Oh SAP HANA, How Many Ways Can I Love Thee at SAP TechEd?

When SAP HANA was first launched in 2011, it was a database. In 2012, SAP HANA became a platform. Now in 2013, SAP HANA must be the new oxygen because more than 1/3 of all the offerings at SAP TechEd are related to SAP HANA. Actually this simply reflects the significant transformation and revitalization of SAP’s product portfolio as a result of incorporating SAP HANA as the new technical foundation.

These revitalized enterprise applications and new innovation opportunities resulting from the rapid growth of SAP HANA in the market means there’s never been a better time for DBAs, enterprise architects, developers, and business analysts to transform their careers by picking up skills for SAP HANA related projects. And, there is no better event than SAP TechEd to pick up some skills, networking with experienced luminaries, and for meeting the developers who created SAP HANA.

Me in a design-synthesis session at SAP InnoJam where we got hands-on experience developing an innovative mobile application using SAP technology.

Here’s a quick tour of the many different topics you can find about SAP HANA at SAP TechEd Las Vegas:

Of 1300+ sessions in the catalog, more than 500 are related to SAP HANA including:

• 75 two hour and four hour hands-on technical sessions
• 230 lecture sessions
• 200+ networking sessions
• 150 sessions specifically focused on in-memory computing
• 80+ sessions covering SAP Business Suite powered by SAP HANA.

SAP InnoJam – a design-thinking and hackathon combined using SAP HANA and other technologies to develop a sports, entertainment, and gaming application. Many people say SAP InnoJam is one of the best hands-on experiences for learning new SAP technology.

SAP HANA Cloud Platform Mini-Code Jams – learn how to install and use SAP HANA administration and developer tools with experts on hand to coach and tutor you.

SAP HANA Exhibits in the Technology Showcase. This year, in the technology showcase, we are focusing on showing transformative and ground breaking applications of SAP HANA. Here you can see demos of applications, and talk with technical experts about what it takes to move to SAP HANA, and how it might help you solve some new problems for your company or customers. Also, there’s the part I can’t tell you about yet related to new announcements about SAP HANA at SAP TechEd. But since I can’t tell you yet, let me just say that we’ll be prepared to show you demos and examples about the new announcements once you do hear them.

These exhibits include:

• SAP Business Suite Powered by SAP HANA – Find out what’s involved in migrating SAP Business Suite to SAP HANA, and what kinds of new technical capabilities IT will be able to offer the business.

• SAP NetWeaver BW Powered by SAP HANA – see how BW gets faster and simpler as a result of running on SAP HANA, and some amazing new techniques for easily migrating to SAP HANA.

• Next-generation Apps Powered by SAP HANA – see some futuristic apps for healthcare, financial trading, and fan engagement for sports running on SAP HANA resulting from co-innovation projects with SAP and customers. Learn how your own company can build innovative applications featuring the power of SAP HANA.

• Advanced Analytics Powered by SAP HANA – take apart an end-to-end solution for predictive analytics visualization and see how to incorporate unique data capabilities such as spatial, text analysis, and graph.

• Options for SAP HANA in the Cloud – Find out how you can run SAP HANA applications in the cloud from small SAP HANA One systems to full service SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud implementations. Talk with experts who can discuss strategies and use cases. Take home a free 3-day SAP HANA trial system in the cloud.

I’m looking forward to another SAP TechEd. You can find me hovering around the Technology showcase area, and I’m happy to help you find anything you want to know about SAP HANA. If I’m lucky, I’ll get to worm my way into InnoJam again, and let’s see if I can help another team make it to DemoJam!