This is a very common question, since SAP is promoting the Business Connector as a way to integrate into SAP. SAP licensed WebMethods software and distributes it under the brand SAP Business Connector. This was an initiative to allow SAP Customers the ability to communicate with other SAP Customers or the SAP Marketplaces using XML via the IDOC (ALE) interface in SAP. The Webmethods technology is an Enterprise Application Integration product (see above). It is middleware that communicates to SAP NOT in real-time, and for the sole purpose to allow document-based messaging from one SAP System to another. You would NOT use the SAP Business Connector in a web application (e-Commerce, Procurement, etc), but instead use it to facilitate a business-to-business transaction in an EDI-like manner. You send an XML document to your vendor, and they send you an XML packet back. The Business Connector has no place in a web application that requires a REAL-TIME and flexible interface to SAP R/3.

Note: bTalk does support XML in and out of SAP, but it is Real-time. If you want to use bTalk for B2B transactions (instead of Business Connector) which requires messaging to assure the message is received by the other party, then you need to use a messaging service with bTalk

When we say "Real Time", we mean a user makes a request, and the response is returned immediately. There is no layer of messaging. When you go to a web site (like Amazon) and submit your order, you click the submit button, and in seconds another page is displayed with your order number. This is what we refer to as real-time. The order is sent to SAP R/3 and the order number is returned to the user. The transaction starts and ends with the user. It does not enter a queue to be handled at a later time in a batch. The user gets the information directly from SAP.

We believe that business applications can not afford to have outdated or inaccessible data. If your e-commerce application is not checking order status or availability, then there is a GAP between your user and the data which will effect your business and your bottom line. There is only one way for your web application to operate in real-time - using a web application server and using bTalk.

Absolutely. There is a time to use an EAI package, and a time you use bTalk. We do not consider bTalk a product that overlaps in functionality with the typical EAI package. We believe every company will need both an EAI package and software that facilitates real-time transactions.

bTalk allows you to easily web-enable transactions in SAP using standard web technology. This compliments an EAI package.

bTalk has a low total cost of ownership compared to any EAI tool on the market. Even if the EAI software was free, the time it takes to implement and train moves the TCO into the hundreds of thousands. bTalk shows a return on investment immediately, by saving time in development. bTalk is priced like any enterprise development tool which is 80% less then a typical EAI package.