As the LinuxWorld trade show kicked off in San Jose California yesterday, SAP on Monday announced that it will port its SAP R/3 enterprise resource planning (ERP) software on the Linux operating system. The German based software giant said it would release details of the announcement at the CeBIT 99 trade show being held in Hanover, Germany in two weeks time. The first customer shipment of R/3 on Linux is due in the third quarter of this year, SAP said in an official statement. At CeBIT, SAP will present live demos of SAP R/3 running in the Linux environment. The company also will detail the broad support it has received from its major hardware and software partners for its plans to deliver SAP R/3 on Linux, the ERP vendor said. Those vendors also will offer Linux-based systems, tools, and databases as well as providing maintenance and support in conjunction with SAP’s offering, according to SAP.