SAP Energizes Its Ecosystem With the Power of SAP HANA®, Driving Growth Opportunities and Accelerating Innovation for Customers

ORLANDO, May 16, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Working together with a vibrant ecosystem, SAP (NYSE: SAP) is jumpstarting growth and innovation by leveraging the SAP HANA® platform. SAP aims to make it fast and easy for established partners, ISVs and new startups to build, market and sell a diverse set of applications for customers of all sizes and across all industries.  Together with partners, ISVs and startups, SAP is leading transformation for customers and helping to make the world run better and faster with SAP HANA. The announcement was made at SAPPHIRE® NOW, being held May 14–16 in Orlando, Florida.

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"There is huge potential in harnessing the power of SAP HANA to help drive business growth and innovation for SAP, our partners and our customers," said Dr. Vishal Sikka, member of the Executive Board of SAP AG, Technology & Innovation. "We are working hand-in-hand with our partners and they are fully energized by the truly limitless opportunities SAP HANA can provide. We are seeing some impressive results across all types of partners, in the new applications they are building and in the new areas of growth they are driving with SAP HANA. Together with our ecosystem, we are able to deliver transformational value to customers of all sizes and industries. These customers can benefit from the ability to invent and adopt innovations easily, gain results rapidly, grow sustainably and power their businesses with SAP HANA in ways not previously imagined."

SAP HANA is the fastest-growing product in the company's history. SAP is working closely and intensively with developers, independent software vendors (ISVs), systems integrators, software resellers and startups on every front with enablement tools and resources to tap into the power of SAP HANA. Enablement support is provided for SAP HANA, including the SAP® Business One application, version for SAP HANA, SAP® Business Suite software powered by SAP HANA and is planned for the recently announced SAP HANA® Enterprise Cloud. This is helping to open new sales, service and business opportunities for the entire SAP ecosystem, which benefits customers in the ways outlined below.

Multiple Deployment Options Available for SAP HANA: On Premise, in the Cloud or Both
SAP HANA can now be deployed in a number of ways, offering customers the freedom of choice to leverage the power of SAP HANA on premise, in the cloud and via other business models, such as hosting, application management and outsourcing services. SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud will aim to provide organizations with a new way to fully tap into the transformational power of SAP HANA as a service. At SAPPHIRE NOW, SAP has announced the SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud partner program, which intends to provide participants access to enablement, best practices and other resources that are expected to prepare them for success. Initial partners that have agreed to participate in the forthcoming program include Accenture, Deloitte, IBM, itelligence, Savvis and Virtustream. To learn more see: "Partner Quote Sheet: SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud Partner Program."

For optimal benefit from the on-premise power of SAP HANA, customers need the right hardware infrastructure to help speed innovation, run their business in real time,  achieve breakthrough results. Nine global technology partners have certified their solutions to run SAP HANA: Cisco, Dell, Fujitsu, HP, Hitachi, Ltd., Huawei, IBM, NEC and VCE. See the latest announcements issued by SAP partners in support of SAP HANA: HP, Hitachi Data Systems and SUSE.

Developers and customers can also access SAP HANA as a service through hosting, application management and outsourcing services offered via private cloud environments by leading SAP partners. Pre-configured with SAP HANA, these environments make it possible to develop applications built for SAP HANA in the cloud, which can greatly increase development agility. SAP® HANA One database service in the cloud – powered by Amazon Web Services and available on AWS Marketplace – is a full-featured, small instance of the SAP HANA platform in the public cloud, available for productive and commercial use.

Enabling Resellers to Drive Adoption; Supporting Sales, Pre-Sales and Consulting Services

SAP channel partners play a critical role in helping organizations of all sizes identify, purchase, implement and run the ideal solution to address their unique business needs. SAP has engaged with partners from day one in an effort to accelerate adoption of SAP HANA by small businesses and midsize enterprises, helping them to benefit from this disruptive and transformational solution. Dell has announced it is now an SAP channel partner and will resell SAP solutions including SAP HANA.

For services partners and consultants, SAP is providing enablement support, helping them to ramp-up experts in sales, presales and consulting services for all types of companies and organizations. By the end of the first quarter of 2013, nearly 4,000 partner consultants have been trained in SAP HANA and more than 1,300 sales and pre-sales personnel within partner organizations have been trained in SAP Business Suite powered SAP HANA to help accelerate adoption by customers. During the first quarter of 2013, more than 50 percent of sales of SAP Business Suite powered by SAP HANA were generated by SAP partners, which remain critical for SAP to fulfill the market demand for solutions based on SAP HANA. And according to IDC, the SAP partner ecosystem made US$4.2 billion in revenue related to in-memory database offerings from SAP in 2012*.

View announcements issued by the following services partners in support of SAP HANA during SAPPHIRE NOW: Bramasol, Clarkston Consulting, Hitachi Data Services, iGate, Neoris, smartShift, Secure-24 and Worksoft. It is important to note that not all of the news announced by these systems integrators is about services offerings for SAP HANA. Many announcements are actually about new solution offerings built on SAP HANA, highlighting the transformation of business for customers as well as for partners.

Startup Community Thriving on SAP HANA
The SAP Startup Focus program, launched in 2012, is growing, with over 400 startups joining from 19 countries to create new applications and products based on SAP HANA. Liquid Analytics, a startup focus program participant, uses predictive analytics running on SAP HANA. This helps its sales reps to more quickly respond to customers' needs on the go. The applications developed by Liquid Analytics on SAP HANA use advanced forecasting algorithms and past order history to auto-populate products and quantities due for restock. This enables sales reps to fulfill orders on the spot, helping ensure that a wholesaler's products are in stock on a retailer's shelves, which helps accelerate sales and increase customer satisfaction.

