Why Use SAP HANA?

SAP HANA has several incredible features that set it apart from traditional databases.

Let’s delve into these and find out why SAP HANA is getting so popular:1.  Columnar Data Storage:

How data is shown in traditional databases? In the form of a table showing rows and columns! But,

SAP HANA has come up with a unique feature, that is…Columnar data storage. This feature allows

linear structuring of computer memory in contrast to the two-dimensional data structure which is

organized in rows and columns. Thus, in SAP HANA, a table can be illustrated either in row-order or

in column-order. A row-order orientation stores a table as a sequence of records, whereas, a

column-order orientation stores the entries in the neighbouring memory locations.

What is so great about this approach?Columnar data storage enables run-length encoding, cluster

coding and dictionary coding which are highly competent compression techniques. This approach

also eliminates the need for additional index structures as once we store data in columns it is just

like creating a built-in index for every column. Once we eliminate additional indexes, operations

become simple and there is no need for defining and maintaining metadata. This further accelerates

the column scanning speed manifolds and allows read operations efficiently.

2. In-Memory Database System:

An in-memory database system (IMDS) stores data fully in the main memory, unlike traditional or on-

disk database management systems that store data in a disk storage mechanism. In-memory

database systems are getting a lot of popularity today because it is much faster to work with data in

memory than writing to and reading from a file system. Anin-memory system is the only way to

handle a real-time-data future that consist of new data types such as social media monitoring and

Web-automated sensors and meter readings. SAP HANA gives the programmer the creativity to

develop applications that incorporate business control logic at the database layer. It eliminates the

waiting time for data models to change or time required to load the redundant data storage required

by traditional business warehouse solutions.3.  Parallel Processing:

SAP HANA allows parallel processing which is the core of efficient data analysis. This is how it

works…we know that SAP HANA facilitates Columnar Data Storage in which operations such as

searching for a specific data or aggregating the data are done in loops over an array in adjacent

memory locations. In contrast to this, in traditional row-oriented approach, such operations tend to

be very slow as data belonging to the same column is spread across the memory. Column based

storage also facilitates fast data loading into the CPU cache. As data is already vertically divided in

column based approach, parallel processing is possible using multiple processing cores. Also, if

more than one column is required to be searched or aggregated, each of these tasks can be

allocated to diverse processor core. Further, to quicken the process, operations on one column can

be parallelized by dividing the column into various parts, each of which can be processed by

different processor cores. This facilitates parallel processing!4.  SAP HANA provides Real-time Analytics:

Real-time analytics means that there is no BW (business warehouse) phase required for generating

reports. It makes use of tools like Business Objects Explorer or pivot tables in excel for data

analysis. SAP HANA blends online analytical and transactional processing into a single database.

With real-time, in-memory analytics, things that were possible in days are now possible in seconds!

Decision –making becomes faster, smarter and accurate in the fast-changing market scenarios. SAP

HANA provides a 360-degree view of business operations by integrating and modelling data from

various data sources. SAP HANA is capable of aggregating as well as updating huge data sets in

near real-time! For instance, an insurance company can now find out whether south-west regions

are more lucrative for its insurance policies as compared to the central regions within a matter of a

few seconds with SAP HANA!

5.  Working on Aggregates efficiently:

In order to enhance their performances, traditional databases and applications frequently use

materialized aggregates. These materialized aggregates are worked out and stored either at pre-

decided times or after every write operation on the aggregated data. These materialized aggregates

are read by read operations instead of calculating them every time they are required. In contrast to

this, SAP HANA calculates aggregates on huge amount of data on-the-fly with great efficiency due

to its scanning speed of numerous gigabytes per millisecond. This automatically eradicates the

requirements for materialized aggregates in many cases. Also, materialized aggregates used in

traditional databases are usually updated only at scheduled times but on-the-fly aggregates are

always show the latest information.

