Microsoft, SAP Work Together on Enterprise Cloud Computing for Azure

Microsoft (MSFT) and SAP (ADR) today expanded their global partnership to deliver new cloud, data and mobile experiences to Azure customers. The companies said that the agreement calls for the following: certifying business-critical SAP applications for Microsoft Azure; improving interoperability between data from SAP applications and Microsoft Office; and improving mobile productivity with expanded development and support for Windows and Windows Phone 8.1.

“Our expanded partnership with SAP demonstrates our continued commitment to deliver the applications and services our customers need – in their private clouds, service provider clouds, Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Office,” Scott Guthrie, Microsoft’s executive vice president for cloud & enterprise, said in a prepared statement.

The SAP on Microsoft platform allows enterprises to use Microsoft’s cloud solutions to extend SAP business processes beyond their core enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. In a blog post, Microsoft said SAP customers can leverage its cloud solutions to enhance IT productivity because it provides a single operating system for managing all hybrid, private and public clouds.

By the end of June, Microsoft plans to support:

SAP noted its customers will be able to take advantage of Azure’s “pay-per-use” model as well.

“For our customers, SAP and Microsoft are among the top strategic vendors relied upon to drive their business’ success. We are proud of how we listened to our customers and together developed – and will continue to develop – innovative new programs focused on the cloud, mobility, analytics and interoperability that we expect will provide unparalleled value for our customers,” SAP President of Platform Solutions Steve Lucas said.

Microsoft and SAP also plan to deepen interoperability between applications and platforms with a new version of the SAP Gateway for Microsoft, which is expected to be released in the second half of this year.