What SAP Netweaver Gateway is NOT ....

[paschmann]

I believe that there is a lot of talk online where people are asking the question ... Why should I use Netweaver Gateway if I have Netweaver Process Integration (PI) or vice versa. I was recently on a SAP mobility call which included a great slide entitled "What SAP Netweaver Gateway is and is not!". I thought I would share this with everyone and a couple other posts and links I have come across on the web, which hopefully people wanting to learn more about what Gateway has to offer, will find useful.

SAP Netweaver Gateway is NOT:

- The SAP Gateway process in the Netweaver Application Server ABAP that enables external communication (e.g. RFC).

- A mobile infrastructure (like Sybase Unwired Platform)

- A replacement for SAP Netweaver PI and eSOA services/ESB's

- Access to non-SAP systems

SAP Netweaver Gateway is:

- The point of access into SAP Business Suite data and functionality

- Uses a non-proprietary interface based on the Open Data Protocol (OData)

- Service can be consumed by any channel that can process XML received over an HTTP(s) connection

If you are interested in reading more on this topic, I would suggest checking out:

This blog from Sascha Wenniger who wrote a article a couple of months ago about both GW and PI having their own place in the enterprise to provide connectivity and data consumption. http://scn.sap.com/community/netweaver-gateway/blog/2012/01/31/netweaver-gateway-and-pi--theres-a-pl...

Another great article was written by William Li making a direct comparison between PI and GW. This will help anyone who is trying to decide which, or if both, is right for their needs: http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-25547