What is SAP HANA?
HANA stands for "high performance analytic appliance". It uses in-memory database technology allowing the processing of massive amounts of real time data in a short period of time. SAP HANA was developed by SAP AG, the world’s leading provider of enterprise application software. According to Logicalis, HANA has energized the SAP market. Positioned at the crest of the wave of “big data,” SAP now says that SAP HANA is its fastest growing software product ever. First quarter sales in 2013 were triple over the same period in 2012. The main database players all have their own database appliances.
SAP HANA competitors include:
- Active Enterprise Data Warehouse 600 (Teradata)
- Exadata Database Machine (Oracle)
- Exalytics In-Memory Machine (Oracle)
- Greenplum Data Computing Appliance (EMC)
- Netezza Data Warehouse Appliance (IBM)
- Vertica Analytics Platform (HP)
SAP HANA competitors include:
- Active Enterprise Data Warehouse 600 (Teradata)
- Exadata Database Machine (Oracle)
- Exalytics In-Memory Machine (Oracle)
- Greenplum Data Computing Appliance (EMC)
- Netezza Data Warehouse Appliance (IBM)
- Vertica Analytics Platform (HP)
How does SAP HANA work?
HANA is designed to quickly replicate and ingest data from relational databases, applications, and other systems. The replicated data is then stored in RAM rather than traditionally loaded onto hard disks. Because the data is stored in-memory, it can be accessed in near real time.
How does traditional analytics compare to SAP HANA?
Traditional analytics will copy your data into an operational data store. It will then load the data in a data warehouse where data will be aggregated and indexed so that we can retrieve the data in a reasonable time frame. From there, businesses can query the data and, if needed, further calculations may occur before displaying the data. Eventually, you’ll get the data you need.
There are problems with this landscape. You lose granularity of the data due to aggregation. This is where the business needs to compromise between speed and detail in data. Also, disk has reached its limits in regard to speed. In addition, more hardware is usually needed which can mean more conflicts. Lastly, there’s a latency between data creation and analytics since the data warehouse usually gets updated once a night.
As you can see from the image, SAP HANA is changing the landscape. Due to the speed of HANA, we are able to load all the details into HANA. So if we need aggregated data, HANA does aggregation: real time, in-memory, instantly. This also means we have our record level data in order to analyze in depth in areas where we’d pick our problems. HANA doesn’t need updates. We are able to load data real time so no more waiting for the next day for the data.
There are problems with this landscape. You lose granularity of the data due to aggregation. This is where the business needs to compromise between speed and detail in data. Also, disk has reached its limits in regard to speed. In addition, more hardware is usually needed which can mean more conflicts. Lastly, there’s a latency between data creation and analytics since the data warehouse usually gets updated once a night.
As you can see from the image, SAP HANA is changing the landscape. Due to the speed of HANA, we are able to load all the details into HANA. So if we need aggregated data, HANA does aggregation: real time, in-memory, instantly. This also means we have our record level data in order to analyze in depth in areas where we’d pick our problems. HANA doesn’t need updates. We are able to load data real time so no more waiting for the next day for the data.
What are HANA use cases?
Real-time analytics as supported by HANA have numerous potential use cases including:
- Profitability reporting and forecasting,
- Retail merchandizing and supply-chain optimization,
- Security and fraud detection,
- Energy use monitoring and optimization, and
- Telecommunications network monitoring and optimization.
- Profitability reporting and forecasting,
- Retail merchandizing and supply-chain optimization,
- Security and fraud detection,
- Energy use monitoring and optimization, and
- Telecommunications network monitoring and optimization.
Why use HANA?
HANA provides low cost solutions to companies that are faced with the problem of big data, or datasets that exceed the abilities of traditional tools.
HANA empower organizations by:
- Reducing reliance on IT resources,
- Providing real-time visibility to complete data for transaction and analytics, and
- Enabling a 360 degree view of the business.
HANA provides analytics for operational data by:
- Going from “what happened yesterday” to real time,
- Providing close to zero latency, and
- Leveraging and analyze large volumes of data.
Companies all around the world use HANA to access consistent real-time data to improve forecasting abilities as well as provide intelligence on how to redirect the business as needed based on recent events, customer relationships, product plans, and market variations.
HANA empower organizations by:
- Reducing reliance on IT resources,
- Providing real-time visibility to complete data for transaction and analytics, and
- Enabling a 360 degree view of the business.
HANA provides analytics for operational data by:
- Going from “what happened yesterday” to real time,
- Providing close to zero latency, and
- Leveraging and analyze large volumes of data.
Companies all around the world use HANA to access consistent real-time data to improve forecasting abilities as well as provide intelligence on how to redirect the business as needed based on recent events, customer relationships, product plans, and market variations.