While Oracle is doing everything (including launching its own hypervisor) but supporting its technology on VMware platform, SAP finally decided to fully embrace the virtualization vendor’s technology.
Quoting from the VMware official announcement:
VMware, Inc., the virtualization software leader, today announced that SAP AG will provide immediate full support to its solutions in 64-bit Windows- and Linux-based production environments running on VMware ESX Server. Servers from Dell, Fujitsu-Siemens, HP, IBM and Sun have achieved hardware platform certification for SAP solutions running on Windows and Linux with VMware ESX Server, a component of the VMware Infrastructure software suite. VMware Infrastructure supports SAP solutions with both Windows and Linux on industry-standard hardware. SAP and VMware will assist joint customers in cooperative support services and problem resolution, backed by a global technology partnership agreement and dedicated support staffing.
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Customers also will benefit from the opening of the first Virtualization Competency Center (VCC) for SAP solutions in conjunction with AddOn Systemhaus GmbH, a leading consulting company. Situated in Walldorf, Germany, the center will be managed and run by AddOn and will provide customers in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) with a facility where knowledgeable consultants help design, migrate and then optimize simulated deployments of SAP solutions on VMware Infrastructure…
The SAP decision doesn’t surprise too much since the company’s deep involvement in virtualization:
- Its financial arm, SAP Ventures, already invested a lot in VMware competitor Virtual Iron
- The company participates in the accelerated adoption program ASAP, created by Intel and VMware
- SAP NetWeaver platform is already certified to run on Novell and on Red Hat Xen-based hypervisors
Oracle case demonstrated how critical is supporting virtualization today to retain a once-loyal userbase, and SAP seems to learn the lesson pretty well.