History of SAP

Over the course of three decades, SAP has evolved from a small, regional enterprise into a world-class international company. Today, SAP is the global market leader in collaborative, inter-enterprise business solutions. The company now employs more than 34,000 people, whose commitment and innovative spirit pace our future success.

The 1970s: A Real-Time Vision
In 1972, five former IBM employees -- Dietmar Hopp, Hans-Werner Hector, Hasso Plattner, Klaus Tschira, and Claus Wellenreuther -- launch a company called SAP Systems Analysis and Program Development in Mannheim, Germany. Their vision: to develop standard application software for real-time business processing.

One year later, the first financial accounting software is complete, forming the basis for the continuous development of other software components in what later came to be known as the "R/1 system." "R" stands for real-time data processing.

By the end of the decade, intensive examination of SAP's IBM database and dialog control system leads to the birth of SAP R/2.

The 1980s: Rapid Growth
The SAP R/2 system attains the high level of stability of the previous generation of programs. Keeping in mind its multinational customers, SAP designs SAP R/2 to handle different languages and currencies. With this and other innovations in SAP R/2, SAP sees rapid growth.

The 1990s: A New Approach to Software and Solutions
SAP R/3 is unleashed on the market. The client-server concept, uniform appearance of graphical interfaces, consistent use of relational databases, and the ability to run on computers from different vendors meets with overwhelming approval. With SAP R/3, SAP ushers in a new generation of enterprise software -- from mainframe computing to the three-tier architecture of database, application, and user interface. To this day, the client-server architecture is the standard in business software.




The 2000s: Innovation for the New Millennium
With the Internet, the user becomes the focus of software applications. SAP develops mySAP Workplace and paves the way for the idea of an enterprise portal and role-specific access to information.



By 2005, 12 million users work each day with SAP solutions. There are now 100,600 installations worldwide, more than 1,500 partners, over 25 industry-specific business solutions, and more than 32,000 customers in 120 countries. SAP is the world's third-largest independent software vendor.
Today, based on Enterprise Services Architecture and the underlying integration and application platform, SAP NetWeaver, SAP is providing its customers with solutions for end-to-end business processes. With SAP NetWeaver, companies can integrate people, information, and processes within the company and beyond.

Some of the useful SAP related websites