April 15, 2015 at 18:31SAP Forum: New Opportunities for Developers and Startups
On April 9, the next SAP Forum was held in Crocus Expo, where for the first time opportunities for developers were presented, allowing you to use SAP HANA for your own purposes: creating applications for business based on the platform and creating your own technology startup. More than 3300 participants visited the Forum this time,
SAP, the leader in ERP, which started more than 40 years ago and since then has been constantly updating and improving technologies, now it helps developers who want to create their own business-critical applications to start.
For these purposes, a special free SAP Startup Focus program is running, which includes not only access to in-memory technology - SAP HANA, but also the direct assistance of technical specialists and business consultants.
Program participants have the opportunity to contact potential customers through participation in official SAP events, and they also open prospects for contacting a venture fund to finance an existing project. In a word, all conditions are created for the development of a high-tech product and its further capitalization.
Forum participants were able to get acquainted with the technical characteristics of SAP HANA and learn first-hand about the possibilities for developing applications based on the platform. “When we talk about SAP HANA, we mean a platform for business-critical applications,” says Vasily Sukhanov, senior developer of solutions on the SAP HANA platform, “Developers can migrate their applications to the SAP HANA platform without significant changes, taking advantage of In- Memory DBMS, column storage, various programming languages that are simply integrated within the framework of SAP HANA ”.
Applications on the SAP HANA platform work with data directly without the need for additional data transfer. “We don’t care about your code,” says Gary Parnell, Startup Focus Program Director for EMEA, “Hana can collect the data, no matter how it is stored, process it and give it back.”
SAP HANA (High Performance Analytic Appliance) is a platform for the development, implementation and efficient operation of business-critical applications. SAP HANA includes an in-memory relational database, a set of tools for developing application code in various programming languages, tools for processing unstructured information, template libraries for solving machine learning problems in various subject areas of a business, and many other components. SAP, as part of its platform, offers a unique opportunity to solve problems that handle various types of workloads of their nature - OLTP and OLAP.
The SAP HANA DBMS relational engine supports the ability to process data in column and row data storage options. In the second case, the columnar variant of data storage allows not only to accelerate the aggregation operations during data processing, but also to seriously compress the data and seriously save on disk space for storing the original data.
In-memory technology allows not only to accelerate the processing of analytical queries, but also to accelerate transactional queries, which are primarily characterized by a low DBMS response time and a large number of queries per unit time.
The SAP HANA platform allows applications built on its basis to access data directly, which in turn offers developers the opportunity to implement the business logic of the interaction of numerous components of their application simply and efficiently, without the use of intermediate protocols and data processing layers.
However, in case of transferring previously created applications to the SAP HANA platform, it is possible to use standard open data access protocols: JDBC, ODBC, oData, REST services, ADO. NET, Python ODBC, R language.
The SAP HANA platform scales both within a single server node and within several server nodes, thereby forming an SAP HANA cluster, and it becomes possible not only to automatically balance the load when processing requests from clients, but also to increase the volume of processed requests due to a simple Add a new node to the SAP HANA cluster.
What tasks can be solved using the power of SAP HANA?
Below we will talk about the fact that you can solve any of the problems you are interested in on the basis of the SAP HANA platform, but for now we’ll give a few examples of already implemented or actively developing innovative SAP projects based on SAP HANA.
Personalized medicine
Decoding the genome allows us to talk about personalized medicine. Suppose that in one gene - about 200 megabytes of data available to us for analysis. If traditional systems decrypt DNA in 2-3 days, then using SAP HANA this can be done in 20 minutes: 261 times faster.
Formula 1
On one racing car McLaren, participating in the "Formula 1", installed about 150 sensors. Indicators like speed, tire pressure, engine oil temperature are collected in real time. For one racing circle, the system collects two gigabytes of similar information, which gives about three terabytes of information for the entire race (about half a day). SAP HANA processes such information for each car over the past 10 years specifically for McLaren.
Business forecasting
Do not forget that the main direction of ERP is primarily a business for which the use of SAP HANA opens up enormous opportunities. For example, you can collect a huge amount of data about a business system in real time, and build a comprehensive simulator of company performance. At the same time, business leaders are not faced with the problem of data sampling: sampling can be done really large, while the system will not lose in speed.
These are just some examples of the possibilities of using SAP HANA as a data processing system. It also finds wide application in marketing, management, logistics and other industries, the quality of which can be significantly improved with the help of timely analytics.
