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SAP Strengthens Leadership in Compliance Solutions with Acquisition of Virsa


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Enhanced Value to Customers Comes as SAP Broadens Enterprise Compliance and Risk Management Offerings

LAS VEGAS - April 03, 2006 - Recognizing the growing role of enterprise systems in assisting companies to meet the increasing challenges of corporate compliance and risk management, SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today announced that it is acquiring Virsa Systems, Inc., a privately-held, leading supplier of cross-enterprise compliance solutions. The acquisition will deliver value by providing powerful compliance solutions that work across heterogeneous IT environments to reduce risk and cost and provide improved business control, making SAP® solutions even more attractive for prospective customers on a global basis. The announcement was made today at Simplify, the 2006 Virsa Customer Conference, being held in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Founded in 1996, Virsa has more than 300 enterprise customers, many of which are Global 1000 companies, across all major vertical market segments. SAP stated that the transaction with Virsa is continuing evidence of its strategy to use “fill-in” acquisitions to add to its broad solution offering by gaining specific technologies and capabilities that meet the needs of its customers, within industries or across industries, while maintaining its successful organic growth track record. Terms of the all-cash transaction were not disclosed.

“Across industry segments and global markets, organizations are under tremendous pressure to protect their brand and reputation while driving growth and shareholder value,” said Shai Agassi, president of the Product & Technology Group and executive board member, SAP AG. “Leading companies are looking to adopt an integrated view of governance, risk and compliance instead of the current reactive and fragmented approach. Acquiring Virsa extends the value of SAP applications and represents a key component of our strategy to be the primary source of enterprise risk management support, regardless of company size or industry segment. Virsa offers people, intellectual property and experience that will enhance the SAP customer experience and add immediate value for a strong cross-section of our customer base. We welcome Virsa employees, partners and customers to the SAP family.”

Virsa is the leading provider of compliance solutions that monitor and enforce business controls in real time across enterprise systems and legacy applications. Virsa solutions help customers maintain continuous compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, GLB and other regulations. SAP and Virsa already have a highly successful relationship at three levels:

* Technology: Virsa solutions are designed and delivered on the SAP NetWeaver® platform, making Virsa one of the more than 1,000 independent software vendors (ISVs) who have committed to build and market solutions on SAP’s leading platform.
* Go to Market: SAP and Virsa have been closely aligned in joint marketing, sales and product development activities. Since March 2005, SAP has been reselling Virsa’s flagship product, Compliance Calibrator™, as an add-on to mySAP ERP. In the one-year period since that agreement was announced, SAP and Virsa have partnered on more than 150 customer wins. Additionally, SAP Ventures is an investor in Virsa.
* Customer/Vendor: SAP has one of the largest global deployments of Virsa’s Compliance Calibrator and Access Enforcer, with more than 40,000 users around the world.

“Virsa established itself as an innovator by embedding compliance into business processes—making compliance repeatable, sustainable and less costly,” said Jasvir Gill, CEO and founder, Virsa Systems, Inc. “Together, SAP and Virsa are simplifying cross-enterprise compliance so that CEOs and CFOs can focus on their core business instead of compliance. I’m excited for our employees to join the SAP team and for our customers who will benefit from accelerated innovation and enhanced governance, risk and compliance offerings from the world’s leading business solutions provider.”

In making the announcement, SAP stated that the acquisition is expected to be completed in May, 2006 and is subject to the approval of the respective antitrust authorities. Headquartered in Fremont, California, Virsa employs nearly 250 people and has offices throughout the United States, as well as in the United Kingdom, Germany, India and Australia. While integration plans are now being explored, SAP said it intended to continue operations in these offices and that Virsa employees would become part of SAP America and the worldwide network of SAP Labs.

About Virsa Systems, Inc.
Founded in 1996, Virsa Systems, Inc. is the global leader in cross-enterprise solutions for governance, risk, and compliance management. Virsa provides the only solutions that dramatically simplify compliance with regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley, by enabling customers to embed automated control design, testing, and enforcement directly into their business processes. The result is significantly lower cost, reduced risk, and increased efficiency. With more than 300 enterprise customers globally and more than 2.5 million end users, Virsa has the largest installed base in the sector. Virsa is privately funded with venture investment from SAP Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Virsa offices are located throughout the world, including the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, India, Singapore, Australia, and Japan. For more information go to www.virsa.com

About SAP
SAP is the world’s leading provider of business software solutions*. Today, more than 32,000 customers in more than 120 countries run SAP® software—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 business solutions help enterprises of all sizes around the world improve customer relationships, enhance partner collaboration and create efficiencies across their supply chains and business operations. SAP industry solutions support the unique business processes of more than 25 industries, including high tech, healthcare, retail, public sector and financial services. 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 www.sap.com)

(*) SAP defines business software solutions as comprising enterprise resource planning and related software solutions 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.

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