SAP HANA is a one in-memory atomic copy of data for transactions and analysis. Compared to the traditional databased approach, it eliminates redundant data copies, reducing unnecessary complexity and latency. Thus, there is less hardware to manage, so it accelerates through innovation and simplification.
In traditional systems, OLTP (Online Transaction Processing) provided source data to data warehouses, such as large number of master data transactions (INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE) that required an accelerated query processing, while keeping consistent data integrity in multi-access environments. On the other hand, OLAP (Online Transaction Processing) helped to analyze this information through data mining, analytics and decision making. This system requires lower workload of transactions, however it is more complex and involve aggregation structures and history data by using more indexes than OLTP.
SAP HANA permits OLTP (Online Transaction Processing) and OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) workloads on the same platform by storing data in high-speed memory, organizing it in columns and partitioning and distributing it among multiple servers.
This process delivers faster queries, avoiding in this way costly full-table scans and single column indexes. Compared to the previous image, it is evident how SAP HANA reduces its operational overhead and it leverages one infrastructure for analytical and text search in both OLAP and OLTP use cases.
SAP HANA platform converges Database, Data Processing and Application Platform capabilities. It also provides libraries for predictive, planning, text, spatial and business analytics allowing real-time business operations.
Moreover, SAP HANA offers three different deployment options which provide security, privacy and availability. Any of these options can be changed anytime:
- On premise – Running all SAP Solutions on SAP HANA. The client can build or deploy own solutions on SAP HANA. These solutions are maintained all within the client’s firewall.
- Hybrid – Leveraging SAP Cloud. Some solutions are migrated to the cloud, and you can also create or deploy your new SaaS apps in the cloud. In this way, the client can use cloud hosting and manage services deploying via SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud or using a public cloud.
- Cloud – Build, Run and Deploy all applications in the Cloud. This deployment option enables faster innovations and simplify the whole infrastructure. SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud provides the landscape to migrate client’s applications or build new ones.