Germany's SAP AG has agreed a deal with Dutch software group Baan to include technology developed by its SAP Portals unit into the iBaan Portal product.
Europe's biggest software maker said the deal, which will see Baan participating on the advisory board of SAP Portals, underlined its commitment to open partnerships with other software makers and other technologies.
"By forming this alliance with Baan, we are delivering on a vision to introduce open, widely distributed portal solutions that integrate seamlessly with enterprise applications," SAP CEO Hasso Plattner said in a statement.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
Baan had a longstanding relationship with Top Tier, the US portals specialist acquired by SAP earlier this year to form the basis of its SAP Portals unit.
SAP set up SAP Portals as a separate division earlier this year as part of a twin-pillared strategy based on Internet marketplace and portal software.
The company is basing its Internet-focused strategy on electronic marketplaces which can be used between companies or as exchanges within organisations and portals that allow users to access data and information both from within their company and across the Web.
Baan, once an archrival of SAP in traditional enterprise software and now a unit of Invensys, launched its iBaan suite of Internet products earlier this year.
