BERLIN - October 14, 2008 - SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) and Cisco today announced the availability of a composite application that will help organizations proactively enforce data privacy across the business network. The solution is designed to help support continuous, demonstrable compliance with data privacy policies and to minimize risks. By bringing together SAP® solutions for governance, risk, and compliance (SAP solutions for GRC) with Cisco® intelligent network services, the Data Privacy composite application by SAP and Cisco allows businesses to enforce real-time global and local data privacy policies throughout the organization. This composite application expands SAP solutions for GRC, providing customers with a unique solution for improved visibility, control and responsiveness across the enterprise, while lowering the total cost of ownership by using existing application and infrastructure investments. The announcement was made at SAP® TechEd 2008, being held in Berlin, Germany, Oct. 14-16.
"By proactively enforcing data privacy across our business network, the SAP and Cisco collaboration allows organizations like ours to align business needs and IT processes with data privacy solutions that span from applications to the network," said Steve Papa, CEO, Endeca. "As a leading provider of search and information access software transforming the way organizations access and leverage information for competitive advantage, it is critical that we ensure the security of our intellectual property assets. With the joint solution from SAP and Cisco, we can rest assured knowing our data is protected."
With more companies becoming part of global business networks and operating in an extended enterprise, sensitive business and personal information can be exchanged across borders on a daily basis. Enforcing data privacy has thus become increasingly business-critical. In addition, new regulatory requirements such as safe-harbor laws, privacy, finance, intellectual property and identity theft legislation are forcing companies to rapidly adopt more effective data privacy strategies and technologies.
According to "The collaboration advantage," a recent study by the Economist Intelligence Unit sponsored by SAP, "The biggest challenge in collaborating with business partners is building trust. One-half of all respondents say that trusting corporate partners enough to share information is the toughest aspect of a new business relationship, and 64% of executives agree that strengthening personal relationships is essential in establishing trust with their business partners. The lack of trust is a particularly thorny issue in the area of information technology (IT): less than 20% of respondents are prepared to share security systems, process technology or software applications."
"Companies worldwide will benefit from a solution that provides guidance and enforcement to help prevent data breaches and protect sensitive information," Michael Rasmussen, president and business research analyst, Corporate Integrity LLC. "With increasing data privacy regulations globally, customers require a solution that provides them with the controls they need to ensure consistent compliance both across all applications and also their extended business network."
The composite application from SAP and Cisco provides customers with data-aware and policy-aware integrated network services, allowing them to more efficiently ensure that any data-whether in use by applications or transmitted throughout the corporate network-is compliant with established data privacy policies. Rather than deploying point solutions within disparate applications, the innovative approach pioneered by Cisco and SAP allows customers to create global and local privacy controls and enforce them at the network level. This allows for the central management of compliance and security with data privacy policies across the networks' geographies, applications and systems. The solution also encompasses policy orchestration capabilities from Cisco networking devices in concert with Cisco Unified Communications solutions to help enable real-time collaboration and communication about high-severity data privacy violations.
The Data Privacy composite application illustrates SAP and Cisco's shared commitment to enable business network transformation by helping customers align IT processes with business needs. As customers transform and expand their business networks, they can take advantage of decentralized, increasingly global organizations; the joint solution helps companies move toward this more flexible model while better managing associated data risks.Cisco and SAP are also collaborating with Deloitte member firms on multiple initiatives to incorporate leading practices that can help clients create a roadmap to achieve their compliance goals.
"Companies are looking to bring business and IT closer together to streamline processes and increase the effectiveness of compliance controls," says Brian Parker, a principal with Deloitte & Touche LLP. "By driving compliance further into the network, users can continue doing their work in business applications uninterrupted while IT centrally deploys and manages many security controls. This approach to data privacy can help to safeguard customers' data regardless of where it resides in the enterprise."
SAP solutions for GRC are part of Business Objects, an SAP company, and, combined with the Business Objects enterprise performance management and business intelligence solutions, deliver a comprehensive portfolio for business performance optimization. This latest addition to SAP solutions for GRC will empower business users with the freedom to access trustworthy data and utilize it to improve business effectiveness, while ensuring that controls are in place to maintain compliance.
"This joint development from Cisco and SAP is unique in the marketplace and strategic for both companies, as our enterprise customers already enjoy positive synergies between SAP business applications and Cisco communications and networking infrastructure," said Bill Ruh, vice president of Advanced Services, Cisco. "This is the first of several anticipated solutions to combine the business intelligence of the application layer and the transactional intelligence of the network layer, helping our mutual customers manage risk more effectively and achieve continuous compliance, security and operational maturity."
"SAP has broken new boundaries for customers with its vision and solutions that enable a unified GRC strategy across the enterprise," said Narina Sippy, senior vice president, Governance, Risk and Compliance, SAP. "By working with Cisco, the leader in communications and networking, we can now merge this approach from the application layer through to the network level, providing companies with an innovative way to drive integrated GRC strategies that minimize risks and ensure compliance."
SAP® TechEd 2008 in Las Vegas, Berlin, Shanghai and Bangalore
More than 16,000 SAP customers, partners and technical experts are convening at SAP® TechEd 2008 to learn how to transform existing business processes and IT landscapes and take advantage of the power and flexibility of service-oriented architecture. Celebrating its 12th anniversary, SAP's largest ecosystem education event of the year offers more than 1,000 hours of lecture-driven and hands-on sessions. SAP TechEd 2008 was held in Las Vegas on September 8-12, and is being held in Berlin on October 14-16, Shanghai on November 5-6 and Bangalore on November 12-14. For more information, please visit www.sapteched.com.
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About Cisco Systems
Cisco, (NASDAQ: CSCO), is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com.
About SAP
SAP is the world's leading provider of business software(*), offering applications and services that enable companies of all sizes and in more than 25 industries to become best-run businesses. With approximately 75,000 customers (includes customers from the acquisition of Business Objects) in over 120 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE, under the symbol "SAP." (For more information, visit www.sap.com)
(*) SAP defines business software as comprising enterprise resource planning and related applications.
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