What exactly is SAP Netweaver and Netweaver Gateway ?

[Former Member]

Hi,

I'm pretty new to the SAP world, and many talk about Netweaver or Netweaver Gateway.

I tried to understand what each one was but I couldn't find a clear information (or atleast one that I did understand). From what I have understood, Netweaver is sort of an add-on to SAP R/3. It enhances SAP R/3 by adding BI, PI, EP... But even then, what is NW ? Is it a system that you install on top of SAP R/3 ? Is it a special operating system that you install on a dedicated server ?

And what is Netweaver gateway ? is it also an add-on of NW ? Is it a dedicated OS (like solman for instance) that you install on a separate server ?

Thanks for all help and info,

Dimitri