AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands & WALLDORF, Germany — SITA, the world’s leading provider of integrated telecommunications and information solutions for the air transport industry, and SAP AG (NYSE:SAP), the world’s leading provider of collaborative e-business solutions, will create a new, independent ASP venture for the world’s air-transport community.
This ASP will combine software, implementation, infrastructure, service and support to offer preconfigured and rapidly implementable solutions to enable “one-stop-shopping” on a rental basis. The joint venture brings SITA’s expertise in Internet technologies and application provision, and its global integrated voice and data network, together with the SAP market-leading set of applications for the air-transport industry and SAPHosting’s experience in providing applications via an ASP model, to deliver mySAP.com e-business solutions over SITA’s secure global network.
“We are taking the lead in providing our customers with affordable access to the latest business applications available,” said John Watson, director general of SITA. “Our customers want to reduce the total cost of systems ownership, and by using the ASP business model we will provide the air-transport industry with scalable applications, predictable costs and open access to the latest technologies and functionality.”
The new venture will take advantage of the experience of SAP and SITA in global application provision. With over 400 customers in the aerospace and defense industry, SAP is a leading supplier of enterprise solutions while SITA provides a range of application services to airports, airlines, airfreight and aerospace companies integrated with its desktop and network infrastructure solutions.
“SITA was a natural partner for SAP as the joint venture brings together two world-leading companies with complementary capabilities and a focus on delivering the highest levels of customer service,” said Nils Herzberg, senior vice president of the Industry Business Sector for Discrete Industries at SAP AG. “Together, we aim to extend e-business across the entire air-transport community, building on our experience with some of the largest companies in the industry.”
It is expected that small and medium-sized airlines, maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO) providers, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and airports will be some of the first beneficiaries of the maintenance and engineering, procurement, finance and human resources applications to be offered by the joint venture. The portfolio of value-added services and applications is expected to quickly expand to meet the requirements of the global air-transport community.
The joint venture will utilize the high-quality services of SAPHosting to help deliver these solutions and will also explore e-marketplace opportunities, which are complementary to, and can be integrated with, Aerospan.com — the comprehensive, business-to-business e-marketplace majority-owned by SITA.
