The SAP Business Connector allows you to extend your business processes over the Internet and integrate non-SAP products using open and non-proprietary technology. It allows for bi-directional, real-time as well as asynchronous communication to and from the SAP server. You can:

• Execute SAP's implementation-independent BAPI methods, as they are described in the Business Object Repository (BOR). BAPIs are stable, precisely-defined and well-documented interfaces to SAP solutions, providing standardized access to SAP solutions on a semantic level. You can quickly and easily create XML-based SAP Business Connector services that execute a BAPI. Applications within your organization can then invoke the SAP Business Connector services to execute a BAPI on the SAP server. Similarly, your business partners can make requests over the Internet to invoke a service that executes a BAPI. The BAPI interfaces provide unified access to the application-level functionality, independent of the type of call: Both synchronous as well as asynchronous processing can be triggered by using these interfaces. Transparently for the client, asynchronous processing uses the ALE services inside the SAP system.
• Execute SAP Remote Function Calls (RFCs) from the SAP Business Connector Server. You can access all SAP functionality that is available via RFC from SAP Business Connector Server. External applications do not need to understand SAP data types, ABAP structures or the RFC protocol to communicate with an SAP system.
• Call SAP Business Connector services from SAP systems. You can invoke SAP Business Connector services from an SAP system. This allows SAP users to access information that is available via the SAP Business Connector Server. Thus, the SAP Business Connector Server enables business-to-business integration between trading partners, thereby extending the reach of your SAP infrastructure to customers, partners, and suppliers.
• Route SAP Business Documents (IDocs) based on criteria you specify. The SAP Business Connector Server provides rich routing capabilities for IDocs. There is a number of different transport types available out-of-the-box. These include routing of an IDoc to another SAP system, to a MarketSet-based marketplace, to an FTP Server in a flatfile format, to a remote URL in an XML format or to an Email receiver as mail attachment.

• Synchronous and asynchronous communication with SAP systems via RFC, tRFC and qRFC
• Bidirectional communication to and from SAP systems
• Higher level services to process SAP IDocs and BAPIs
• Easy XML and Internet enabling of existing SAP releases
• Support of unified error handling of BAPIs and RFCs on XML level
• Complete SAP system integration
• Integrating SAP systems over the Internet
• Routing IDocs, BAPIs and RFCs
• Support for IDoc-, BAPI- and RFC-XML
• Built-in BAPI tools
• Database Adapter via JDBC
• Email processing (inbound/outbound)
• Communication via FTP (inbound/outbound)

To secure access to your SAP Business Connector Server and the data that resides on the SAP Business Connector Server, you can:

• Control who can configure and manage the SAP Business Connector Server.
  Use the Server Administrator to configure and manage the SAP Business Connector Server. Before the server allows access to the Server Administrator, it ensures the user has administrator privileges.
• Control who can use the SAP Business Connector Developer to connect to the SAP Business Connector Server.
  A developer can use the SAP Business Connector Developer to create, modify, and delete services that reside on the server. Before the server allows a connection from the SAP Business Connector Developer, it ensures the user has developer privileges. You can specify who is authorized to create, edit, and delete the services that reside on the server.
• Secure the transmission of data between SAP Business Connector Clients and the server.
  An administrator can configure the SAP Business Connector Server to use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL/TLS) to provide secure communications with the server. Use SSL/TLS to ensure that data is transmitted privately and that the content of the data is not altered during transit. Depending on the situation, the SAP Business Connector Server can be either a client or a server in a TLS transaction. E. g. when a SAP Business Connector Client communicates via HTTPS with the SAP Business Connector Server, the SAP Business Connector Client is the SSL client, and the SAP Business Connector Server is the SSL server.
  All versions of SAP BC 4.8.1 now support strong encryption.
• Control access to SAP Business Connector Services and the files that reside on the server.
  You can create Access Control Lists (ACLs) that control access to individual services and files, and you can restrict access to services based on the listening port on which an incoming request is received.
• Guarantee the integrity of a transaction.
  SAP Business Connector provides digital signatures services. A digital signature ensures that the data is not falsified, that the sender can be clearly determined and that proof of award of contract exists.

For detailed information, refer to the SAP Business Connector Administration Guide, the SAP Business Connector SAPAdapter Guide, and the SAP Business Connector Security Best Practices Guide.