The HANA Application Cloud is an insightful topic to explore as SAP SappireNow gets started in Orlando today.

It points to HANA’s progression in the cloud and how it fits with SAP’s overall cloud strategy.

Richard Hirsch’s post about understanding the HANA Application Cloud is a good primer to understand the differences between the HANA group and the cloud team. He points out the need for SAP to develop an underlying unified cloud environment and highlights why apps developed by the two groups are better viewed separately in order to ge maximum use for the customer.

The HANA Application Cloud is maturing, compared to last year. Hirsch points to one session that shows how SAP is planning to offer multiple applications based on the HANA infrastructure:

CL520: Discover Solutions Built on the SAP HANA Application Cloud

Tap into robust, in-memory computing in the cloud with packaged reporting and analytics, plus support for sophisticated prediction and optimization scenarios and more to solve your business needs.

A recent job posting for a senior developer/architect (now apparently filled) for SAP HANA Cloud also points to a deeper commitment in developing a portfolio of HANA powered cloud solutions:

Analyze and formulate a roadmap for making cloud operations of new HANA powered applications successful within the context of SAP’s overall platform strategy.

Historically, SAP has offered its Advanced Business Application Programming (ABAP) and Java PaaS environments. Applications have either run on the ABAP or the Java stack. Access to HANA is indirect through the two environments.

Hirsch points to Streamworks to show how it works with HANA independent of the two platforms. Streamworks and other apps, like Business Information on Demand (BIOD) and Recalls Plus (an app to manage recalls), are directly accessing HANA, showing an evolution for how it is being used in the cloud. For example, Streamworks recently announced the ability to do collaborative analytics and load information from HANA in the cloud.

The division comes when you look at the applications running on ABAP and the Java Paas, compared to what almost seems like a PaaS that run on the HANA AppCloud. The HANA team is building what Hirsch says looks more like a “patterns,” methodology for building apps. It’s a design methodology independent of the company’s cloud strategy. It  does not match that of Neo.

Different teams are building out these services. The cloud team is building out apps such as Business By Design on ABAP and Portal OnDemand on Netweaver Neo while the HANA team is developing Streamworks and other apps.

But customers are really just looking at the apps. They want them to be easy to use. What platform these apps run on is really irrelevant to them. The technology is important in terms of it meeting business requirement. They want an underlying platform or app environment that Hirsch calls a “black box in the cloud.”

Understanding the different platforms and the need for an underlying layer is important as customers look at how SuccessFactors integrates into these offerings.

The cloud team and the HANA team both are on message when they talk about the importance of the cloud. But they offer different applications that the customer needs to consider separately. HANA does not fit into the Neo architecture. Forcing a match will only result in a loss of features or yet risk losing the functionality that gives them a competitive advantage in the marketplace.