SAP SE has become the latest big technology company to throw its weight behind open-source data-sifting software called Spark as it tackles information streaming from industries such as retail, telecommunications and transport.
The German company is releasing software this month called Hana Vora, which lets customers combine business data stored in SAP’s Hana database with information from industrial sensors, phone networks and other sources stored in Spark. SAP joins companies including International Business Machines Corp., Microsoft Corp. and Oracle Corp. in supporting Spark, which can quickly process data using groups of low-cost servers.
“This is lubricant — it makes it easier to bring that data into the business context,” said SAP Chief Technology Officer Quentin Clark. The Hamburg Port Authority, for example, ensures incoming goods can be loaded onto trucks around one of Europe’s busiest ports as efficiently as possible by processing different types of data in tandem. The port combines data from sensors on the trucks flowing into in open-source tools with information about the movement of goods that’s stored in SAP’s business applications.
SAP, the largest maker of business applications for financial and human-resources management, is seeking to expand beyond its traditional strongholds. Embracing new data-processing technology like Spark is important for SAP as it tries to build share for its Hana product, which has just 6.3 percent of the $34 billion global database market. That compares with 46.2 percent for Oracle and 19.4 percent for Microsoft, according to market researcher IDC.
