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SAP Powers Leading Florida Small Businesses

Gary Player Group, XtremeMac and Ron Jon Leverage SAP(R) Business One to Achieve Business Goals and Manage With Accurate, Up-to-the-Minute Visibility

SB Informer
Tuesday, May 16, 2006; 07:06 AM

ORLANDO, Fla. - Demonstrating its growth in providing solutions for small business and ability to serve enterprises of all sizes, SAP AG (NYSE: SAP - News) today announced that Gary Player, XtremeMac and Ron Jon surf shop -- three of Florida's best-known small companies -- are leveraging SAP® Business One as a platform for more efficient operations and sustainable growth. Working with SAP's local channel partner Netsirk Technologies, based in Sunrise, Florida, the three companies are deploying SAP Business One to power their businesses as they expand into international operations, meet increasing customer and supplier demands and experience exceptional growth. The announcement was made at SAPPHIRE® '06, SAP's international customer conference, being held in Orlando, Florida, May 16-18.

Gary Player, XtremeMac and Ron Jon are taking advantage of the integrated business management capabilities of SAP Business One to gain better visibility and insight across their entire operations, including financials, manufacturing and customer relationship management. The three customers are among nearly 10,000 small and midsize enterprises worldwide that have selected SAP Business One in the three years since its introduction to market.

"Small and midsize businesses are widely recognized growth engines for the local and national economy, and SAP is pleased to count three of Florida's most well-known and respected companies among the ever-growing list of customers that are becoming best-run businesses with SAP," said Bill McDermott, president & CEO, SAP Americas. "Together with our partners, we are delivering tools and expertise so that companies of all sizes can compete effectively, expand their business and realize their goals for profitability and growth."

Gary Player Groups: A Hole in One with SAP Business One

Founded by Gary Player, a living legend of golf who has won nine PGA Grand Slams and nine major Senior PGA Championships, Gary Player Group is company with global operations yet a small number of employees. Unable to get a single view of its financial information across multiple markets with the ACCPAC application it was running, the company selected SAP Business One to achieve a consolidated financial world view, leverage multi-currency and multi-language capabilities and gain greater control over its operations.

"SAP Business One supports our mission to be a dynamic and competitive multi-national force within the leisure industry," said Marc Player, CEO, Gary Player Group. "SAP and NetSirk have delivered an application with a consistent format for use in markets across the world and an easy-to-use alert system that zeroes in on the most important aspects of our business and allows us to make critical decisions while we can still influence the outcomes."

XtremeMac Manages Phenomenal Growth with SAP Business One

One of the first manufacturers of iPod accessories, Weston, Florida-based XtremeMac has grown tremendously since starting out in a residential garage as its original office in 2002. With annual revenues increasing more than tenfold in three short years and ever rising demand for its products, executives at the company quickly realized the inadequacy of accounting software for providing an overview of the entire business across financial, inventory, order and customer relationship management activities. Deploying SAP Business One to replace QuickBooks in 2005, the company quickly increased its use of the SAP software from an initial 10 users to 35 users to meet the growth in its employee base. XtremeMac is now poised to implement seamlessly integrated solution extensions for warehouse management, electronic data interchange (EDI) and e-commerce as it serves the nation's leading retailers including The Apple Store, Target, Best Buy and Radio Shack.

"Before SAP Business One, we were working from spreadsheets, and although we managed to keep up with increasing demand, our order process was disjointed and it was difficult to determine if we had inventory to meet an order," said Gary Bart, CEO, XtremeMac. "We expect SAP to be able to accommodate our growth and allow us to track orders against inventory as well as introduce new capabilities as we add retailers to our distribution network."

Surf's up for Ron Jon

Throughout its forty-plus years of operation, the legendary Ron Jon Surf Shop has redefined surfing culture through an evolving variety of surfboards, surf wear and other beach-related merchandise. With the scope of operations reaching six retail stores nationwide and several related business ventures, the Cocoa Beach, Florida-based company has selected SAP Business One to consolidate warehouse management, e-commerce, inventory and pricing processes for improved operational control and enhanced business decision-making. Using the SAP application, Ron Jon aims to refine its tracking and reporting of inventory while streamlining the product cycle from the warehouse to the point of sale. Ron Jon further plans to refine internal reporting, employing analytics and reporting capabilities from SAP to better manage purchasing and merchandise pricing levels.

"As a well-recognized brand in a lifestyle industry, we require a business management application to streamline our sales and merchandising processes and fully capitalize on our long-term growth prospects," said Ed Moriarty, president, Ron Jon Surf Shop. "As we look to open several new stores and expand our online presence over the next few years, SAP and Netsirk will deliver newfound flexibility and operational visibility by uniting our systems with our sales floor through a single, integrated application."

About SAP

SAP is the world's leading provider of business software*. Today, more than 33,200 customers in more than 120 countries run SAP® applications-from distinct solutions addressing the needs of small and midsize enterprises to suite offerings for global organizations. Powered by the SAP NetWeaver® platform to drive innovation and enable business change, SAP software helps enterprises of all sizes around the world improve customer relationships, enhance partner collaboration and create efficiencies across their supply chains and business operations. SAP solution portfolios support the unique business processes of more than 25 industries, including high tech, retail, financial services, healthcare and the public sector. With subsidiaries in more than 50 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE under the symbol "SAP." (Additional information at http://www.sap.com).

(*) SAP defines business software as comprising enterprise resource planning and related applications such as supply chain management, customer relationship management, product life-cycle management and supplier relationship management.

Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "intend," "may," "plan," "project," "predict," "should" and "will" and similar expressions as they relate to SAP are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. SAP undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations The factors that could affect SAP's future financial results are discussed more fully in SAP's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including SAP's most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.

NOTE: SAP, R/3, mySAP, mySAP.com, xApps, xApp, SAP NetWeaver and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries all over the world. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies. Data contained in this document serve informational purposes only. National product specifications may vary.

For customers interested in learning more about SAP products:
Global Customer Center: +49 180 534-34-24
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For more information, press only:
Jim Dever, SAP, +1 (610) 661-2161, [email protected], EDT
Astrid Poelchen, SAP, +49 (6227) 7-47644, [email protected], CET
SAP Press Office, +49 (6227) 7-46315, CET; +1 (610) 661-3200, EDT; [email protected]
Ulrike Raidl, Burson-Marsteller for SAP, +49 69 238 -9-13; [email protected], CET
Torrey Fazen, Burson-Marsteller for SAP, +1 617 764 0146, [email protected], EDT

During SAPPHIRE (from May 16 to 18), to speak with press contacts on site, please dial the SAP press room at +1 (407) 685-4329.

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