BERLIN, Oct. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- 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(R)
solutions for governance, risk, and compliance (SAP solutions for GRC) with
Cisco(R) 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(R) 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(R) TechEd 2008 in Las Vegas, Berlin, Shanghai and Bangalore
More than 16,000 SAP customers, partners and technical experts are
convening at SAP(R) 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 http://www.sapteched.com.
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 http://www.sap.com)
(*) SAP defines business software as comprising enterprise resource
planning and related applications.
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For more information, press only:
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