By Natasha Lomas
Monday, July 23 2007 11:49 AM
URL: http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/communications/0,39044192,62029151,00.htm

A new generation of RFID products could play a significant role in battling climate change, according to SAP CEO Henning Kagermann.

Kagermann was speaking at a press conference in London to announce the software giant's second-quarter results.

He said SAP's customers are already involved in using RFID at the supply chain management level but looked ahead to "the next generation of these type of more intelligent products".

He told silicon.com: "We have a big debate about climate change these days and big demand for energy efficiency. The smart direction is to come to an efficient energy market. We can get an efficient energy market by making the meter smart--smart meter-reading--so that we can on an hourly or on a per-second basis match supply and demand."

Earlier this month, analyst Datamonitor predicted massive growth in smart metering in Europe and North America over the next five years as utilities overhaul existing infrastructures to improve power consumption monitoring and encourage consumers to reduce their energy usage.

Reporting its second-quarter results, SAP said software and related services in the quarter generated 1.71 billion euros (US$2.36 billion) in revenues--an increase of 16 percent on the same period last year, while software revenues stood at 715 million euros (US$989 million), an increase of 18 percent on 2006 figures. Total revenues were 2.42 billion euros (US$3.34 billion), a 10 percent increase on last year, it said.

SAP's operating income increased 10 percent on last year's second quarter figure to 577 million euros (US$798 million), while net income was up eight percent at 449 million euros (US$621 million) or 0.37 euros (US$0.51) per share.

Kagermann said Asia-Pacific would be growth engine number one for SAP in future.

Asked about the ongoing row between its wholly owned subsidiary TomorrowNow and rival software giant Oracle, Kagermann said Mark White--the man appointed as TomorrowNow's executive chairman in the wake of revelations of "inappropriate" downloads from Oracle's website--is "taking action".

But Kagermann refused to be drawn on how he saw the case developing. He said: "Why should I speculate now?"

Asked whether SAP was missing former rising star executive Shai Agassi, who left the company back in March, Kagermann said: "I am missing him in my heart but not in my business."

SAP also provided details of A1S, its upcoming mid-market suite of applications planned for September.

Natasha Lomas of Silicon.com reported from London.