Open society

The digital transformation process is driving important and sustainable changes in the SAP ecosystem, and this evolution is increasingly being driven by open source ideas and projects.

"OpenStack is on everyone's lips and is slowly working its way into the IT infrastructures of German companies"

writes analyst René Büst of Crisp Research in a blog post.

"Thus, 58 percent of German CIOs see OpenStack as a real alternative to existing cloud management solutions. However, IT decision-makers should look closely at what they actually have in their hands.

After all, OpenStack is fundamentally just an infrastructure management solution to begin with, so it doesn't directly add value to the business."

Hadoop & OpenStack

From the perspective of the SAP community, Linux, OpenStack, Hadoop, Apache, etc. almost seem like a revolution. For a long time, access to R/3 data was limited and at best possible via NetWeaver, RFC (Remote Function Calls) and SAP Business Connector. Linux, Hadoop, OpenStack, etc. must seem like a liberating blow to a long-serving CIO.

"Suse Linux delivers open standards and an optimal Euro/SAPS ratio, meaning that Suse Linux and Intel result in optimal cost structures for SAP infrastructures."

explains Michael Jores in an interview with E-3 Editor-in-Chief Peter Färbinger.

He adds:

"The combination of Hana and Linux paves the way to a future-oriented state-of-the-art SAP infrastructure in terms of open standards and cloud readiness. This means that infrastructures with Linux and Hana can be optimally prepared for the Big Data and cloud future of the SAP data center."

OpenStack as infrastructure management is already the de facto standard for an open source-based platform solution (see also the interview with Fujitsu CTO Joseph Reger). SAP's commitment last year to support OpenStack means that existing customers are increasingly turning to the modular open source IaaS cloud platform as part of their cloud initiatives, knows Ralph Dehner of B1 Systems.

Suse was also quick to recognize this development and, with OpenStack Cloud, provided the world's first enterprise product for OpenStack. As a member of the OpenStack Foundation, Suse also currently provides Alan Clark as chairman of this important committee, which coordinates and ensures the targeted further development of OpenStack. SAP itself is now also an official member.

"Here we have already created best practices for deploying SAP on the Suse OpenStack Cloud"

Jores explains. With Hadoop and Hana, a comprehensive Big Data strategy can be implemented to combine the best of the structured and unstructured data worlds.

"And Linux has led the way for OpenStack and Hadoop."

Michael Jores knows.

"Since 1999, Linux has morphed into the strategic SAP platform, so that even now Linux is the exclusive technology platform for Hana, SAP has also already become a member of the OpenStack community, and OpenStack is in productive use in its data center. In other words, open source is systematically moving into the SAP data center."

Professor Heiner Diefenbach of Fujitsu adds in an E-3 interview:

"Open source makes it possible to break away from proprietary Unix systems and introduce standardized architectures. For this reason, the topic has been of great importance in the SAP environment for quite some time. This will certainly not diminish."

Big Data & Cloud

Heiner Diefenbach is optimistic about open source:

"In general, the SAP community is very open to the topic, many SAP customers are already using Linux and, accordingly, the overall know-how is quite good - and, in our estimation, getting even better."

With Linux, Hadoop and OpenStack, SAP can cover its two core strategies, on the one hand Big Data, where Hana and Hadoop form a pair, and on the other OpenStack, which underpins the SAP cloud strategy and is intended to support further cloud adoption in the market.

"Suse has been instrumental in supporting and advancing Linux over the past fifteen years."

Michael Jores emphasizes.

"Suse, as a development platform, has laid the foundation for many innovations such as providing the first open source-based hypervisor XEN, creating the one-stop support infrastructure with the integration of Suse support into SolMan, developing the HA cluster reference architecture, and providing Suse High Availability for automating Hana system replication."

Regarding the general role of open source, NetApp's Jürgen Hamm is more reserved in this E-3 interview:

"One trend we're seeing is proprietary applications will continue to play a very large role, the issue will be what does support, maintenance and liability look like."

It works, but the challenges and dangers must be recognized and analyzed. Crisp Research analyst René Büst also cautions in his blog entry:

"CIOs therefore need to address the fundamental question of how OpenStack can offer them a strategic advantage. This is only the case if they use OpenStack differently than their competitors and thus do not limit themselves exclusively to operational excellence.

Rather, it's about recognizing OpenStack technology as part of the IT strategy to deliver real value to the business through it."

Heiner Diefenbach sees the open source trend in the SAP community directly:

"OpenStack enables the standardization of architectures for operating data centers, making it ideal for developing hybrid cloud scenarios, but also for forming a uniform basis in mergers and acquisitions."

According to the Fujitsu manager, OpenStack also offers users an easy way to move their cloud scenarios from one provider to another.

"We expect OpenStack to grow in importance and will therefore integrate with this architecture via API with our operating concept for SAP, Flexframe Orchestrator"

explains Diefenbach. And he has made another observation in the community: Hadoop is a complementary addition to the Hana portfolio, primarily for analyzing unstructured mass data.

"Demand for Hadoop solutions, such as the Primeflex for Hadoop appliance, is growing"

Heiner Diefenbach is pleased.

Cloud computing strategy

"You can't overstate the importance of OpenStack"

emphasizes Bernd Kappesser, Managing Director of Realtech in Walldorf.

"SAP's commitment includes the strategic goal of reducing the licensing costs of managing a private cloud while achieving independence from infrastructure providers for hardware, storage, networking and also virtualization.

As a customer, I remain flexible and can exchange cloud providers. As a remote target, I can decide individually per application whether it runs on premise at my company or at one of the cloud providers."

The experts agree that OpenStack can become for the cloud what the x86 processor is for hardware procurement: comparability and interchangeability are given. In addition, the overarching manageability is also announced.

