With data sources branching out — thanks to the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence use cases, and more — one thing has become clear: enterprises need the freedom to choose multiple deployment options. On-premise. In multiple clouds. Between clouds.
But using existing application integration tools like
integration platform-as-a-service (iPaaS) or an API management system can be complex, especially if you need to extend thousands of workflows to the cloud or massively scale to support an IoT solution. Additionally, hyperscale cloud providers have a vested interest in making their services sticky and proprietary.
The solution: a hybrid integration platform that is open, flexible, and agile. The 2019 spring innovations of SAP HANA provides just that — a universal hub for running SAP HANA applications across multi-cloud, hybrid, and on-premise environments.
Integration Complexity and Lock-in
The hyperscale cloud providers deliver a great service. You don’t have to worry about buying, upgrading, and otherwise supporting hardware; handling software refresh cycles; reducing downtime; and providing myriad tools, security, or support. But if you want to move an application or service to another cloud or managed services provider, it’s a hassle. You have to do a lot of rework at the infrastructure layer to re-provision those apps or services on virtual or physical infrastructure.
According to research by
Gartner, through 2020, that type of integration work will account for 50% of the time and cost of building a digital platform. So, by 2022, at least 65% of large organizations will have implemented a hybrid integration platform. Such platforms will simplify, accelerate, and lower the costs of integration and introduce self-service capabilities for lines of business, subsidiaries, application development teams, and business users.
To-date, early attempts at hybrid integration platforms have had functional gaps that don’t solve all of the integration challenges. They don’t span all of the required user personas, integration domains, endpoints, and deployment models. For some SAP HANA customers, that has meant installing separate hardware for development, testing, and production for multiple cloud and on-premise deployments.
Achieving Hybrid Deployment Freedom and Agility
Most enterprises want to be able to extend their SAP HANA presence from their data centers to the clouds of their choice quickly and easily. They want to use the power of virtualized assets to query data sets wherever they are.
The most recent release of SAP HANA delivers a hybrid integration platform that lets you integrate premise-to-premise, cloud-to-cloud, and premise-to-cloud using process orchestration and cloud integration capabilities. With
hyper-converged infrastructure solutions from SAP HANA-certified hardware partners like Cisco, Dell, Fujitsu, HP, and Lenovo, it’s easy to connect to all of your data and manage allocations of virtual compute, storage, and network resources.
Future-proof Your Data and Analytics Infrastructure
Look at what integration capabilities already exist within your organization. Are these solutions able to support your hybrid on-premise/cloud deployment needs going forward? Can they support integration for advanced analytics and IoT solutions that need to tap into multiple data stores, scale geographically, and handle huge data volumes and complex queries?
It's important to keep in mind that today various departments within organizations are recognizing the power of data and analytics to lower costs, add revenue, seed new business models, and compete more effectively. IT should aspire to provide an environment that fosters experimentation by diverse stakeholders who have ideas for new services and applications. Most such initiatives will require integration with core IT systems, cloud services, and perhaps data silos.
Multi-cloud and hybrid cloud integration capabilities preserve your freedom to choose the best cloud service provider today and in the future. A hybrid integration platform gives your organization the flexibility to quickly expand to new geographies, to embrace new application development paradigms, and to take advantage of cutting-edge products and services from cloud innovators.
SAP HANA helps you keep all of your options open with powerful integration capabilities. Hyperconverged infrastructure means you don’t have to lift and shift your development environment into proprietary cloud or on-premise frameworks. You can choose the infrastructure, software, and cloud partners you want when you want them. You can switch to others, as needed. This is the essence of agility and freedom of choice in a dynamic world that is continually in flux.
Learn More
Learn more in Gerrit Kazmaier's SAP Newsroom story,
" Intelligence, Agility, Efficiency: The Newest SAP HANA Innovations."
