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Core SAP applications to be certified on Microsoft Azure cloud by June

Microsoft and SAP are extending their 20-year partnership with new deliverables on the cloud, business-intelligence and mobile-app front.
Written by Mary Jo Foley, Senior Contributing Editor

Microsoft has added another software vendor to its "certified on Azure" list.

On May 19, Microsoft and SAP announced that a number of SAP's core business applications will soon be certified on Microsoft Azure. (Core SAP business applications have been certified on Amazon's cloud since 2011.)

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By the end of June, Microsoft and SAP will support SAP Business Suite software, SAP Business All-in-One solutions, SAP Mobile Platform, SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise (SAP ASE) and the developer edition of the SAP HANA platform on Azure.

SAP's commitment to move its apps to Microsoft's cloud comes amidst SAP's realignment of its own cloud strategy, coupled with a reorg and job cuts.

On May 19, Microsoft and SAP also announced that integration between Microsoft's PowerBI/Excel and SAP's BusinessObjects business-intelligence offerings is generally available. Additionally, the pair said they will deliver in the second half of 2014 an updated version of the SAP Gateway for Microsoft, which will solidify integration between SAP applications and Office 365 and Microsoft Azure.

On the mobile front, SAP and Microsoft said new SAP mobile apps are coming for Windows and Windows Phone 8.1, but didn't provide specifics. An enhanced SAP software development kit for Windows Phone 8.1 will be available in 2015, officials said.

Microsoft and SAP officials said the May 18 announcements were the latest developments in the 20-year partnership between the two companies. They said that Microsoft and SAP jointly serve 75 percent of enterprise businesses.

"We find the Microsoft (relationship) compelling because it wraps together things beyond the cloud," said Kevin Ichpurani, Senior Vice President with SAP.

Back to the cloud: As is the case for Oracle on Azure users, SAP users who want to run their applications on Azure will be able to bring their own licenses and use certified images. This means Microsoft won't resell SAP software, nor will SAP resell Azure or Office 365, officials said. SAP Business Suite, Business All-in-One, and NetWeaver Apps will run on Windows Server in Azure. SAP HANA Dev Ed will be certified for SUSE Linux.

The coming mobile apps will be priced and available through the Windows Store, Windows Phone Store, SAP Store and directly from SAP sales.

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