Vasily Sukhanov, senior developer of solutions on the SAP HANA platform, talks about the technical advantages for developing business-critical applications.
During the April 9th SAP Forum, the developers of the platform talked about its advantages, in particular that the applications built on its basis can be scaled without much effort.
SAP Startup Forums are held regularly and traditionally are a meeting place for SAP specialists and developers who learn about the capabilities of the system and plan to use it for themselves. This time, the SAP Startup Forum was held as part of the general SAP Forum, as a separate section, highlighting the opportunities for collaboration between SAP developers.
The program speakers were Vyacheslav Gershov, Director of Business Development at SAP Labs in the CIS, Vasily Sukhanov, senior developer of solutions on the SAP HANA platform and Gary Parnell, director of the Startup Focus program in the EMEA region, as well as a representative of startup Navigine and a participant in the Startup Focus program Oleg Demidov.
Gary Parnel sure: with SAP HANA, startups are always on the crest of a wave
This program lasts 12 months and is a business accelerator, a kind of "easy way to get started." Program participants get free access to SAP HANA technology, training materials, expert advice on SAP technologies and business development, as well as support in promoting their solution on the market.
“At the same time, SAP is not included in the share of participating companies and does not require any financial obligations. On the contrary, we help program participants to attract financing, if necessary. For this, we have contacts in SAP venture funds, such as SAP Ventures, we also maintain working relations with independent venture funds and development institutions, for example, Skolkovo, RVC, Almaz Capital, Maxfield Capital and others, ”says Vyacheslav Gershov.
Vyacheslav Gershov on opportunities in the Startup Forum
The program consists of several stages. The preparatory phase includes initial technology training, after which developers can offer their solution based on the platform.
At the next stage, the description of the idea is considered by the expert council, which decides on the inclusion of developers in the program.
If the project is admitted to the program, further participants are expected to continue training and work on a prototype: access to technology and SAP HANA data. A product solution is being developed, which is further promoted at thematic conferences and exhibitions.
A vivid example of such success at the last SAP Forum was the startup Naviginewho is developing an SDK for orientation in confined spaces. An application developed for the SAP Forum using this SDK served as participants for comfortable navigation and evaluation of the proposed materials.
As Oleg Demidov told us, “Navigine is a platform for developing high-precision geolocation services indoors. Our technology is based on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth LE fingerprinting, measurements from internal sensors of the smartphone, odometric information and allows to achieve accuracy of 1 meter. Our long-term goal is to become a strategic partner of SAP in the implementation of corporate solutions based on accurate navigation and indoor tracking. ”
Forum heatmaps provided by Navigine
The joint Navigine-SAP platform allows you to implement the following functions:
- and much more, which in turn allows us to say that “this concept fits directly into the finished product for corporate clients such as retail chains, shopping and entertainment centers, airports, etc. “Who cares about interacting with customers through a mobile application.”
All that remains is to wish the guys good luck, because despite the young age of this project, it sounds already very confident, and the SAP Startup Focus program, in turn, provides startups with tools to advance on the market - from venture financing of successfully implemented projects to their own customer base.
The SAP forum turned out to be a very friendly place for developers. In addition to a huge amount of information about developing on the basis of the SAP HANA platform and the possibilities of organizing their own projects, the organizers did not forget that creative activity manifests itself in a creative environment, so at the forum stands you could create your own sketch with a 3D pen, control a quadrocopter, try glasses virtual reality, ride a Tesla mobile and rate everything that happens in the application, simultaneously winning prizes from the organizers of the forum.
In short, the organizers tried to convey the philosophy of the SAP team, in which creativity and innovation are organically combined with serious decisions in the field of data collection and processing. This is a reminder that the new office of SAP Labs is conceived as a unified work environment not only for teams working within the laboratory, but also as a joint workspace to strengthen relationships and cooperation, where, for example, you can come for a single “brainstorm” or organize a space for collaboration with SAP Labs specialists for a long time.
All the forum participants, despite the serious positions they held, turned out to be very open and friendly, gladly answered all questions and offered their help. All this allows us to believe that if you have an appropriate plan based on the SAP HANA platform, now you know that it’s really easy to start: you will be trained, prompted, guided and provided with comprehensive cooperation on your project - kind of, this is a dream for developers and startups ready to discover new horizons in the technological business environment.