6.  SAP HANA provides Integrated Development Environment (IDE):

An Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is a software application that provides wide-ranging

facilities to computer programmers for software development. An IDE usually consists of a source

code editor, build automation tools, a debugger and a graphical user interface (GUI) builder. Even

SAP HANA provides the integrated development environment (IDE) for developing and delivering

SAP HANA applications, making them simple and easy to develop. SAP HANA IDE is based on the

Eclipse-based SAP HANA studio and it facilitates several useful features like integrated and

collective development, server-side JavaScript for control, debugging, deployment of applications

that are based on native database procedures for data processing, and an HTML5 SDK for the

development of user interface. There is a SAP HANA repository taht stores and handles all the

design time objects of SAP HANA.

7. Innovations are possible With SAP HANA:

Several SAP HANA developers have

made significant innovations in IT and in business models. Because of its in-memory approach, SAP

HANA enables both hardware and software innovations which are unparalleled, replacing traditional

databases in many spheres of business world! On the hardware side, SAP HANA facilitates Multi-

Core Architecture (8×8 core CPU per blade), huge parallel scaling with several blades, 64 bit

address space – 2 TB in current servers, data throughput as high as 100 GB/s, cost effectiveness

and so on. On the software side, SAP HANA enables columnar data storage, partitioning,

compression, eliminating aggregate tables, to name a few.

The SAP NetWeaver® Business Warehouse (SAP NetWeaver BW) component, which is a known

enterprise data warehouse solution, has pioneered in migrating the existing databases into a SAP

HANA database. Also, the SAP HANA database can be connected to the SAP ERP application in

the form of a secondary database. Thus, endless innovations are possible with SAP HANA, what is

required is a deep dive into the HANA world!

8.  SAP HANA Appliance Software:

SAP HANA appliance software is a very flexible, versatile, in-memory appliance that competently

blends SAP software components optimized on hardware provided and delivered by well-known

SAP technology partners, such as HP, IBM, Fujitsu, Dell and Cisco. The SAP HANA appliance

consists of several integrated SAP software components, such as the SAP HANA studio, an easy-to-

use data modeling and administration tool, the SAP HANA database, support for multiple interfaces

based on industry standards and lifecycle management applications. The beauty of SAP HANA

software appliance is that it can be connected into your landscape to speed up the data warehousing

and operational reporting without troubling the existing IT landscape. Also, SAP HANA manages

today’s ever-increasing BIG DATA, computing speed, latency in information and additional data

aggregation in data marts.

9.  Improving Existing SAP Applications:

Traditional database management systems work on limited main memory to maximize performance

on hardware. They focus on optimizing disk access, where disk I/O is the main constraint in itself.

They aim at reducing the number of disk pages to be read into the main memory while processing.

In contrast to this, the main idea behind SAP HANA is to work on plenty of memory! So, instead of

optimizing I/O hard disk access, SAP HANA optimizes memory access between the CPU cache and

main memory. SAP HANA has a lot of scope in developing future in-memory analytic and

transactional applications.

With greater possibilities, existing SAP applications using Open SQL can run on SAP HANA without

alterations. This can immensely help in improving the existing SAP applications using SAP HANA.

Also, the dynamic and powerful SAP HANA applications have huge potential in improving business

performances and analytics manifolds. As these applications are developed and optimized for

parallel in-memory processing, businesses can make full use of advanced hardware technologies

and new enterprise data management.

So, whether an insurance company wants to calculate the premium amount on various

policies or a hospital requires data of all the heart surgeries taken place in the last quarter or

a Real estate wants quick access to its database to follow-up with a client, SAP HANA can do

all these with the kind of features it is blessed with! Characteristics like no aggregate tables,

strong computation power with built-in multitenancy, flexible modelling, large memory

footprint, no data duplication and fast data loads leads to immediate access to huge volume

of data, in turn leading to quick and efficient decision making.

So, enter the new era of SAP HANA and get started with unbelievable adventures!

If you are not clear what SAP HANA is all about, here is the blog post - What is SAP

HANA?