BI installation as a part of Netweaver

Question

It seems as we move into the Netweaver era, there is a requirement to have BI installed for certain business scenarios for reporting and analytical work....even if a data warehouse requirement does not exist. For example, in the old days, a company would install R/3 and put off BW for 2 year down the road, or may even say no to BW. Now it seems that BI becomes more and more a mandatory requirement from the initial install of ECC.
I have been wondering about this! In such as case, is it possible that the BI engine is required, but not a full blown BI (aka BW) installation? Then does it make sense to include the BI installation  with other SAP components, for example ECC and BI on the same SAP system / Database? 
Have you seen or heard of such an implementation? This I imagine would be of interest to smaller companies!
thanks for your feedback
Ragoobir

Answer 1

Some Insights -
BI and ECC in same SID concept is totally new.
SAP deals this scenario on project to Project case basis ,while there are few advantages of it ,only select customers have enabled this option.If needed you need to talk to SAP abt this and answer with few questionaires with.
The installation of SAP NetWeaver components/usage types BW/BI, XI/PI, EP, MI, and/or DI together with SAP ECC in the same system instance (the same SID) is TECHNICALLY POSSIBLE but the following restrictions apply:
The installation of SAP NetWeaver MI (mobile infrastructure) in the same system instance (the same SID) with SAP ECC or any other NetWeaver component/usage type is currently not supported. Further is such an installation in view of a possible future upgrade not recommended.
The installation of SAP NetWeaver DI (development infrastructure) in the same system instance (the same SID) with SAP ECC or any other NetWeaver component/usage type is not recommended.
For the embedded installation of ECC and NetWeaver components/usage types BW/BI, XI/PI and EP the following points need to be considered:
If one of the components imposes specific requirements to the installation (e.g. XI: Unicode installation, double stack installation etc.) this always applies to the whole instance.
In an embedded installation, a common client for SAP BW and SAP ECC is not supported. SAP XI/PI must also be set up in a dedicated client.
Inform yourself about the supported platforms for each component/usage type you wish to install. Some components may feature platform restrictions. For more information, refer to SAP Service Marketplace at service.sap.com/platforms for support information of a common database and operating system platform.
For each component/usage type involved in the system stack a separate sizing is required using the respective sizing procedure. The total size of a server which can accommodate all components/usage types is the sum of the individual sizing results This applies to:
CPU sizing (SAPS)
Memory sizing
Disk space sizing
Note 855534 - Embedded NetWeaver Components in ERP addresses this issue.
Hope it Helps
Chetan
@CP..