HP Unveils Cloud Service for SAP HANA

Hewlett-Packard is offering SAP's HANA in-memory database technology as a cloud service as well as another service to help businesses migrate their data to HANA.

The company's HP As-a-Service Solution for SAP HANA will run in an HP-managed cloud either as a virtual private cloud or a managed private cloud operating in an HP data center, according to officials. It will be powered by HP's AppSystem for SAP HANA.

The cloud service, announced Aug. 25, will bundle SAP's HANA software license with HP's hardware and management software, offering what officials said is a complete solution delivered as a service. The offering will give businesses the benefits of the information management and analytics capabilities of HANA without having to invest in the infrastructure to run the database. Instead, businesses will simply have to pay a monthly subscription.

"Today's market pressures create the need for companies to know in real time what is going on with their enterprise, their clients and even their competitors, so they can stay competitive," Jules Beck, vice president of enterprise application services at HP, said in a statement. "When HP and SAP innovate together, we raise the bar on what is possible for our clients by providing real-time insights."

HP plans to roll out the HANA cloud service globally, starting with Australia and New Zealand. Pricing will be dependent on customer needs, HP officials said.

Along with the cloud service, HP also is offering its Migration Factory for SAP HANA, which will be offered by HP Enterprise Services through its worldwide Delivery Centers. The services include creating the initial business case, developing a road map and migrating the data.

HP also has other SAP-related services for businesses, from its Implementation Services for SAP Solutions to its Enterprise Cloud Services for SAP Solutions.

For SAP officials, the new service with HP is the latest step in a broad effort under the SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud service strategy announced in May to offer a range of SAP business applications—from enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) to NetWeaver Business Warehouse—in the cloud, rather than solely on-premises.