Patio doors present appropriate access with added advantages over standard entry doors. These doors are entirely glazed to expand the view and pouring the interior with natural light. As old-style patio doors were notorious for heat loss and poor security, modern doors offer significant improvements. The frames and glazing are more energy-efficient, incorporate multi-point locking mechanisms for enhanced security, and sophisticated flashing packages to prevent leakage. The basic types of patio doors are sliding and hinged, offering distinct feature sets. Sliding patio doors are best for maximizing views and admitting daylight. They contain two or more individual panels; at least one is able to slide back and forth on concealed rollers. Sliding panels can be united with fixed panels to make dramatically wide expanses of glazing. Panels will slide parallel to the wall so they don't obstruct furniture placement or walking areas outdoors or in indoors.

Whereas hinged patio doors operate in much the same way as standard entry doors, but they are completely glazed and frequently hang in pairs. In one pattern, the doors are center hung and open much as butterfly wings. On the other hand French doors are hinged at the side jambs that the door panels meet when it is closed. The latching mechanism is enclosed in an astragal that is mounted to one of the doors. When these doors are open, the whole area between the hinges is apparent. Choosing a patio door comes down to a subject of aesthetics versus energy-efficiency. Swinging doors can be weather-stripped more efficiently than a sliding door, but individual panels are narrow and more visually obstructive. Sliding doors are more space efficient and lend itself to larger openings, but the huge expanse of glass is complicated in regard to heat loss and also solar heat gain. The two major elements of a patio door are the border and the glazing, and depending on which part of the country the door will be used, either one of these things may be the deciding factor. The metal-frame doors are characteristically less luxurious and less energy-efficient than the fiberglass or wood doors, but they are offering the advantage of a less obtrusive casing. The main disadvantage of a wooden frame is the amount of maintenance that it requires. Clad goods try to offer the best of both the worlds, and have the energy-efficiency of a wood casing with low-maintenance of vinyl or aluminum cladding. Taking the case of clad wood patio doors, manufacturers offer a selection of wood for the core surfaces of the frame, normally a veneer. Try to choose wood such as pine if the inner surface will be painted. Other woods, such as Mahogany, Douglas fir, alder and maple are more suitable for stained or apparent finishes. The glazing of a patio doors have a considerable impact on its energy efficiency and its cost. These doors, particularly the sliding models, offer wide expanses of glazing to arrest views and admit daylight, but that same expanse is a major source of heat gain in the summer and also heat loss in the winter. Manufacturers are offering a number of glazing options to lessen heat loss and heat gain.

What made this company so victorious? Back in 1979 SAP released SAP R/2 (which also runs on mainframes) into the German market. SAP R/2 was the first incorporated, enterprise wide package and was an instant success. For years SAP remained within the German borders till it had penetrated practically every big German company. Looking for more and more growth, SAP expanded into Europe during the 80's. Towards the end of 80's, client-server architecture became so popular and SAP responded with the release of SAP R/3. The great success of SAP R/3 in North America has been nothing but very stunning. Within a period of 5 year, the North American market went from nearly zero to 44% of total SAP worldwide sales. SAP is available today in 46 country-specific versions, integrating 28 languages including Kanji and many other double-byte character languages. SAP is also coming in 21 industry-specific versions.

SAP R/3 is delivered to a client with selected standard procedure turned on, and many several other optional processes and features turned off. At the heart of SAP R/3 are nearly 10,000 tables that control the way the processes are carried out. Configuration is adjusting the settings of these tables to obtain SAP to run the way you desire it to. Imagine a radio with 10,000 dials to be tuned and you'll get the picture. Functionality integrated is truly venture wide including: Financial Accounting (e.g. the general ledger or accounts receivable etc), Management Accounting (e.g. the cost centers or profitability analysis etc), Sales, Distribution, Production Planning, Manufacturing, Human Resources, Purchasing, and Payroll etc. All of these modules are firmly integrated which as you will find out is a big blessing but this brings with it special challenges. The SAP applications, built about their latest R/3 system, offer the capability to manage financial asset, and cost accounting, materials, production operations and personnel, plants, and archived documents. R/3 system runs on many platforms also including Windows 2000 and it also uses the client/server model. Latest version of R/3 includes a complete Internet-enabled package.

SAP applications are maintaining and increasing their domination above their competitors through combination of - Implementation the internet with mySAP.com to head off i2 etc - extending their solution with CRM to head off Siebel - adding more functionality to their industry solutions