HP, StreamServe Deliver Output Management for SAP
HP and StreamServe Inc. have forged an alliance to co-develop, along with ERP giant SAP AG, an advanced output management system for SAP customers. StreamServe provides software that manages and automates the exchange of information within and across the enterprise. Under terms of the agreement, HP will integrate StreamServe technology with a new HP output management product.
The HP, StreamServe alliance includes four main initiatives: an OEM among the two companies, a product development agreement, a global reseller agreement, and a reference sales arrangement.
The OEM agreement is the most significant part of the new alliance, because it calls for HP to embed StreamServe technology in a new HP output management solution that will initially be designed for users of both SAP R/3 and mySAP.com. By combining technologies, the two companies plan to provide an output management solution that supports a range of data formats and channels, including e-mail, fax, HTML, PDF, and distributed printing.
Under terms of the product development agreement, HP and StreamServe will focus on integrating the solution with SAP software. The global reseller agreement calls for HP to resell StreamServe's entire software product line, while the reference sales arrangement calls for StreamServe sales reps and consultants to promote HP's output management solution as well as output management software from Dazel, a company owned by HP.
The alliance plays into HP's strengths in print and output management and aligns with the company's ERP strategy since SAP is a -- perhaps the -- primary HP partner in the ERP space.