SAP unveiled its roadmap for the database and mobile markets. At a press conference in San Francisco that was also made available online, Dr. Vishal Sikka, a member of the SAP executive Board, Technology & Innovation, said the company's vision for the SAP real-time data platform includes the SAP HANA platform, Sybase data management offerings, and SAP solutions for enterprise information management (EIM).
"In our minds, and in our customers' minds there is now absolutely no doubt that HANA represents the database architecture for the future, for OLTP and OLAP, for analyzing structured and unstructured data, for legacy applications and for new applications," Sikka told the audience.
SAP also announced recent achievements for its real-time data platform, including general availability of the SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse (SAP NetWeaver BW) component powered by SAP HANA; the GA of SAP Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE) as a database option for SAP Business Suite applications; plans to launch a $155 million venture fund for startups to build on the new platform; and a $337 million incentive program for customers to move to SAP HANA.
To provide customers one logical, real-time platform for all transaction and analytics workloads, SAP will leverage the Sybase data management and movement products. The integration of SAP and Sybase products is intended to help customers gain capabilities to transact, move, store, process and analyze data in real time while reducing costs with common design and landscape management capabilities, the company says.
Key components of SAP's plans to increase database market leadership by 2015 include:
- The SAP HANA platform, which is planned to be the core of the SAP real-time data platform, offering extreme performance and innovation for next-generation applications.
- SAP Sybase ASE, which is intended as a supported option for SAP Business Suite applications while SAP HANA is planned to augment the extreme transactions of SAP Sybase ASE with real-time reporting capabilities.
- SAP Sybase IQ server, which is planned to deliver data management for "big data" analytics, offering extreme total cost of ownership (TCO). SAP Sybase IQ is envisioned to share common capabilities and life-cycle management with the SAP HANA platform.
- SAP Sybase SQL Anywhere mobile and embedded database, which is planned to be the front-end database for the SAP HANA platform, extending its reach to mobile and embedded applications in real time.
- SAP Sybase PowerDesigner software, which is envisioned to become the foundation of the modeling solution for the SAP real-time data platform, offering a large base of experts to customers.
- SAP Sybase Event Stream Processor (ESP) software, SAP Sybase Replication Server and SAP solutions for EIM, whichcombined, are intended to provide data assessment and integration of batch, real-time change data capture and streaming data into the SAP real-time data platform.
- SAP real-time data platform integrated with Hadoop -SAP HANA and SAP Sybase IQ are planned to extend support for accessing "big data" sources such as Hadoop, and offer a deeply integrated pre-processing infrastructure.
Sikka also announced during his presentation that to drive innovation in mobile solutions Sybase plans to acquire Syclo, a provider of enterprise mobile applications and technologies. The addition of Syclo's expertise in building and selling mobile solutions in industries such as utilities, oil & gas, life sciences and manufacturing is expected to enhance SAP mobile solutions.
Speaking at the start of the presentation, Jonathan Becher, chief marketing officer, SAP, sought to dispel some myths about SAP - both in terms of market space and its customer base. Based on the company's history, SAP is seen as a leader in ERP and analytics, but the purpose of the event was to showcase its capabilities and plans for spaces that may not be widely associated with SAP leadership - the database market and mobile market, he said. In addition, he emphasized, while SAP is often thought to be only for large companies, approximately 100,000 of SAP customers are SMBs.
"The thing that has become very clear to us over the last several months is that the purpose of this exercise is not simply to do what we did in the past better," said Sikka, after showcasing the key elements of the SAP roadmap. The purpose is to go into uncharted new territories, unprecedented new areas, Sikka emphasized, noting, "The future does not have to be an implement of the past; in fact, the future can be constructed out of what we know to be desirable, feasible, and viable. We are extremely excited to take these new technologies and go into completely new frontiers for SAP."
A replay of the webcast is available at www.news-sap.com/press-conference-sap-fuels-growth-in-the-database-and-mobile-markets/.