And on Hadoop, Realtech manager Hinrich Mielke says the Big Data approach of the high-end, high-performance Hana solution is expanding toward petabyte-scale Big Data with low-cost infrastructure.

"The combination of the two will enable interesting new use cases," adds Bernd Kappesser, "that seamlessly combine high-performance access to data with access to unstructured mass data without media disruption."

Linux and OpenStack are a stable basis for cloud computing. The path to the cloud means many individual steps and coordination with ERP and Hana for the existing SAP customer.

"Cloud computing spans a wide field between simply offering server resources with an operating system to software-as-a-service offerings"

explains Michael Jores. Which form of cloud offering will be the strongest in the future will be measured primarily in terms of quality, performance, security and flexibility.

"Because if a cloud offering leads into vendor lock-in, then we're right back where we were before the Unix-Linux migration wave"

Jores is convinced. From the point of view of SAP's existing customers, where could cloud computing be based - at SAP (Hana Enterprise Cloud), at Amazon (AWS), Google, Microsoft (Azure) or at SAP partners and local providers? Jürgen Hamm from NetApp:

"SAP, AWS and Azure are investing significantly, but I also see on-premises hosters here that have very interesting cloud offerings."

Hinrich Mielke also refers to the issue of vendor lock-in:

"My recommendation is always customer-dependent; there is no philosopher's stone. It is always important to remain flexible and independent, i.e., not to succumb to vendor lock-in. This must be checked in advance of any solution decision.

OpenStack is a very good option here, but when setting it up you also have to be careful that you don't get a make instead of a buy solution. OpenStack is highly customizable, and you can fall into the same trap that you would if you were to make a major change to your SAP ERP system.

Then the application lifecycle management of the solution can become too complex."

CIOs with a history of SAP know this danger and are therefore well armed, Mielke says with a smile and adds:

"In any case, one principle always applies: problems cannot be outsourced! If the boundary conditions are not clearly defined, the move to the cloud or to an outsourcer will not be crowned with success.

Therefore, clean preparation, ideally with an external consultant, is the foundation for successful and goal-oriented sourcing here."

Public, Hybrid or Private Cloud?

"This varies from customer to customer"

says Heiner Diefenbach.

"We support our customers with all three models. However, at least for mission-critical data, the trend is clearly toward private cloud at the customer's site or operation in our highly secure data centers in Germany, which are subject to German law."

The discussion group is not entirely unanimous in the case of Hana and cloud computing. According to the observations of Peter Wüst, NetApp, on premise is still in demand for the core application for ERP and Hana,

"although sporadic on-demand concepts are increasingly becoming an option for companies, and these can also come from the cloud"

Security and data sovereignty are very important here, he adds. Heiner Diefenbach also thinks:

"A clear trend is not yet foreseeable, as personal preferences dominate. Concerns about data privacy and competence for in-house operations vary widely."

Friedrich Krey from Suse Linux clearly sees the private cloud for productive SAP operations.

"To cover outsourced SAP testing, training or development areas, the customer can access public cloud solution offerings accordingly"

he explains the options, such as the S/4 Hana trial on AWS.

"This then results in the construct of a hybrid cloud, which we also underpin accordingly with Suse technology, with the Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications and the Suse OpenStack Cloud."

S/4 Hana - disruptive, or what?

Hana is the new platform in the SAP ecosystem, and the techniques and processes mentioned, such as Linux and OpenStack, are naturally related to this. Open source and cloud computing are the cornerstones of the open society.

The roadmap to S/4 - on demand and on premise - is outlined by SAP. Linux and OpenStack as well as other open source products play a decisive role. The question for SAP's existing customers in the coming years is therefore: Are they on a disruptive or non-disruptive path?

"SAP Hana is a disruptive technology if it ultimately succeeds in consolidating OLAP and OLTP transactions in terms of database technology and making them consumable for the business in terms of applications via S/4"

says Michael Jores

"then, from my point of view, we can speak of a disruptive technology. Since it is an innovation that is designed for long-term further development, SAP logically opted for Linux, which ensures that the infrastructure also keeps up in terms of its speed of innovation without ending up in a dead end, since Linux guarantees that these innovations also remain mainstream."

Jürgen Hamm from NetApp consequently points out that the new SAP data center operation must not become more complex than SAP Classic.

"As soon as there are operating concepts for Hana as well, I no longer see any obstacle to calling Hana data center ready. NetApp and Fujitsu have an excellent solution on the market here with Flexframe".

Hamm knows from his professional experience. Heiner Diefenbach differentiates:

"From a purely technical perspective, SAP Hana is certainly a disruptive database technology. However, the way SAP has now integrated the solution into its portfolio, and with the solutions we provide for it, companies can implement it without any major disruptions.

Our experience from numerous consulting projects shows that in individual cases it can thus be disruptive or just not disruptive for the customer."

And Diefenbach knows from many conversations with users:

"IT and business processes are inextricably linked here. This is where we are needed as a mediator between these two poles."

Michael Jores concludes by defining the status of open society in the SAP community:

"SAP has been working directly in the relevant open source projects for years and relies on technology partners in the open source sector who, like Suse, have reliably worked on such disruptive technologies continuously for years.

No other enterprise Linux vendor has demonstrated the same reliability in its partnership with SAP in the nearly 16 years since SAP Linuxlab was established. At a high speed, SAP has realized the data center readiness issues for Hana; such as backup and restore, high availability and disaster recovery, security, virtualization and multi-tenant capabilities.

As a technology partner of SAP, Suse has consistently supported this data center readiness. The S/4 Hana strategy is the logical consequence of turning the added value of in-memory technology into a disruptive technology for the customer and thus also creating the business cases and added value of and for Hana at the application level."