Microsoft, SAP Rename Project Mendocino as Duet

SAP and Microsoft announced the official name for Project Mendocino on Thursday and said they plan to ship the jointly developed software in June.

Mendocino will officially be called Duet, the companies said. The name presumably is meant to suggest harmony between the two software makers, which first announced the joint project about a year ago.

Duet will allow workers to access data stored in SAP’s business applications through Microsoft’s familiar Office applications, such as Excel and Outlook. The tight links between the two products will open SAP’s business applications to more users without the need for a lot of retraining, they said.

Before the product is even available, the companies said they are working on enhancements. Later this year, they’ll release two updates that will expand the type of business scenarios supported by the software and add support for additional languages, they said.

They also kicked off a worldwide advertising campaign Thursday and launched a website for the product. The software will be jointly marketed, sold and supported by Microsoft, which is based in Redmond, Wash., and SAP of Walldorf, Germany.

About 100 customers and partners have been testing Duet since early versions were released late last year, they said.

-James Niccolai, IDG News Service

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