, a New Orleans consulting firm.

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