"It was quite easy to engage in the SAP Startup Focus program, as SAP was operating as a startup itself," said Vish Canaran, CEO, Liquid Analytics. "From the day we joined, it took us just one week to begin to experience tangible benefits, including making valuable connections with the right people. We're a product company that builds applications, and SAP HANA has now become our platform on which to build Liquid Decisions for the store distribution market. With SAP HANA, Liquid Decisions provides real-time restock, cross-sell, up-sell and goal-related product recommendations to sales professionals. The information provides greater benefits to customers, helping them make decisions on the fly with real-time information."

Core Mobile Inc., also a participant in the SAP Startup Focus program, offers a smart assistant solution for investment bankers and physicians called Corey. By running on SAP HANA, Corey can provide only the relevant information needed in real time from enterprise financial applications correlated with real-time market feeds and social media for financial advisors. It also provides physicians with instant access to patient information from multiple clinical systems, which is made available in real time when a patient calls into his or her physician's office.

As SAP increases its commitment to the startup community, it is also more than doubling its capital commitment to the SAP HANA Real Time Fund – from an original 2012 commitment of US$155 million to US$405 million – to further support entrepreneurs and startups worldwide as they build their businesses on SAP platform technologies, including SAP HANA. Managed by independent fund manager SAP Ventures, the SAP HANA Real-Time Fund is intended to continue to foster and support an ecosystem of entrepreneurs and fund managers focused on the development of real-time applications and leveraging the power of big data as a driver of business value.   

Additionally, SAP has taken the SAP HANA Marketplace to the next level, where individuals and enterprises can learn about, try and buy applications powered by SAP HANA, developed by and available from SAP, startups and ISVs. Integrated with the SAP Store, the SAP HANA Marketplace offers solutions not only for purchase but also a community where developers can exchange ideas and collaborate to develop new products. Solutions certified to run on SAP HANA in accordance with SAP integration standards earn the title "powered by SAP HANA." As the portfolio of solutions in the marketplace grows, SAP plans to add additional functionality, such as RFP sourcing, developer and system integrator reviews, as well as infrastructure options for SAP HANA. View the following press releases issued by the first partners with solutions that are powered by SAP HANA: Choice, Pentland Firth and Tagetik.

A number of partners have signed OEM agreements with SAP — including Clockwork, PROS and Tagetik — to embed SAP HANA into their solutions. They are leveraging embedded analytics and the massive speed and scale of SAP HANA to help further unlock the power of their customers' data and help enable optimized and innovative business processes. Please also see the following announcements issued by partners in support of SAP HANA from OpenText and Vendavo.

SAP HANA for Humanity Creates a Positive Difference
Building on collaboration with OEM partner Molecular Health to help enhance the quality of care for cancer patients, SAP has launched a program called SAP HANA for Humanity. Through this program, SAP is engaging with non-profit and governmental agencies to promote the use of SAP HANA to help solve pressing global problems related to issues such as climate change, healthcare and education. Organizations that SAP is engaging with through this program include BrightFunds.org, City of Boston, NSF Science and Technology Center for Coastal Margin Observation & Prediction, Stanford University and Water for People. Through the use of SAP HANA, SAP is teaming data scientists with high school students, helping them draw critical insights buried within large data sets. SAP is also engaging with high school students via the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP), a nationwide network of free college-preparatory public charter schools that serve underserved communities across the U.S.

ISVs Deliver Creative Solutions on SAP HANA
The SAP HANA Cloud Applications Partner program provides the enablement tools, benefits and support to facilitate building high-quality, disruptive applications focused on specific business needs – quickly and cost-effectively. SAP HANA has become a new platform for ISVs to develop transformational and disruptive business and consumer applications that are designed to change the way companies innovate and run their business. Launched in 2012, the program has grown, with over 25 partners participating in the SAP HANA Cloud program.  Signavio, an SAP HANA Cloud Applications partner, offers Signavio Process Editor based on the SAP HANA Cloud platform. Customers using the solution have access to a professional process-modeling platform that helps keep software quality and data protection high. It is the first application to achieve SAP-certified integration with SAP HANA Cloud and is available on SAP® Store.

For announcements, blog posts, videos and other coverage during SAPPHIRE NOW, visit the SAP Newsroom.

Source: *IDC Infographic, sponsored by SAP, Ecosystem Analytics & Big Data: Growth Opportunities for SAP Partners, May 2013

SAPPHIRE® NOW
With SAPPHIRE® NOW, SAP offers its customers, partners and prospects even more opportunities to engage in dialogue with peers, participants and thought leaders around the globe. Being held in Orlando, Florida, May 14-16, 2013, this enhanced, real-time event connects attendees on site with global participants through state-of-the-art broadcast studios and an online experience that incorporates the latest social media and community functionality. Whether on site or online, participants can gain insight as to how SAP is delivering on its product strategy and helping organizations around the world to run better. For more information, visit www.sapphirenow.com. Follow SAPPHIRE NOW on Twitter at @SAPPHIRENOW and visit the SAP Newsroom at www.news-sap.com.

Follow SAP on Twitter at @sapnews.

About SAP
As market leader in enterprise application software, SAP (NYSE: SAP) helps companies of all sizes and industries run better. From back office to boardroom, warehouse to storefront, desktop to mobile device – SAP empowers people and organizations to work together more efficiently and use business insight more effectively to stay ahead of the competition. SAP applications and services enable more than 238,000 customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow sustainably. For more information, visit www.sap.com.

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