01 What happened
In its October 2026 direction update, SAP said BusinessObjects BI 2025 is generally available and named BI 2027 as the next planned release. The update also sets out the release cadence, Lumira Designer’s support horizon, and restrictions on application servers and authentication.
02 Key details
- SAP plans to sunset Lumira Designer after BusinessObjects BI 2029; mainstream maintenance is guaranteed through the end of 2031.
- IBM WebSphere Liberty 25 is the only supported external Java application server for BI 2025. From BI 2027 onward, SAP will rely only on the embedded Tomcat runtime.
- SAP plans to end SAML support after BI 2025, leaving only OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect going forward.
- Starting with BI 2025, releases follow a two-year cadence, with three years of Mainstream Maintenance for each update. Data Services and Information Steward updates typically arrive one quarter later, and their patches maintain version compatibility.
03 Why it matters
These timelines matter when planning BI upgrades, application-server configurations, and a move away from SAML. SAP remains committed to existing deployments, which can continue on-premises or in managed cloud environments; SAP Business Data Cloud is recommended for new cloud-native scenarios.
04 Who it matters to
SAP customers and SAP system administrators.
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