Microsoft and SAP Deliver Integration of SAP NetWeaver and .NET with Visual Studio .NET 2003-Integrated Portal Development Kit for .NET (PDK)

This tool has been long awaited, now its arrived SAP developers can combine the power of .NET with the functionality of SAP.  This is great news if you're into developing SAP applications, along side SQL Server the PDK makes Microsoft a most compelling platform for SAP.

From the press release:

'Provided as an add-in to the Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003 integrated development environment, the PDK for .NET enables SAP customers to build content for the SAP Enterprise Portal, the portal component of SAP NetWeaver, using any of the supported development languages, including Microsoft Visual C# and Microsoft Visual Basic .NET.'

'Using the PDK for .NET, developers and SAP customers are able to fully utilize the capabilities of the Microsoft .NET Framework to build interactive business content for SAP Enterprise Portal. This business content running on the SAP Enterprise Portal and the .NET Framework leverages key portal services, such as user management, SAP Single Sign On (SAP SSO) and specialized content. Developers can build the user interface of this interactive business content using any combination of the standard SAP .NET controls and user interface controls of SAP NetWeaver. The .NET portal business content is easily deployed through SAP NetWeaver and the Portal Runtime for .NET that processes the .NET business content code and integrates the results in SAP Enterprise Portal.'

The PDK can be downloaded from the SAP Developer Network at http://www.sdn.sap.com.

Yossi Pik the SAP project lead for the PDK has resumed blogging:

Recently, a number of news articles have hailed both SAP and Microsoft for their cooperative effort, citing the PDK for .NET as genuine success in the ongoing interoperability challenge. This motivated me to write again and make sure that readers understand that the PDK for .NET is the real deal. And this incredible software tool isn't just some cool demo or empty PR talk about interoperability, but a real product with the power to make an immediate impact on the lives of .NET developers, portal end users, IT staff, and their businesses.