German business software vendor SAP is set to announce a new software maintenance program for all products based on the company's Netweaver integration platform.

"For the first time, we are announcing a clear and consistent maintenance strategy for all our software releases," said Uwe Hommel, senior vice president for global support at SAP. "We want to give customers greater planning security." The official announcement of the program is expected on Tuesday, company officials said.

Under the new 5-1-2 strategy, SAP users can purchase a five-year standard maintenance contract for 17 percent of the license fee. For an additional 2 percent, they can extend their maintenance contract one year. For an additional 4 percent, they can extend it two more years.

Maintenance includes all legal changes, such as government tax changes, and technology updates.

"We are guaranteeing eight full years of maintenance coverage for our new products," Hommel said. "We will continue to support products after eight years but not with legal changes or technology updates."

Customers who demand support for legal changes after the eight-year contractual period can hire SAP to provide this service on a time and material cost basis, according to Hommel.

Post-contract support will focus largely on helping customers bring back systems that have broken down, he said.