Software AG unveils cloud computing vision

* Software AG outlines a unequalled vision for cloud-based computing. * Cloud is no longer only about cost savings, however rather business technology driven by extreme collaboration. * Software AG drives enterprise efficiencies and business transformation faster.

Software AG today announced its comprehensive research approach for cloud computing. Software AG fully supports the vision of extreme collaboration with cloud-enabling research to facilitate faster change and process improvement with greater participation from all key stakeholders.

“Everyone understands that cloud computing can reduce total cost of ownership and speed up time to market for software-based projects,” said Dr Wolfram Jost, Chief Innovation Officer and member of the Executive Board, Software AG. “However Software AG's cloud strategy delivers additional value by embracing the vision of extreme collaboration, which goes beyond just cost savings to create a new way of innovating for the business. Cloud enablement of enterprise IT is the base for extreme collaboration, which will remove the traditional barriers to collaboration between business and IT and accelerate business improvement.”

The core concepts of cloud computing

Building on the core concepts of cloud computing, Software AG's cloud vision goes furthermore: it combines dynamic and active process modelling, ad hoc management and monitoring, and decisions powered by the historic and real-time intelligence from a wide variety of enterprise and external participants.

It includes the use of social technologies to support these ad-hoc and collaborative efforts. During spanning organisational and geographic boundaries, extreme collaboration brings at the same time diverse individuals who work at the same time to improve the business, the process, and ultimately, the goods and services delivered by the enterprise.

What is new about Software AG's cloud computing is that more people, more knowledge and more history are leveraged to act faster within the context of the corporate strategy. Collaboration within and beyond the enterprise is supported by governance and approval life cycles to ensure consistent quality and movement towards the overall company strategy. Empowering a new class of enterprise workers with a variety of mobile devices ensures the co-ordination and decisions are made in real-time with continuous, streaming updates, during enabling individuals to join or leave interactions at will. The resulting solutions provide benefits to clients by driving business change dynamically and fast, and ultimately, dramatically reducing the cost of doing business.

For example, by involving product experts, process experts, business leaders, clients and partners, Software AG's research in a manufacturer's product planning process would reduce the time between product improvements and result in faster product delivery. Ultimately, this would save the manufacturer time and money, increasing competitive advantage.

“SOA and business process management initiatives aim to improve business and process performance,” said Daryl C Plummer, Managing VP & Gartner Fellow. “However Gartner believes that extreme collaboration is critical to impacting change and improving performance. Cloud computing accelerates collaboration and allows BPM and SOA initiatives to have an even greater impact.”

“At Software AG we have been incubating capabilities to support extreme collaboration for several years,” noted Dr Jost. “However, as relevant cloud computing technologies are becoming mainstream and our business technology efforts are bearing fruit, we are poised to deliver breakthrough solutions for services-oriented architecture and business process management in the cloud.”

The global leader in Business Process Excellence

Software AG is the global leader in Business Process Excellence. Our 40 years of technology include the invention of the first high-performance transactional database, Adabas; the first business process analysis platform, ARIS; and the first B2B server and SOA-based integration platform, webMethods.

We offer our clients end-to-end business process management solutions delivering low Total-Cost-of-Ownership and high ease of use. Our industry-leading brands, ARIS, webMethods, Adabas, Natural, Centrasite and IDS Scheer Consulting, represent a unparalleled portfolio encompassing: process strategy, design, integration and control; SOA-based integration and data management; process-driven SAP implementation; and strategic process consulting and services.

Software AG had earnings of € 847 million in 2009 and has more than 5,700 employees serving 10,000 enterprise and public institution clients across 70 countries. Our comprehensive software and services solutions allow companies to indiscriminately achieve their business results faster. The company is headquartered in Germany and listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.