With version 7.2 of Netweaver Identity Management (IdM) SAP introduces the REST API that offers the possibility to use custom created user interfaces (UIs) which have access to data of SAP IdM. The custom UIs do not need to be deployed within AS JAVA and therefore other Webservers like Apache can be used instead.
The attached video includes a first look on a custom UI based on the Google Web Toolkit that uses JavaScript and AJAX technology for example, compared to the SAP Netweaver Identity Management Standard UI.
Video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXmE9O3kQ00