SAP ECC Runs Best With Oracle Exadata
In a world where business moves at digital speed, SAP ECC is the operational heart of many global companies. From finance and manufacturing to logistics and human resources, SAP systems execute businesscritical processes that require the highest levels of performance, security, scalability, and efficiency. But SAP ECC is only as good as the platform it runs on.
For ECC/NetWeaver and others
That‘s where Oracle Exadata comes in—a system designed to make applications like SAP ECC faster, more stable, and more efficient. Whether deployed on-prem, in a cloud behind the customer‘s firewall, or in Oracle‘s public cloud, Exadata delivers unmatched performance and reliability for SAP environments. In this article, you‘ll learn why SAP ECC and NetWeaver-based applications run best with the Oracle Exadata platform, not just technically, but also strategically. Oracle Exadata is not a general-purpose server or a cloud VM. Rather, it is an engineered systems platform designed specifically for high-performance database workloads and fully SAP-certified. This is crucial for companies that operate large SAP landscapes, often consisting of dozens or even hundreds of interdependent database instances.
Exadata‘s unique features
First: integrated compute, storage and network functionality. In contrast to conventional implementations with a patchwork architecture, Exadata offers a fully integrated stack that is optimized and tested for Oracle database and SAP workloads.
Second: built-in redundancy and fault tolerance. With redundant components and Real Application Clusters (RAC), Exadata guarantees maximum availability for SAP applications.
Third: the important "SAP Bundled Patches". These patch bundles are pre-tested and certified for Exa-data. They can be downloaded directly from the SAP support portal, which simplifies the compliance release and ensures a smooth patching process.
Such integration simultaneously eliminates many problems that are typical of multi-vendor environments: configuration complexity, patching delays, and finger-pointing in the event of incidents. With Exadata, SAP landscapes become easier to manage, more secure, more powerful and more reliable.
Exadata performance is enhanced by Smart Scan, SQL Offload, and Storage Index features. In a traditional setup, all SQL query processing takes place on the database servers, which can quickly become bottlenecks, especially during large data scans. With Exadata, however, query workloads are offloaded to intelligent storage servers, which perform data filtering, column projection, and local aggregations. This reduces database CPU usage and network traffic, as only the relevant result set is returned from the storage servers to the database server.
Groundbreaking performance
For SAP workloads, especially those user self-developed Abap “Z” programs, these features make a huge difference. Such programs are typically batch-intensive, transaction- or analytics-heavy, and difficult to optimize. On Exadata, customers have seen performance improvements 3 to 33 times in real-world scenarios, resulting in faster reporting, shorter job run-times, and better decisions. This is important in industries such as retail (inventory/ POS updates), finance (end-ofmonth batches), utilities (billing cycles), and manufacturing (production planning), where delays translate directly into costs or lost opportunities.
High availability
High availability is essential in an SAP environment. Whether SAP ECC or Business Warehouse (BW), downtime means business interruption. Exadata includes Real Application Clusters (RAC) out of the box, enabling active-active clustering across multiple nodes. Also included are Automatic Storage Management (ASM) for disk redundancy and fast recovery, and Oracle Clusterware for managing SAP SCS/ASCS high availability configurations. Instead of piecing together HA solutions from differ- ent vendors, Exadata offers native end-to-end resiliency—certified and supported by Oracle and SAP.
Consolidation and scaling
SAP landscapes are notoriously complex. It is not uncommon for companies to have to manage dozens of development, QA, training, and production systems. With massive scalability and consolidation capabilities, Exadata helps reduce this complexity. Key benefits include increased DBA productivity (125+ databases per DBA), high consolidation density (100+ databases per rack), and lower data center costs (power, cooling, rack space).
Thanks to technologies such as Hybrid Columnar Compression (HCC), Flash Cache, and Storage Tiering, customers can reduce storage usage by up to 10 times while improving performance. An example of a use case: a global retail chain using SAP IS Retail reduced its batch job window from 2-3 days to 8 hours and compressed its archive storage by 15 times with Exadata.
Three deployment models
Today‘s SAP customers want the choice between on-premises, cloud, and hybrid. Oracle Exadata is the only platform that offers true architectural parity across all deployment models. At the same time, each model has its own strengths. Exadata on-prem provides full control, data sovereignty, and a CAPEX model. Exadata Cloud Services (OCI) are fully managed, scalable, ideal for rapid de- ployment and global operations with reduced real estate and energy costs. Exadata Cloud@Customer allows for cloud simplicity behind firewalls, an OPEX model, and regulatory compli- ance. Flexibility and consistent architecture make Exadata the ideal platform for regulated industries (banking, health- care, government) where data availability, latency, and control are paramount and non-negotiable.
Real-world impact
What are the customer experiences after switching to Exadata technology? Cencora (AmerisourceBergen) reported: “With Exadata, we were able to triple SAP throughput without any service interruption. The platform is incredibly stable and scalable.” This is by no means an exception. It is one of many examples of what Exadata delivers in some of the world‘s largest and most demanding SAP ECC environments.
Value beyond the database
Oracle Exadata is not just an infrastructure platform, but also a catalyst for business transformation. In today‘s digital economy, where speed, risk minimization, and operational efficiency determine competitiveness, Exadata offers strategic advantages that go far beyond pure performance. Through fewer integration points, consistent patching cycles, and a unified management framework, Exadata reduces the operational complexity and risk associated with fragmented SAP environments. Companies benefit not only from faster innovation cycles, but also from greater confidence in compliance, business
Oracle Exadata is also the ideal platform for consolidating the system landscape. It supports both SAP and non-SAP Oracle workloads on a single infrastructure and enables CIOs to streamline data center operations, eliminate silos and gain a single source of truth for the entire enterprise. This creates a stronger foundation for artificial intelligence and machine learning initiatives, analytics modernization and multi-cloud integration strategies. In short, Exadata is no longer just the database platform of choice. Rather, it is becoming the strategic core of enterprise IT modernization.
Conclusion
SAP infrastructure, reimagined: SAP ECC and NetWeaver systems are at the heart of modern business processes, and the infrastructure they run on determines whether they become a growth accelerator or a bottleneck. Oracle Exadata redefines what an SAP infrastructure should be: faster, smarter, and inherently resilient. It delivers unmatched performance, seamless scalability, and built-in high avail- ability, all in a platform that simplifies operations and accelerates business results. Whether on-prem, in the Oracle Cloud, or behind a firewall with Cloud@Customer, Exadata is the only platform that delivers true architectural parity and enterprise-level reliability in any deployment model. For IT lead- ers who aren‘t just maintaining systems but shaping the future, demanding acceleration, reliability, and transformation at scale, Exadata is the platform of choice. Exadata isn‘t just infrastructure. It‘s a competitive advantage, not just for today, but for the future.
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