By Kim Yoo-chul
WALLDORF, Germany ― Samsung Electronics will expand cooperation with the enterprise software giant SAP on projects concerning the Internet of Things (IoT), a senior SAP executive said, Friday (KST).
"I've got the name of Samsung very often. Samsung is one of our large customers. Yes, Samsung Electronics is a partner on mobile products and Samsung will be our partner in various futuristic business projects in IoT," SAP's Chief Accounting Officer Christoph Hutten, told The Korea Times during an interview at the company's headquarters.
"Transformational technologies offer significant potential to drive business innovation," the executive said.
The senior vice president said as Samsung Electronics has been shifting its focus to the promising business-to-business sector, the expanded partnership will help the Korean tech powerhouse bolster its presence in the world of IoT.
Samsung has been working on its IoT strategy since July this year after the company acquired SmartThings of the United States.
"Via various brain-storming programs, SAP is happy to help Samsung Electronics find new business models for corporate sustainability," Hutten said.
However, he declined to elaborate further about such projects.
The value of theIoT market is expected to reach $1.423 trillion by 2020 from last year's estimated $1.029 trillion, according to market research firms.
The IoT has a huge growth potential, Hutten said.
"It is becoming evident that the Internet of Things is going to be a fragmented industry with no single company providing a one-stop solution. Even big players will need to build partnerships with other providers in the IoT landscape to reach the end user," the executive said.
The two companies have already agreed to collaborate on handsets. Under the partnership, the addition of new devices is being put into the Samsung portfolio of wearables and mobile technology for business users by using SAP's in-house mobile platform.
The executive identified "cloud, mobile, social and big data" as the four major technology trends and stressed SAP is on track to simplify the IT environment.
According to his observation, the cloud features an abundance of cost-effective computational power and storage, while mobile is the new de-facto standard in business transactions.
The third-trend ― social ― is mostly about connected business and social networks, while big data uses real-time analytics for behavioral and predictive insights.
In a question of growing concerns over data security amid the expanded usability of cloud computing systems, the executive stressed SAP-provided systems are safe and added its customers have options as to which data they want to keep or want to transfer.
"If customers don't want to transfer their data, then they just do that simply. We are offering various options. Therefore, data centers should be developed into a stable server, as how you connect systems and who owns the connections really matter."
Hutten said SAP doesn't have an imminent plan to build a data center in Korea.
Rather, SAP plans to use corporate servers operated by International Business Machines (IBM) to effectively manage its customer data in Korea. IBM plans to set up its first data center in Korea next year.
 |
| SAP Chief Accounting Officer Christoph Hutten talks about the company's updated business strategies for next year at the corporation's headquarters in Walldorf, Germany, Friday. / Courtesy of SAP Korea |
"I've got the name of Samsung very often. Samsung is one of our large customers. Yes, Samsung Electronics is a partner on mobile products and Samsung will be our partner in various futuristic business projects in IoT," SAP's Chief Accounting Officer Christoph Hutten, told The Korea Times during an interview at the company's headquarters.
"Transformational technologies offer significant potential to drive business innovation," the executive said.
The senior vice president said as Samsung Electronics has been shifting its focus to the promising business-to-business sector, the expanded partnership will help the Korean tech powerhouse bolster its presence in the world of IoT.
Samsung has been working on its IoT strategy since July this year after the company acquired SmartThings of the United States.
"Via various brain-storming programs, SAP is happy to help Samsung Electronics find new business models for corporate sustainability," Hutten said.
However, he declined to elaborate further about such projects.
The value of theIoT market is expected to reach $1.423 trillion by 2020 from last year's estimated $1.029 trillion, according to market research firms.
The IoT has a huge growth potential, Hutten said.
"It is becoming evident that the Internet of Things is going to be a fragmented industry with no single company providing a one-stop solution. Even big players will need to build partnerships with other providers in the IoT landscape to reach the end user," the executive said.
The two companies have already agreed to collaborate on handsets. Under the partnership, the addition of new devices is being put into the Samsung portfolio of wearables and mobile technology for business users by using SAP's in-house mobile platform.
The executive identified "cloud, mobile, social and big data" as the four major technology trends and stressed SAP is on track to simplify the IT environment.
According to his observation, the cloud features an abundance of cost-effective computational power and storage, while mobile is the new de-facto standard in business transactions.
The third-trend ― social ― is mostly about connected business and social networks, while big data uses real-time analytics for behavioral and predictive insights.
In a question of growing concerns over data security amid the expanded usability of cloud computing systems, the executive stressed SAP-provided systems are safe and added its customers have options as to which data they want to keep or want to transfer.
"If customers don't want to transfer their data, then they just do that simply. We are offering various options. Therefore, data centers should be developed into a stable server, as how you connect systems and who owns the connections really matter."
Hutten said SAP doesn't have an imminent plan to build a data center in Korea.
Rather, SAP plans to use corporate servers operated by International Business Machines (IBM) to effectively manage its customer data in Korea. IBM plans to set up its first data center in Korea next year.
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