SAP AG and Esri, a geographic information system (GIS) and location analytics provider, are joining forces to more deeply integrate GIS solutions with platforms and enterprise applications from SAP in order to improve business efficiency and decision-making. The ability to combine the added dimension of location information with enterprise data, in real time is aimed at giving businesses greater immediacy in their decision-making capabilities.
Many organizations already use SAP software and Esri software together, but this new initiative marks the beginning of a more coordinated and comprehensive collaboration between the two companies, David Jonker, senior director, Big Data Product Marketing, Technology & Innovation Platform, SAP Labs, tells DBTA. “We are partnering with the leading GIS vendor in the marketplace, Esri, to provide much deeper integration. We see GIS-related information becoming more important in the future.”
Through co-innovation between SAP and Esri, end-to-end support for spatial data is planned across SAP HANA, the SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform and SAP Mobile Platform to offer organizations the ability to enrich SAP Business Suite applications with geographic content; rapidly process spatial, location and enterprise data using SAP HANA in real time; visualize geographic information in maps, graphs, and charts using tools from the SAP BusinessObjects portfolio; and deliver applications to field workers that effectively process geospatial and business data using SAP Mobile Platform.
Esri and SAP intend to optimize connectivity between Esri ArcGIS and SAP HANA via Query Layers, which will allow Esri ArcGIS users to push spatial processing into SAP HANA, enabling high-performing and real-time capabilities. The integration will enable customers and ISVs to consume, process and analyze spatial, transactional and text data within one unified platform for predictive, location-based solutions based on big data. In addition, the combined technologies will enable SAP HANA customers to have a native application development platform, including geo-content and location services, to quickly develop and deploy spatially-based solutions.
Early results of customer POCs suggest that in some cases it is hundreds of times faster to process GIS information using HANA than it is using a traditional database, notes Jonker. As companies start to gather more and more GIS information, the ability to process it in a timely way will become more important, he says, and the new integration between SAP and Esri is going to be critical in enabling that.
For more information, visit www.sap.com.