UPDATED 13:08 EDT / AUGUST 08 2011

SAP Trumps Oracle as the Software vs. Hardware Battle Continues

While Oracle is busy battling HP in a lawsuit of neglect of obligations when Oracle decided to stop manufacturing Intel’s Itanium chips, and Oracle’s infringement lawsuit against Google, SAP took this opportunity to get ahead in the game as it reported 35 percent growth throughout each of its three core markets: North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.

This glorious victory of SAP is associated to Hana, which stands for High-Performance Analytic Appliance, allowing clients to speed up the analysis of their business data. The 400 million-euro ($571 million) pipeline for Hana, which was officially released in June, is the biggest in the history of Walldorf, Germany-based SAP, one of the largest makers of business-management software. It’s growing by 10 million euros a week, co-Chief Executive Officer Bill McDermott said last month.

SAP’s strategy is to focus on developing its own software without adding hardware offerings through acquisitions. That approach may pay off, as clients are increasingly seeking integrated software to analyze and manage business data without complicated hardware add-ons, said Peter Russo, a managing director for Pierre Audoin Consultants Inc. in Washington.

“There is this push to narrow down what you’re spending on hardware and services,” Russo said in an interview. Software customers are more interested to “put more resources into the actual enterprise software application.”

Companies such as BASF, Colgate and Lenovo have seen Hana’s capabilities firsthand, and are benefiting, using it as a commodity analysis tool that really speeds up number-crunching.

“We think this is a fundamental shift in market dynamics, where companies are investing more in the software part and less in commodity infrastructure,” SAP co-Chief Executive Officer Jim Hagemann Snabe said last month.

SAP is now offering its high-end MaxAttention support service to customers in China in response to increasing demand there for its ERP software.  This move is aimed at local companies in China as well as its largest global customers, who are expanding operations in that nation.  Along with this, the company is also installing a top support executive in China. with Dr. Uwe Hommel, corporate officer, executive vice president and head of SAP Active Global Support.

And last but not the least, Steve Winter replaces Tim Noble as managing director of SAP UK and Ireland (UKI) effective September.

“The SAP UK and Ireland team has seen some great successes and I look forward to working with them to build on this momentum.  We will continue to support customers of all sizes, as they look to take advantage of our innovations, technologies and solutions to better run and manage their businesses.”  states Winter.


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