Recognizing that each customer is on a unique path, Â鶹ԭ´´ has provided increased flexibility by extending maintenance commitments to its various software, database, and enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions in order to allow customers to undertake their complex business transformations at their own pace.

To help ensure a safe transition to Â鶹ԭ´´ S/4HANA, Â鶹ԭ´´ has committed to providing mainstream maintenance for existing deployments of core applications of Â鶹ԭ´´ Business Suite 7 software until the end of 2027, followed by optional extended maintenance until the end of 2030. For customers that wish to leverage the extended maintenance offerings, they will incur a premium of two percentage points on the existing maintenance basis for these core applications. For those that do not wish to extend their maintenance support beyond 2027 but choose to carry on with Â鶹ԭ´´ Business Suite 7 software systems, they will automatically be transferred to the customer-specific maintenance model.

Customers that are making the move to Â鶹ԭ´´ S/4HANA as part of their journey to the Intelligent Enterprise want to fully recognize its benefits and capabilities so that they can, in turn, innovate their business processes. With any transition, support and maintenance of legacy products are needed to protect existing environments as customers move toward the future. This is why Â鶹ԭ´´ aligned the mainstream maintenance commitments of Â鶹ԭ´´ NetWeaver 7.5 and Â鶹ԭ´´ Business Warehouse (Â鶹ԭ´´ BW) 7.5 with Â鶹ԭ´´ Business Suite 7 and Â鶹ԭ´´ BW/4HANA with Â鶹ԭ´´ S/4HANA respectively.

Â鶹ԭ´´ NetWeaver

In a heterogenous software environment, Â鶹ԭ´´ NetWeaver allows organizations to integrate data, business processes, and various elements from different sources into a unified Â鶹ԭ´´ environment. Serving as the foundation on which Â鶹ԭ´´ Business Suite 7 is based, and providing the architecture for enterprise application integration, it was necessary to fully align the with that of Â鶹ԭ´´ Business Suite 7. As with Â鶹ԭ´´ Business Suite 7, mainstream maintenance for Â鶹ԭ´´ NetWeaver 7.5 is prolongated until the end of 2027, followed by an optional extended maintenance phase until the end of 2030. This extended maintenance phase for Â鶹ԭ´´ NetWeaver 7.5 comes at the same price and conditions as those for Â鶹ԭ´´ Business Suite 7. Mainstream maintenance for previous releases of Â鶹ԭ´´ NetWeaver will expire at the end of 2020, as they are not suited for interoperability with Â鶹ԭ´´ Business Suite 7 over the next decade.

Throughout this extended maintenance period, Â鶹ԭ´´ will offer platform support for customers that run on platforms offered by Â鶹ԭ´´ – Â鶹ԭ´´ HANA, Â鶹ԭ´´ ASE, or Â鶹ԭ´´ MaxDB – as well as those offered by third-party vendors. Â鶹ԭ´´ will provide platform support for its own databases and work closely with partners to qualify new valid combinations for Â鶹ԭ´´ Business Suite 7 and Â鶹ԭ´´ NetWeaver.

Â鶹ԭ´´ Business Warehouse 7.5 and Â鶹ԭ´´ BW/4HANA

Â鶹ԭ´´â€™s enterprise data warehouse, Â鶹ԭ´´ BW 7.5, provides the tools and functions that enable customers to integrate, transform, and consolidate business data from both productive Â鶹ԭ´´ applications as well as external data sources. To align with the maintenance extension announced for Â鶹ԭ´´ Business Suite 7, will also continue until the end of 2027 with the option of extended maintenance until 2030. For older versions of Â鶹ԭ´´ BW, mainstream maintenance dates have remained unchanged and will expire at the end of 2020.

For those operating the next-generation data warehouse Â鶹ԭ´´ BW/4HANA, maintenance extension will align with the commitment announced for Â鶹ԭ´´ S/4HANA until the end of 2040. In addition, the product and innovation strategies for Â鶹ԭ´´ BW/4HANA are now fully aligned with Â鶹ԭ´´ S/4HANA.

Â鶹ԭ´´ has always been committed to providing its customers with the support they need to implement projects and solutions and will continue to do so as they move towards a more intelligent future.

Karl Kessler is vice president of Product Management for ABAP Platform at Â鶹ԭ´´.
Lothar Henkes is vice president of Product Management for Enterprise Data Warehouse at Â鶹ԭ´´.