SAP will stress "co-innovations" at its upcoming Sapphire '07 international customer conferences, to be held in Atlanta, Georgia, April 22-25 and in Vienna, Austria, May 14-16. Over the past three years, attendance at the event has grown from more than 9,000 in 2005 to 15,000 in 2006. This year, SAP will introduce a new model for ecosystem co-innovation, hoping to transform Sapphire from a vendor conference to an industry forum that supports companies in collaboratively addressing IT and business challenges.

Combined, the conferences will feature more than 230 presentations from best-run businesses and public sector organizations of all sizes that are empowering their workforces and differentiating their organizations through innovative business processes designed on enterprise SOA, the company says. Customers and partners will also gain first-hand insight into the SAP product road map, including the near-term plan for delivering the first fully integrated software suite built on a flexible business process platform.

Nearly 200 demo stations on the conference floors will offer interactive presentations featuring topics such as creating applications for enterprise SOA using SAP NetWeaver, defining and documenting services and business process integration. In addition, the event will feature 30-minute guided tours every hour showcasing SAP NetWeaver in action. Customers will have the opportunity to explore how SAP's wide range of solution sets and applications can empower their businesses.

Keynote presentations will feature Hasso Plattner, co-founder and chairman of the Supervisory Board, SAP; Henning Kagermann, CEO and chairman of the Executive Board, SAP; and Léo Apotheker, president CSO and deputy CEO, SAP.