Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
SAP launches lab in Newtown Square
Company to work with partners, customers on new software solutions
NEWTOWN » SAP has opened a second American innovation lab, this one at its U.S. headquarters in Newtown Square.
The giant software company last week hosted partners and potential participants in a program meant to encourage the creation of new business solutions.
The new lab, SAP’s second in North America along with Palo Alto, Calif., will have a focus on creating business applications that deal with emerging technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data analytics, the company said.
“I am very excited about it. I think we are going to be doing great things here,” said O. Sinan Tumer, at the launch Tuesday of SAP’s Co-Innovation Lab, or COIL, in Newtown Square. “This is the right place for our customers to interact with us.”
SAP has long been involved in co-innovation around the world with partners and industry heavyweights, like Cisco, Intel and VMWare. The Germanbased company has 15 of the labs around the world. It opened its Palo Alto lab in 2007 and others are located in Germany, Brazil, India and China.
“You have to be where your customers are,” said Rudolf Held, vice president and head of SAP Innovation Labs worldwide, during Tuesday’s rollout.
While the West Coast co-innovation center attracts many global software innovators, Held expects the Newtown Square location to attract industrial customers.
“There’s a lot of industrial expertise here,” he said of the East Coast.
Last week’s event showcased the results of strategic partnerships, and why SAP says today’s business leaders have turned toward co-innovation models versus outdated methods of proprietary innovation/R&D.
Executives participated in panels and demonstrations throughout the day. Companies like Cisco, NetApp, Intel, VMWare, Suse demonstrated new products and pilots for smart factories, digital manufacturing, supply chain as well as software/hardware for emerging uses with Fujitsu, Movilitas, Enterra, Inventy, Suse, NetApp and OsiSoft.
In one demonstration, participants could view apartments for rent in Dubai skyscraper, using interactive technology to take a virtual tour. SAP helped develop the product for a bank in Dubai.
At the heart of the COIL program in Newtown Square is a glass-walled office on the second floor of the company’s headquarters building. SAP said the labs accelerate the creation of new solutions that span multiple industries. Benefits of the labs include project support, reduced development costs and shorter time to market for new applications, SAP said.
“The process is very informal as well,” noted Steve Collins, head of media relations for SAP North America. “They can come in, sit at the same table and use SAP’s expertise to develop
the software that fits their needs.”
Based in Walldorf, Germany, SAP develops enterprise software for companies of all sizes in many different industries. Customers of SAP software and services range from businesses like Colgate-Palmolive, Corning and Johnson & Johnson to the NHL, NBA and Cirque du Soleil; public sector organizations including many Pennsylvania government agencies; and 365,000 other organizations around the globe. It has 87,000 employees, including 3,000 in Newtown Square.
Rodolpho Cardenuto, president of Global Channels & General Business at SAP, indicated the new lab
should add life to the region’s innovation efforts as well.
“Co-innovation builds an agile and vibrant partner ecosystem that drives value through external expertise in digital technologies, hardware and networks,” Cardenuto said. “Today with the launch of the co-innovation lab on the U.S. East Coast, we are strengthening the innovative power of SAP and its partners in North America by expanding our digital ecosystem in the region.”