Useful links:
» Technologies for developers
» About SAP Startup Focus
program » Startup success stories
Thank you for your attention. Still have questions? Waiting for them in the comments!
Program participants have the opportunity to contact potential customers through participation in official SAP events, and they also open prospects for contacting a venture fund to finance an existing project. In a word, all conditions are created for the development of a high-tech product and its further capitalization.
Forum participants were able to get acquainted with the technical characteristics of SAP HANA and learn first-hand about the possibilities for developing applications based on the platform. “When we talk about SAP HANA, we mean a platform for business-critical applications,” says Vasily Sukhanov, senior developer of solutions on the SAP HANA platform, “Developers can migrate their applications to the SAP HANA platform without significant changes, taking advantage of In- Memory DBMS, column storage, various programming languages that are simply integrated within the framework of SAP HANA ”.
Applications on the SAP HANA platform work with data directly without the need for additional data transfer. “We don’t care about your code,” says Gary Parnell, Startup Focus Program Director for EMEA, “Hana can collect the data, no matter how it is stored, process it and give it back.”
Features of SAP HANA: turbo-mode of work with big data
SAP HANA (High Performance Analytic Appliance) is a platform for the development, implementation and efficient operation of business-critical applications. SAP HANA includes an in-memory relational database, a set of tools for developing application code in various programming languages, tools for processing unstructured information, template libraries for solving machine learning problems in various subject areas of a business, and many other components. SAP, as part of its platform, offers a unique opportunity to solve problems that handle various types of workloads of their nature - OLTP and OLAP.
The SAP HANA DBMS relational engine supports the ability to process data in column and row data storage options. In the second case, the columnar variant of data storage allows not only to accelerate the aggregation operations during data processing, but also to seriously compress the data and seriously save on disk space for storing the original data.
In-memory technology allows not only to accelerate the processing of analytical queries, but also to accelerate transactional queries, which are primarily characterized by a low DBMS response time and a large number of queries per unit time.
The SAP HANA platform allows applications built on its basis to access data directly, which in turn offers developers the opportunity to implement the business logic of the interaction of numerous components of their application simply and efficiently, without the use of intermediate protocols and data processing layers.
However, in case of transferring previously created applications to the SAP HANA platform, it is possible to use standard open data access protocols: JDBC, ODBC, oData, REST services, ADO. NET, Python ODBC, R language.
The SAP HANA platform scales both within a single server node and within several server nodes, thereby forming an SAP HANA cluster, and it becomes possible not only to automatically balance the load when processing requests from clients, but also to increase the volume of processed requests due to a simple Add a new node to the SAP HANA cluster.
What tasks can be solved using the power of SAP HANA?
Below we will talk about the fact that you can solve any of the problems you are interested in on the basis of the SAP HANA platform, but for now we’ll give a few examples of already implemented or actively developing innovative SAP projects based on SAP HANA.
Personalized medicine
Decoding the genome allows us to talk about personalized medicine. Suppose that in one gene - about 200 megabytes of data available to us for analysis. If traditional systems decrypt DNA in 2-3 days, then using SAP HANA this can be done in 20 minutes: 261 times faster.
Formula 1
On one racing car McLaren, participating in the "Formula 1", installed about 150 sensors. Indicators like speed, tire pressure, engine oil temperature are collected in real time. For one racing circle, the system collects two gigabytes of similar information, which gives about three terabytes of information for the entire race (about half a day). SAP HANA processes such information for each car over the past 10 years specifically for McLaren.
Business forecasting
Do not forget that the main direction of ERP is primarily a business for which the use of SAP HANA opens up enormous opportunities. For example, you can collect a huge amount of data about a business system in real time, and build a comprehensive simulator of company performance. At the same time, business leaders are not faced with the problem of data sampling: sampling can be done really large, while the system will not lose in speed.
These are just some examples of the possibilities of using SAP HANA as a data processing system. It also finds wide application in marketing, management, logistics and other industries, the quality of which can be significantly improved with the help of timely analytics.
Vasily Sukhanov, senior developer of solutions on the SAP HANA platform, talks about the technical advantages for developing business-critical applications.
During the April 9th SAP Forum, the developers of the platform talked about its advantages, in particular that the applications built on its basis can be scaled without much effort.
