With the advent of SAP HANA Enterprise 1.0, SAP is extending its reach beyond enterprise-class applications.

It digs into the database engine/storage layer just below that supports data exploration and business analytics tasks as well as transactional applications. Any time a stalwart technology vendor enters a new market, customers inevitably have questions about the technology itself, the direction of the vendors product portfolio, and, most importantly, how the new offering impacts their organizations. Wikibon has conducted a detailed assessment of HANA, including its technological underpinnings, potential use-cases, shortcomings, what it signals for the direction of SAP as an enterprise software vendor, and what HANA means for enterprise customers. What is SAP HANA? SAP HANA Enterprise 1.0 is an in-memory computing appliance that combines SAP database software with pre-tuned server, storage, and networking hardware from one of several SAP hardware partners. It is designed to support real-time analytic and transactional processing. What are the technical components that make up HANA? The heart of SAP HANA Enterprise 1.0 is the SAP In-Memory Database 1.0, a massively parallel processing data store that melds row-based, column-based, and object-based storage techniques. Other components of SAP HANA Enterprise 1.0 include: