Everyone is talking about HANA. Who/What is HANA? Here's my take on SAP HANA and what it means for you.
SAP AG announced
the release of its High-Performance Analytic Appliance (SAP HANA) in October
2010 at the SAP TechEd conference in Bangalore, India. It was designed to take
control of the in-memory data processing market, by enabling companies to
achieve real-time solutions for complex business operations.
The technology uses data compression techniques to store large volumes of
information in RAM, making it 10,000 times faster than standard devices. This
can enable companies to increase the efficiency of their data analysis.
One of the major advantages of the new software solution is the improvements
to the speed of in-memory computing, as well as creating IT flexibility between
layers, according to Vishal Sikka, SAP executive board member. He added: "The
customers we are working with are already recognising the great potential of SAP
HANA to deliver solutions that were previously not feasible ... now that they
can analyse, simulate and react in real time."
SAP HANA software was originally integrated with the SAP Business Objects
Strategic Workforce Planning platform, which specifically gave managers the
opportunity to simulate scenarios in real-time, while documenting business
impacts. Early results showed that customers and partners are seeing valuable
operational improvements. Hilti Corporation chief information officer Martin
Petry praised HANA's ability to analyse large volumes of client records.
"It was possible to comb through these records in a matter of seconds, versus
the days it took previously to extract them from our data warehouse and SAP
Business Suite," Mr Petry claimed.
There is a great video of SAP HANA in action, being controlled by an Xbox Kinect at SAP SAPPHIRE:
Since its introduction, SAP HANA has expanded its range of in-memory
applications, through improved technology and collaborations with external
partners. The major benefits are the ability to make business decisions
instantly, to improve the integration of high volume transactions with new
analytical applications and to reduce total cost of ownership (TCO).
Industry leaders using SAP HANA currently include Adobe, Centrica, T-Mobile,
Intel and Procter & Gamble (P&G), which entered into a strategic
relationship with SAP in 2008. Jim Fortner, vice president of IT development and
operations at P&G, praised the group's latest SAP partnership to integrate
SAP HANA into business operations.
Mr Fortner explained how the SAP software was giving P&G a competitive
advantage. "It is having an impact on billions of rows of data. To analyse this
amount of data is enormous and time complex," he noted. "With SAP technology
we're able to do this in a much more compressed timeline."
SAP co-chief Jim Hagemann Snabe discussed the success of SAP HANA software
with the Financial Times earlier this month, stating that he believed it would
account for more than €100 million (£88.4 million) in revenues from its first
full year in business. Mr Snabe added that demand would outstrip delivery as
large industries such as oil; gas and high technology all sought to take
advantage of increased data volume analysis.
SAP AG now allows customers to access information through other SAP
Enterprise Resource Programmes (ERP) such as SAP BusinessObjects, as well as
integrated outside platforms such as IBM.
Eventually SAP HANA will allow users to build their own forecasting, planning, operational performance and simulation solutions on top of the current
software.
I would love to hear you thoughts on SAP HANA and what it means for you and your business.
Also, thanks to Timo Elliott (http://twitter.com/timoelliott) for the Tweet alerting me to the video!
