Marking its intention to compete more directly in the business-to-business integration market, SAP AG last week said it has agreed to resell the B2B Content Engine and partner profiles developed by Crossgate Inc., a U.K.-based vendor that is already partly owned by SAP.
The deal puts SAP more directly into competition with vendors of B2B gateways and managed services, such as Sterling Commerce and Seeburger, that traditionally have sold into SAP’s customer base.
“Customers have been asking, ‘What is your plan in the B2B area?’ ” said SAP Vice President for Suite Solution Management Carter Johnson in an interview with Managing Automation. “A lot of them today have several B2B solution providers, and they would like to get everything they need from one provider, SAP.”
SAP will sell Crossgate’s B2B Content Engine and partner profiles as the SAP Information Interchange application by Crossgate. The B2B Content Engine provides message mapping and translation services, and the partner profiles define the messaging formats accepted by each SAP/Crossgate user. The profiles, tens of thousands of which have already been defined in Crossgate’s repository, allow manufacturers to more quickly bring suppliers, customers, and other partners into their B2B transaction networks.