Satyam Computer Services Ltd., a leading global business and information technology services company, announced that it has been named as the first ‘Strategic Services' partner for SAP in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, as an extension of its existing alliance with the market and technology leader in business software solutions. The agreement involves the utilisation of Satyam's award-winning services to manage over 20 percent of SAP's business in the MENA region under the terms of the “Strategic Services,” which is a new region-specific partnership initiative rolled out by the business software company. The partnership focuses on SAP's and Satyam's long-term regional business expansion strategy, which is rooted in the leading IT services company's strong overall value proposition for large-scale global technical implementations across a number of SAP products. The opportunities in the MENA region, which both companies are seeking to leverage, comprise end-to-end implementations, upgrades, migrations and a host of maintenance services. As the initiative seeks to cover the entire MENA region, Satyam will be joined by six other companies, which will be selected by SAP from its list of global partners. Sergio Maccotta, managing director of SAP Middle East and North Africa, said, “Building a vibrant customer-centric ecosystem is key to supporting our customers' business needs in the region. Satyam is a valued SAP partner and an integral contributor to SAP's global community of innovation.” In addition to a strong regional collaboration, Satyam and SAP have been working closely at the global level, which has resulted in equally successful undertakings spanning Asia, Europe, the US and the rest of the Middle East. The company has been SAP's ‘National' and ‘Services' partner in various countries, and international offshore partner since June 2004. Further strengthening its immersion in SAP's international operations, Satyam has also been named as “National Implementation” partner for India, US, Singapore, Japan and Australia-New Zealand. “Satyam is concentrating on strategic investments and developing various composite solutions on SAP. We are focused on delivering niche domain solutions for our customers thereby further enhancing the value of SAP solutions, and together delivering significant business value to our customers”, said Manish Mehta, director & senior vice president - SAP and Testing Practice. Satyam has been named as a leader in SAP implementation capabilities by independent research firm Forrester Research. __