Intergraph Corporation and SAP have signed a memorandum of understanding for joint development to integrate mySAP.com solutions from SAP, including those for product life cycle, supply chain and customer relationship management (PLM, SCM and CRM), with Intergraph's integrated life cycle engineering solutions. Joint efforts are aimed at tightly integrating the business and engineering environments, and bridging the companies' distinct data models and databases. The memorandum acknowledges the importance of life cycle integration of business and technical information, and is the operational framework for joint development efforts as well as a potential future strategic partner relationship.

Intergraph and SAP claim that benefits for customers using their integrated software include streamlining engineering workflows, delivering better process plants and ships, lowering manpower and material costs, reducing construction time and costs and enabling effective life cycle management of plant and ship assets. For SAP and Intergraph, the effort is expected to result in technology improvements to both parties' software, joint penetration into the marine and process industries and increases in software sales to current and future joint customers.

Initial joint work will be performed in two areas: a charter project and an integration project. The charter project involves Intergraph and SAP working together with a mutual customer to combine business and engineering workflows. Both SAP and Intergraph have a history of working with advanced customers on projects that offer the potential to significantly improve competitive advantage. The integration project consists of integrating SAP software with the next-generation Intergraph software for shipbuilding, GSCAD (global shipbuilding computer aided design). A team of specialists from each company will work on the integration and development of a joint infrastructure.

SAP claims to be the world's largest inter-enterprise software company as well as the world's fourth-largest independent software supplier overall. Intergraph Corporation is a worldwide provider of computer aided engineering solutions. It is represented in South Africa by Intergraph Systems Southern Africa, formerly Intertech Systems. Intertech, a subsidiary of IT group Fintech, was recently involved in a joint venture with black IT and telecommunications empowerment company Ikwezi Group. The company is now majority held by Ikwezi.

Intergraph Systems Southern Africa

(011) 313 1222

rvolst@intch.co.za