Sterling Commerce Joins Forces with SAP
1 September 1998
Sterling Commerce Joins Forces with SAP to Provide Integration Solutions for SAP Automotive Applications
Program Designed to Provide Automotive Industry with Highly
Integrated E-commerce Solutions
DETROIT, Sept. 1 -- Sterling Commerce, Inc. , a
global provider of business-to-business electronic commerce (EC) software and
value-added services, today announced it is developing a tightly integrated EC
solution for SAP Automotive(TM) Solution customers. Under this initiative,
Sterling Commerce's GENTRAN:Server will provide application integration
capabilities to seamlessly link electronic data interchange (EDI) and EC
systems with the SAP Automotive solution. The resulting solution will reduce
the costs, time and risks associated with implementing EC systems for SAP
Automotive customers. The announcement was made at the Auto Tech '98
conference and trade show in Detroit.
For SAP Automotive Solution customers, especially Tier 1 suppliers,
GENTRAN:Server will provide the translation and mapping capabilities to
connect organizations, regardless of the standards and business systems being
used by individual commerce partners. As part of the initiative, Sterling
Commerce will undertake the research, development, testing, validation and
deployment of trading partner-specific EDI maps. SAP will provide
guidelines to manage data transfer gateways into and out of its R/3(TM)
solution. This pre-configured, bundled solution, the first phase of which is
scheduled for availability in early 1999, greatly simplifies the process of
setting up and maintaining trading partner communications with the R/3
solution.
In conjunction with its ongoing range of automotive industry solutions,
Sterling Commerce will also offer SAP customers trading partner implementation
assistance through a VIP Support Services Program and value-added EC/EDI
processing service through Sterling Commerce's COMMERCE:Network, including a
gateway to the Automotive Network Exchange (ANX).
In the automotive industry, EDI is a mission-critical process necessary
for speeding the entire manufacturing process -- from placing orders to
tracking inventory. In order to enable the efficient and secure electronic
exchange of business documents, such as purchase orders, invoices and advance
ship notices, EC systems must be tightly integrated with R/3 applications.
Trading partners such as GM, Ford, and Chrysler adopt variations of EDI
standards. They continue to broaden the scope and usage of EDI documents as
defined by transaction sets. Therefore, this GENTRAN:Server solution
will include trading partner maps maintained to current specifications which
help integrate the SAP Automotive solution to different business systems.
"SAP is the industry leader in providing full enterprise applications, and
a significant portion of Sterling Commerce customers are SAP customers. These
customers need solutions that are easy to implement and allow for seamless
communication between their EDI systems and R/3," said Brad Sharp, president,
Interchange Software Group, and executive vice president, Sterling Commerce.
"By teaming with SAP on this project, we are able to develop solutions that
will provide our joint customers a more tightly integrated, cost-effective EC
solution."
"Sterling Commerce, by delivering ready-to-use trading partner EDI, is
further extending the SAP accelerated automotive strategy to small and mid-
sized tier 1 suppliers," said Greg Mekjian, director of the SAP Automotive
Strategic Business Unit in Detroit. "Automotive suppliers have already
embraced the SAP Accelerated Automotive(TM) Solution in which supplier
business processes are pre-configured. For suppliers, Sterling Commerce's
solution continues to lower the time and cost of implementations while
achieving all of the benefits of using the SAP Automotive solution."
GENTRAN:Server allows organizations to automate and integrate business
transactions and information with their commerce partners. It provides
translation, management, communications, process control and audit functions
necessary to link disparate business applications between and within
enterprises worldwide, dramatically accelerating the flow of business
information and processes.
About Sterling Commerce
Sterling Commerce is a leading global provider of business-to-business
electronic commerce software and value-added services. The company is ranked
eighth on the Forbes Magazine list of the Best-Performing Small Companies in
America. Software Magazine's 1998 annual Software 500 feature awarded
Sterling Commerce an Editor's Choice award and named it the number one E-
commerce company in its class. Sterling Commerce has been providing
electronic commerce solutions for 20 years, and has 36 office locations and
more than 40 distributors worldwide. Sterling Commerce had 1997 revenues of
over $350 million, and has over 42,000 customers worldwide and 2,300
employees. For more information, visit the Sterling Commerce Web site at
http://www.sterlingcommerce.com.
GENTRAN and GENTRAN:Server are registered trademarks of Sterling
Commerce, Inc.
SAP, R/3, SAP Automotive, SAP Accelerated Automotive and all other SAP
product and/or service names used herein are trademarks or registered
trademarks of SAP AG.
All other products or company names mentioned are used for identification
purposes only, and may be trademarks of their respective owners.