SAP Harnesses the Power of SAP HANA™ Platform to Deliver New Real-Time Applications

LAS VEGAS, Sept. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today announced two new solutions built on SAP HANA™, the company's in-memory computing platform. With the platform, SAP is renewing its existing applications and delivering an entirely new class of applications that change the way people think, work, plan and operate. The announcement was made at SAP® TechEd 2011, being held in Las Vegas, Nevada, from September 12-16.

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The two new solutions — SAP® Smart Meter Analytics software powered by SAP HANA and SAP® COPA Accelerator software — were developed by SAP product and design teams working in close collaboration with customers, using design-thinking principles that work from the end-user needs backward. For example, these new applications are designed to give people real-time insight into "big data," allowing them to leverage vast amounts of information for analysis, planning, and forecasting and simulations in a more fluid, natural way versus traditional approaches that are rigid, sequential and time-consuming.

The solutions join the SAP® BusinessObjects™ Strategic Workforce Planning application, announced at the end of last year and delivered earlier this year, as part of the family of applications enabled by the SAP HANA platform.

According to Forrester Research, SAP has emerged as the leading advocate of in-memory computing technology as a key pillar of its innovation strategy(1): "[SAP] HANA allows SAP to develop innovative new applications that can consume and analyze massive volumes of data in near real time while also providing a cost-effective, elastic computing platform."(2)

A Modern Platform for Real-Time Analytics and Applications

With the SAP HANA platform, companies now can run complex analyses such as simulations and pattern recognition in seconds, enabling sweeping innovations in the way they run their businesses. Deployable as an appliance or delivered via the cloud, SAP HANA delivers the following core capabilities:

• Single database with native support for row and columnar data stores
• Powerful and flexible data calculation engine
• SQL and MDX interfaces
• Unified information modeling design environment
• Data repository to persist views of business information
• Data integration capabilities for accessing SAP — the SAP NetWeaver® Business Warehouse component, the SAP® ERP application, etc. — and non-SAP data sources
• Integrated life-cycle management

"There is a massive simplification happening all around us. Layers are being dissolved at an unbelievable pace; people, businesses, data and machines are becoming more directly connected. This virtuous cycle of connectedness leads to disintermediation of layers, which drives end-users to become more empowered and demand better user-experience — challenging us to create more connectedness," said Dr. Vishal Sikka, Executive Board member, Technology and Innovation, SAP AG. "This is leading to a fundamental renewal and reshaping in the IT industry, and SAP HANA is helping to drive this change. SAP HANA removes the inefficiencies and layers that have developed over time, but also finally delivers the unbelievable user experience, simultaneously enabling new horizons and simplification of the existing layers of complexity, without disruption.  The incredible customer response is proof that we are delivering this renewal with SAP HANA, and these applications are just the beginning of what we will do."

Utilities Turn "Big Data" Into More Sustainable Energy Use for Customers

Utility companies today face an exponential increase in data volume generated by smart meters. SAP Smart Meter Analytics, powered by SAP HANA, aims to help utility companies to instantly turn this "big data" into powerful insights that they can use to develop more tailored customer offerings. With the new in-memory solution, utility companies can help customers adopt more sustainable energy-use practices with planned capabilities, including:

• Instantly aggregate and analyze customers' energy consumption profiles by any dimension or level of granularity such as neighborhood location, home size, and businesses or building type
• More precisely segment customers based on energy consumption patterns so utility companies can create more targeted energy-saving programs, for example, carbon emissions reduction plans
• Empower customers with direct access to energy usage insights via Web portals and mobile devices connected to the software via Web services

With real-time access to smart meter data, utility companies can improve fraud detection capabilities and load forecasts, as well as design new rate structures that correspond with energy use patterns.

Improve Speed and Depth Working With Large Volumes of Data

SAP COPA Accelerator software aims to improve the speed and depth of working with large volumes of financial data. Planned functionality within the software will enable corporate finance departments to:

• Perform real-time profitability reporting on large-scale data volumes
• Conduct instant, on-the-fly analysis of profitability data at any level of granularity, aggregation and dimension
• Run cost allocations at significantly faster processing time
• Empower business users with easy, self-service access to trusted profitability information

Deployed either by the SAP Consulting organization as a rapid-deployment solution or by an experienced SAP partner, the software aims to help companies engage in faster and more efficient profitability cycles and month-end closing processes. It is also planned for implementation alongside the wider portfolio of SAP BusinessObjects enterprise performance management (EPM) solutions to help organizations create a complete picture of the drivers of cost and profitability.

New Experience SAP HANA Site Launched

Details on applications powered by SAP HANA — including demos, solution briefs and collaboration with customers and product experts — are now available on the Experience SAP HANA community at www.experiencesaphana.com. The site, launched at SAP TechEd 2011 Las Vegas, is a community designed to share knowledge and insights to enable participants to learn, try and implement SAP HANA. Additionally, existing SAP customers can actively engage with SAP product experts, share best-practices and offer tips and guidelines directly to fellow implementers of SAP HANA.

Follow SAP on Twitter at @SAPInMemory.

For announcements, blog posts, videos and other coverage during the event series, visit the SAP TechEd newsroom.

(1) Forrester Research, Inc.: Innovative Technologies Will Drive Enterprise Applications And ERP To A Bright New Future, June 30, 2011

(2) Forrester Research, Inc.: SAP Shows Progress On Its Cloud, Mobile, And In-Memory Innovation Agenda, July 13, 2011

SAP® TechEd 2011 in Las Vegas, Bangalore, Madrid, and Beijing

More than 19,000 SAP customers, partners and technical experts are expected to convene at SAP® TechEd 2011, the company's largest ecosystem education event series. The conference brings IT managers, software developers, administrators, and business process experts together for a look under the hood of today's business motors: the latest advances in in-memory and mobile technologies, and in on-premise, on-demand and on-device applications from SAP and more. In its 15th year, SAP TechEd will be held in four locations around the globe: Las Vegas, Nevada, from September 12-16; Bangalore, India, from October 19-21; Madrid, Spain, from November 8-10; and Beijing, China, from November 15-17. Follow SAP TechEd on Twitter at @SAPTechEd and join the conversation at #SAPTechEd.

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 172,000 customers (includes customers from the acquisition of Sybase) to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow sustainably. For more information, visit www.sap.com.

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Copyright © 2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.

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SOURCE SAP AG