Oracle and SAP argued because of HANA

For anybody not a secret that SAP and Oracle wallowed in disputes. And, as usual there are in such situations, results, in this case - SAP HANA Appliance and the Oracle Exadata platform can suffer.

Expressions of clients and analysts reflected some doubts in minds in the Sapphire conference which was held by SAP this week to Orlando, at least, of some potential buyers of SAP HANA: whether they will be able to use the new equipment in-memory from SAP with Oracle databases on which they start a SAP-applications.

The client of SAP, Maple Leaf Foods company, is ready to purchase and use HANA. The CIO companies Jeffrey Hutchinson so commented on the doubts: "We did not purchase HANA yet because SAP and Oracle did not permit disagreement concerning the license of Oracle".

About a subject of disagreements Oracle kept silent, SAP gave the partial answer, having originally stated that all disputes are postponed until a time and no problems with data acquisition from Oracle bases in SAP HANA will be absolute.

But, it seems, SAP should use another integration software, perhaps temporarily, and can and is not present. For both companies of a rate on this latest technology are huge. HANA is the last strategic innovation of calculations of in-memory which will join in also her clients next decade.

Exadata is the next generation of the platform of the Oracle database, and HANA - the competitor. The technology includes a combination of use of normal disks, a flash cache and RAM. This approach - not in-memory, but it supports both analytical, and transaction loading (though not within one database). Exadata is a way for a large number of users of Oracle databases forward. SAP HANA and the strategy of in-memory – direct threats to this business.

By estimates of Gartner, about 60% of clients of SAP start the applications based on data of Oracle. If Oracle is able to affect anyway data integration of the customer or performance of HANA, it will be able to prevent ambitions of SAP concerning in-memory technology.

Gartner The analyst Donald Feinberg claims that he knows of an exit delay Oracle/HANA from customers SAP. Its contact in Oracle reported that disagreements are connected with how Sybase Replication Server reads out data from the database Oracle.

"If Sybase Replication Server reads the magazine of the database, using undocumented API, then at Oracle, perhaps, there will be legal claims, - Feynberg assumed. - Otherwise, on what basis Oracle should limit access for clients to their data?"

Despite requests of analysts - to clear the facts, Oracle answered with the following statement: "SAP Business Objects Data Services 4.0 it can be used for data loading from SAP R3 ERP and the databases CRM working on Oracle in HANA, using business content extractors for ERP and CRM".

As it was told earlier, SAP stated - in licensing there are no disagreements. "SAP can sell HANA to all customers of Oracle databases (as well as to the Microsoft SQL Server and clients of IBM DB2), they purchased the license through SAP or directly", the company in the statement answered.

Concerning Sybase Replication Server, SAP "is not ready to comment yet" on its use in deployment of Oracle/HANA, Sanjay Poonen, the president of division of Global Solutions of SAP company noted.

One more aspect - Oracle Exadata. This product still should undergo certification for work with SAP applications. SAP is the largest third-party software supplier for customers of the Oracle database. And Oracle, obviously, will want to try to sell Exadata to these companies.

SAP says that in the nearest future Exadata certification will be complete. The analyst Doug Henschen told that he will not be surprised to magic disappearance of a mystery of use of Sybase Replication Server at the moment when it occurs.