SAP HANA Startup Focus
SAP Startup Forums are held regularly and traditionally are a meeting place for SAP specialists and developers who learn about the capabilities of the system and plan to use it for themselves. This time, the SAP Startup Forum was held as part of the general SAP Forum, as a separate section, highlighting the opportunities for collaboration between SAP developers.
The program speakers were Vyacheslav Gershov, Director of Business Development at SAP Labs in the CIS, Vasily Sukhanov, senior developer of solutions on the SAP HANA platform and Gary Parnell, director of the Startup Focus program in the EMEA region, as well as a representative of startup Navigine and a participant in the Startup Focus program Oleg Demidov.
Gary Parnel sure: with SAP HANA, startups are always on the crest of a wave
This program lasts 12 months and is a business accelerator, a kind of "easy way to get started." Program participants get free access to SAP HANA technology, training materials, expert advice on SAP technologies and business development, as well as support in promoting their solution on the market.
“At the same time, SAP is not included in the share of participating companies and does not require any financial obligations. On the contrary, we help program participants to attract financing, if necessary. For this, we have contacts in SAP venture funds, such as SAP Ventures, we also maintain working relations with independent venture funds and development institutions, for example, Skolkovo, RVC, Almaz Capital, Maxfield Capital and others, ”says Vyacheslav Gershov.
Vyacheslav Gershov on opportunities in the Startup Forum
The program consists of several stages. The preparatory phase includes initial technology training, after which developers can offer their solution based on the platform.
At the next stage, the description of the idea is considered by the expert council, which decides on the inclusion of developers in the program.
If the project is admitted to the program, further participants are expected to continue training and work on a prototype: access to technology and SAP HANA data. A product solution is being developed, which is further promoted at thematic conferences and exhibitions.
A vivid example of such success at the last SAP Forum was the startup Naviginewho is developing an SDK for orientation in confined spaces. An application developed for the SAP Forum using this SDK served as participants for comfortable navigation and evaluation of the proposed materials.
As Oleg Demidov told us, “Navigine is a platform for developing high-precision geolocation services indoors. Our technology is based on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth LE fingerprinting, measurements from internal sensors of the smartphone, odometric information and allows to achieve accuracy of 1 meter. Our long-term goal is to become a strategic partner of SAP in the implementation of corporate solutions based on accurate navigation and indoor tracking. ”
Forum heatmaps provided by Navigine
The joint Navigine-SAP platform allows you to implement the following functions:
- collection, storage and analysis of data on the movement and actions of forum visitors in real time;
- navigation of users of the mobile application on the forum site;
- visualization of the collected data and the results of their analysis in the form of "heat maps" of attendance of stands and reports in real time
- and much more, which in turn allows us to say that “this concept fits directly into the finished product for corporate clients such as retail chains, shopping and entertainment centers, airports, etc. “Who cares about interacting with customers through a mobile application.”
All that remains is to wish the guys good luck, because despite the young age of this project, it sounds already very confident, and the SAP Startup Focus program, in turn, provides startups with tools to advance on the market - from venture financing of successfully implemented projects to their own customer base.
Creative environment for developers inside SAP
The SAP forum turned out to be a very friendly place for developers. In addition to a huge amount of information about developing on the basis of the SAP HANA platform and the possibilities of organizing their own projects, the organizers did not forget that creative activity manifests itself in a creative environment, so at the forum stands you could create your own sketch with a 3D pen, control a quadrocopter, try glasses virtual reality, ride a Tesla mobile and rate everything that happens in the application, simultaneously winning prizes from the organizers of the forum.
In short, the organizers tried to convey the philosophy of the SAP team, in which creativity and innovation are organically combined with serious decisions in the field of data collection and processing. This is a reminder that the new office of SAP Labs is conceived as a unified work environment not only for teams working within the laboratory, but also as a joint workspace to strengthen relationships and cooperation, where, for example, you can come for a single “brainstorm” or organize a space for collaboration with SAP Labs specialists for a long time.
All the forum participants, despite the serious positions they held, turned out to be very open and friendly, gladly answered all questions and offered their help. All this allows us to believe that if you have an appropriate plan based on the SAP HANA platform, now you know that it’s really easy to start: you will be trained, prompted, guided and provided with comprehensive cooperation on your project - kind of, this is a dream for developers and startups ready to discover new horizons in the technological business environment.
Useful links:
» Technologies for developers
» About SAP Startup Focus
program » Startup success stories
Thank you for your attention. Still have questions? Waiting for them in the comments!