The R/3 Infrastructure Technology: Distribution and Interoperability

The SAP infrastructure technology is a powerful basis for the R/3 applications and the ABAP/4 Development Workbench. It enables a virtually unrestricted distribution of applications and data bases, as well as unprecedented integration of in-house and external software components. 

Distributed processing with R/3:
SAP customers make different demands on R/3 application systems. R/3 technology meets these requirements with flexible concepts:
*	The cost-efficient implementation of R/3 on a centralized or two-tier client/server system is the ideal solution for small and mid-sized installations.
*	Mid-sized and large installations require high throughput performance with an acceptable management effort. In such cases we recommend the three-tier client/server implementation.

*	Very large installations do not simply demand powerful systems. They also require a very high level of system availability. The use of parallel database servers in a three-tier client/server architecture is considered to be the optimum solution.
*	Groupwide and worldwide installations have the greatest need for performance and availability. Many other requirements also have to be considered, such as the integration of existing structures and the necessity of geographical distribution. The ideal solution is provided by cooperative client/server computing with distributed applications.

R/3 infrastructure technology meets the diverse real-world needs with different options for distributing applications. All the basic forms of distributed processing can, of course, also be combined to fit your needs.


Integration and openness
Business processes do not end at the borders of computers or applications. The R/3 infrastructure technology provides a software bus to guarantee the complete implementation of business processes. It handles message-based integration for almost any number of application components. This ensures that different applications work together instead of against each other.

*	Messages are exchanged between applications via the Application Link Enabling concept (ALE). This technology controls the communication between R/3 subsystems, R/2 and R/3 applications, and, of course, between non-SAP systems and R/3.
*	SAP uses OLE technology (Object Linking and Embedding) from Microsoft and the ODBC standard (Open Database Connectivity) to link PC components with R/3.
*	SAP Business Workflow controls the individual processing steps executed in the application components.


Standard system view 
The many possibilities for distributing applications and for the cooperative use of different application systems results in a standard system view for the customer, who no longer has to deal with the problem of different systems on different computers. 


Continuous operation guaranteed
SAP makes it as simple as possible for the user to control and monitor R/3. Powerful Computing Center Management System (CCMS) tools monitor production operation, deliver current data about system status and resource usage, and recognize problem situations before they become serious.

And when it's time for a release changeover, the new Repository Switch ensures the fast and simple transition from one version to the next. The switch procedure reduces the time your production system is down during a release changeover to just a few hours.

The R/3 infrastructure technology leaves SAP customers free to manage their businesses instead of worrying about their system software.