Knowing that they shouldn't expect another big upgrade in 2007 will help customers make more-informed ERP choices, said Rodney Masney, president of ASUG and global IT architect at Owens-Illinois Inc., a Toledo, Ohio-based maker of packaging materials. His company already runs mySAP ERP 2004 and has plans to upgrade to the 2005 version.

ASUG members have in the past debated whether they should keep their ERP investments for the short term or until they started paying for extended maintenance. Now, customers will "know with confidence mySAP ERP 2005 will be around for a while. ERP is germane to most IT infrastructures. It's how we run our businesses," said Masney.

No other first-tier ERP vendor has offered upgrades the way SAP is doing now, said analyst Yvonne Genovese of Stamford, Conn.-based consulting firm Gartner Inc. Having an SOA-based system allows SAP to more easily break down its technology into smaller pieces instead of shipping it as a monolithic structure whose various parts are interdependent and that must be implemented in its entirety.