RE: SAP -- MIDRANGE-L

Jan,

See inline...

jt

| -----Original Message-----
| From: midrange-l-admin@midrange.com
| [mailto:midrange-l-admin@midrange.com]On Behalf Of Jan Megannon
| Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2001 6:29 PM
| To: midrange-l@midrange.com
| Subject: SAP
|
|
| --
| [ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
| Hi there,
|
| BTW, please date yourselves! I am listening to JJ Cale (After Midnight,
| Magnolia, Crazy mama,, Call me the breeze, Cocaine etc, along with
| Boston's Cooling the engines!!!) Dave G, please forgive a bit of
| indulgence!

No better way to get to know one another, IMV...  I recall the name JJ Cale,
and've heard other artists' renditions of these songs.  Probably heard JJ
Cale's, too, and might recognize it if I heard it again...  Haven't listened
to much in the past 20 years, but sure recall Boston's distinct style,
though none of their particular titles.

BTW, IIRC it's about 1:30am where you are, so you might wanna grab a cup of
Java (the drink) or maybe a can of Jolt, to give you a little energy
boost...!  ROFL...!

|
| Now that that is out of the way, let's resume more mortal discussions!!!
|
| We had a meeting with some SAP guys this morning. Wow, did the questions
| fly! Well, I went in search of information re SAP on the 400 (including
| the iSeries) on IBM's site. Google returned BETTER info than this search
| on their sites!
|
| We have customers that have been 'locked' into 400 technology for the
| past +- 8 years. They are on JDE, BPCS or one or another of the major
| ERP solutions. They WILL be moving to SAP (international directive). One
| of the factors is also hardware. They have invested in the AS/400 for
| the past n number of years.Their whole shop is 'tooled' for this (in
| terms of infrastructure, skills, etc.).Their peripheral skills are also
| suited to this (those who are au fait with accessing the DB/2 database
| via SQL. EXCEL, CA/400 data transfer, etc,)
|
| I can get hold of all the info I need re SAP on SUN, SAP on AIX, SAP on
| HP!!!! No way can I find anything on SAP (white papers, benchmarks,
| performance, 'Why should I go for it') on the AS/400/iSeries.
|
| Listed below are some items I found on the IBM sites. It appears that
| they are punting SAP on RS/6000 over SAP  on the 400/iSeries! Is this a
| message? Does it appear that the 400/iSeries is subservient to the
| 'superior' capabilities of the RS/6000?
|
| I/we have been searching for ammunition  that we can use to substantiate
| our trust in the 400 as the platform of choice. If there is anyone out
| there that has helped their customer to commit to SAp on the
| 400/iSeries, please divulge your information! I have seen IBM's
| benchmarks re the 400 somewhere on the 'net, but cannot appear to find
| it. What happened to SAP/R3 on the 400?

Well, I know as much about SAP as I do JJ Cale...  A few years ago, my
understanding was that SAP was very happy with their 400 sales.  IIRC, IBM
offered one of the -SBx mixed-load servers pre-loaded with SAP (along with
JDE and some other packages).  Haven't heard much lately.


Do you have any solid contacts high up in SAP?


Do you know of a 400-specific SAP user group?  I've seen JDE's website for
their user community, and got the impression it was a huge asset to both JDE
and their users.  I can't help but wonder if SAP has something similar, and
maybe a user community dedicated to the 400.  Maybe Don's list of
user-groups includes ISV-specific ones, I dunno...

If there is, they might have caught wind of a co-branded SAP/400, a la the
one announced for JDE and one other ISV.  If there isn't anything in the
pipeline (and I'd be surprised if there wasn't), maybe the user community
should ask for one.  The issue of whether there's gonna be a co-branded 400
is a litmus test of SAP's commitment to the 400.  With Baan entering the 400
arena, I'd be surprised if that didn't light a bit of a fire under SAPs 400
team...


IMV, it makes little sense for your customers to abandon the 400, at this
point.  Even if the 400 version of SAP was a release or two behind the Unix
version (which is, unfortunately, not uncommon among ISVs), it CAN'T be SO
BAD to be worth throwing the baby out with the bath water.  IMHO.

|
| Cheers.
|
| Jan.
|

<snip tech report, which I skimmed>

|
|
| BTW:
| Where I am at the southernmost point in Africa, we are far removed from
| the tragedy that befell America and, in so doing, the whole world. Here
| is a piece of poetry I came across on one af your sites:
|
| <poem>
| By Timothy Prickett Morgan
|
| I grieve. This is my city. These are my capitals. This is my country.
| This is my world.
| These are my children, my friends, my family. Thousands died without
| warning,
| hundreds died trying to save them. The holes in my skyline are not as
| big as the ones in my
| heart.
|
| What is mine is also yours, and theirs. We grieve for our cities, our
| capitals, our
| countries, and our world. We all grieve for dead friends and family. We
| are stunned by
| such appalling images, terribly real, by the smoke in our lungs, by the
| fighter jets
| overhead, by the eerie quiet of the skies soon after. We are on edge,
| and on the edge. What
| we do now will decide if we fall or if we stand.
| </poem>
|

Thanks for this, Jan...!  I had not seen it before.  Ole TPM is not a bad
bard...  Not bad 'tall...


<snip things I hope to get to later>