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Hana for GitHub

Since the beginning of this year, there has been a discussion on the topic: How contemporary is S/4? But the question must be asked in the same way: How innovative and stable is Hana?
Peter M. Färbinger, E3 Magazine
February 17, 2022
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This text has been automatically translated from German to English.

SAP's database platform is over ten years old and has only seen one retread by ex-SAP Chief Technology Officer Bernd Leukert. At that time, Leukert presented a relatively surprising Hana 2 at an SAP TechEd in Barcelona. Whether there will ever be a Hana 3 is not known. The fact is, however, that there is no community of free developers and applications for Hana beyond SAP's ERP boundaries.

One idea would be to position Hana as open source software on GitHub and hope that interested parties can be found who want to further develop the content. A model similar to Linux under the responsibility of Suse and Red Hat would be conceivable. In combination with the IBM company Red Hat, standardization on the IBM Power platform would be a further added value for the SAP community. However, as long as Hana carries the trademark "S/4 only", there will be no fan community for this database.

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Peter M. Färbinger, E3 Magazine

Peter M. Färbinger, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of E3 Magazine DE, US, ES, and FR (e3mag.com), B4Bmedia.net AG, Freilassing (DE), email: pmf@b4bmedia.net, and phone: +49(0)8654/77130-21


2 comments

  • Ich verstehe den Punkt nicht. HANA 2.0 ist leistungsfähig und hält aus SAP Sicht Mitbewerber fern (Oracle ff), wo in früheren Zeiten mit jeder SAP Installation der Wettbewerb stark gemacht wurde.
    Das HANA only Prinzip ist daher folgerichtig. Natürlich wird es leistungsfähigere Nachfolger geben – die Geschwindigkeit, mit der SAP seine Community gerade in technologischen Themen überschüttet sucht derzeit seinesgleichen. Braucht HANA eine open-source Fangemeinde ? Meines Erachtens nicht – wenn Sie leistungsfähig genug für die Belange ist. Und danach sieht es wohl aus.

    • A
      Peter M. Färbinger

      Danke für den Kommentar, in dem Sie vollkommen richtig schlussfolgern: Aus Sicht der SAP wird mit Hana der Mitbewerb ferngehalten – aber das ist nicht die Sichtweise der SAP-Bestandskunden und gereicht diesen nicht zum Vorteil. Den Vorteil erzielt alleine SAP – ein wenig egoistisch, oder? Ja, es gibt bei SAP zahlreiche technische Themen – reden Sie mit den Bestandskunden und Partnern: Es sind zu viele, zu heterogene, zu komplexe Themen. SAP sollte ein betriebswirtschaftliches Werkzeug sein und keine wissenschaftliche Doktorarbeit – man kann auch des Guten zu viel machen. Und Hana braucht eine Community, die über die SAP-Grenzen hinausgeht, damit die Datenbank auch langfristig eine Überlebenschance hat.

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Working on the SAP basis is crucial for successful S/4 conversion. 

This gives the Competence Center strategic importance for existing SAP customers. Regardless of the S/4 Hana operating model, topics such as Automation, Monitoring, Security, Application Lifecycle Management and Data Management the basis for S/4 operations.

For the fourth time, E3 magazine is organizing a summit for the SAP community in Salzburg to provide comprehensive information on all aspects of S/4 Hana groundwork.

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The event is organized by the E3 magazine of the publishing house B4Bmedia.net AG. The presentations will be accompanied by an exhibition of selected SAP partners. The ticket price includes attendance at all presentations of the Steampunk and BTP Summit 2026, a visit to the exhibition area, participation in the evening event and catering during the official program. The lecture program and the list of exhibitors and sponsors (SAP partners) will be published on this website in due course.