Open Source & Cloud Computing

It wasn't better before, but it was more manageable and orderly. I'm not writing here about my desk in particular or my office in general: Meetings in my office always start with moving piles of files and finding new, free spaces.

But after three minutes, there is room enough for fresh coffee and necessary documents and plans. One of these strategic plans concerns the topics of open source and cloud computing.

Open source was no better in the past, but it was more manageable from the point of view of SAP's existing customers because it was limited to Linux and MaxDB. Cloud computing didn't exist ten years ago, when we were dealing with outsourcing, hosting and virtualization. And I would never have guessed that Microsoft and Suse would become a harmonious couple - not entirely voluntarily, but extremely successful at the moment.

For us, this development is not only exciting, but also crucial. We have analyzed the trend in several meetings and I have now presented the general part of our findings at our SAP regulars' table, more details will be available from my staff at the DSAG annual congress, and Editor-in-Chief Färbinger has asked me for a brief summary in E-3 Magazine.

Open source is a defining force in IT infrastructure and operations. Ten years ago, the Linux community wanted to become a "radical" alternative to Microsoft Windows and Office.

Today, Microsoft and Suse are the very best partners - also thanks to SAP. The starting point many years ago was the Linux Lab in Walldorf, but the paradigm shift was Hana.

A database from SAP that runs exclusively on Linux and is to become the sole platform for future ERP versions reshuffled the cards in the SAP community.

Hana was the turning point and refocused the open source trend, focusing on innovative solutions for the data center and cloud computing.

After Linux came Hadoop, Apache, OpenStack, Cloud Foundry and much more. SAP took all these ideas and products and integrated them into its own roadmap.

All players in the SAP community must follow suit - with Microsoft leading the way. There are two challenges to be solved:

First, how do you retain existing SAP customers with Windows and SQL servers if Hana and Linux become the sole platform for ERP in the future?

Second, how do you respond to the unmistakable trend of cloud computing, where AWS and Google already have a relevant lead?

Microsoft found a double answer: Azure and partnership with Suse! For us, this realization and development is very significant because a considerable number of our ECC 6.0 systems run on Windows and thus also partly on SQL Server.

We have thus set up two strategy groups: One has the working title "Open Source", the other "Cloud Computing". The first group is already working operationally and without reservations.

As far as cloud computing is concerned, we are rather conservative and still evaluating in places. Our experience with IBM Power, Suse and Hana in our data centers (on-premise) is not the worst.

A CIO friend told me some time ago that if he ever had to unlock a Hana system again, he would only do it in the cloud - probably even in the SAP cloud.

Why? Because, in his opinion, the Hana code is currently still so unstable that he doesn't want to bother with debugging in his own data center. He then has a watertight SLA for the SAP Hana cloud. A strong argument for cloud computing at SAP, AWS, Google or Microsoft.

As an interim result, however, the cloud solutions of midmarket SAP partners such as Itelligence, All for One, etc. have been eliminated: too expensive, too inflexible, too specific, too local.

If cloud computing, then with a partner that is also responsible for its own infrastructure or has a reputable partner, such as Microsoft Azure with Deutsche Telekom. Even the outsourcing of SAP's cloud services to Cloudflare's more than 100 data centers causes us the most serious security concerns.