SAP recently announced a new batch of upgrades to SAP ERP 6.0 (formerly MySAP 2005). This release marks the end of a journey toward improved modularity and maintainability. It also heralds the strategic direction that SAP will follow until 2010.

NetWeaver Finally Completes the Tapestry

SAP began its rise to ERP dominance in the 1980s with its R/2 product. SAP R/2 was a packaged financial management application that ran on mainframe computers. SAP R/3, a client-server version, was launched in 1992. R/3 became one of the dominant ERP platforms of the 1990s. Popular modules included Financials and Controlling (FICO), Human Resources (HR), Materials Management (MM), Sales and Distribution (SD), and Production Planning (PP). R/3 relies on SAP's proprietary language, called ABAP. The complexity and power of R/3 often results in extremely arduous implementations.