SAP Netweaver 7.4 is now available for customers and it comes with exciting new capabilities for connectivity and integration in ABAP. In this series of blogs, I will introduce you to the newest of the new but I will also explain the implications for customers on SAP NetWeaver 7.02 and higher. I will try not to forget those of you who are unlikely to be on SAP Netweaver 7.4 for some time, as there is plenty of scope for you to make better use of the existing capabilities and, in the process, be in a position to more easily take advantage of the latest features if and when you finally arrive at SAP Netweaver 7.4.
ABAP 7.40 lets you reduce TCO/TCD of application scenarios that run across multiple ABAP systems. That is a bold statement but I believe it to be true. It is the result of several years of development addressing the needs of both administrators and developers. But what sort of connectivity am I talking about here? Point-to-point. Surely that is a recipe for trouble in large landscape and complex scenarios? Not now it isn't, if you do it right. Specifically what sort of point-to-point connectivity is it? That is a little bit more complex and will be the subject of a more detailed blog. For the moment let me say that this latest development comes out of the group responsible for ABAP Web services so that is the first connectivity type that I will cover.
It was an ambitious project and addressed a diverse range of issues. Here is a selection of key capabilities:
- Automated setup of complete applications across multiple systems
- Enable the addressing of business entities out of connectivity networks
- Easy development and connectivity-type-agnostic application programming in ABAP
Some of the benefits for customers are:
- Greater operational continuity enabled by central management, visibility, and control of the services landscape via a single toolset
- Reduce the costs and risks associated with complex business processes involving multiple services and systems
- Robust application scenarios through decoupling of business and technical configuration
I will address these and more in the coming blogs.
To finish, here is the heads up for TechEd 2013 - I will be covering aspects of this in a workshop entitled Automated Connectivity between Business Applications. I look forward to seeing you there.
