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As usual, SAP TechEd delivers a fireworks show full of innovations for our users. And for sure, SAP HANA Cloud is one of the stars of the show. In this blog, I recap some of the highlights from this year’s event along with the innovations brought to market since TechEd 2023.
✨ Key Innovation Announcements
SAP HANA Cloud is our modern Database as a Service (DBaaS) solution. Every quarter, SAP makes this in-memory juggernaut even more powerful. Check out this list of innovations from TechEd 2024.
Intelligent assistance and automation
First up, let’s talk about our intelligent assistant. With the Q4 2024 release, we introduce the concept of database agents. These agents work alongside you to accomplish your day-to-day work tasks as a database administrator or full-stack developer.
Our virtual assistant is designed to streamline database management by offering a range of powerful features. It enables users to execute both single and batch operational tasks through conversational chat, provides guided assistance for complex database tasks, navigates the user interface, and performs quick status analyses of instances. These capabilities help users increase productivity by reducing the time spent on complex tasks and enhance the user experience with faster, more intuitive navigation to relevant applications.
Look forward to automated alert summarization, intelligent issue identification and recommendations meant to drive the optimization of your SAP HANA Cloud landscape.
Elastic Compute Nodes for on-demand capacity
A higher memory threshold is only approach of how to handle resource-intensive intelligent solutions. Just as resource requirements increase as an application grows with business demands, so does the need to accommodate more concurrent users and more complex queries (think AI).
We are extremely happy to share that the upcoming Q4 2024 release of SAP HANA Cloud will introduce Elastic Compute Nodes (ECN), a dynamic elasticity feature for optimizing database performance.
An ECN is a read-only compute node that can be provisioned and deprovisioned based on workload demands. Example scenarios that often require additional compute “bandwidth” include heavy planning jobs and real-time stock analysis during Black Friday. The use of an ECN node enables the administrator to accommodate times of heavy usage while maintain the goal of optimizing the SAP HANA database for average use.
ECNs are already used in SAP IBP and SAP Datasphere, to distribute workloads, enhance query performance with temporary tables, and lower TCO by reducing high availability and disaster recovery overhead. Multiple ECNs can be provisioned on demand, offering greater flexibility and efficiency in managing database size.
To get more details about the concept of Elastic Compute Nodes, take a look at this blog post provided by Seungjoon Lee.
Lightweight & Native Multitenancy
To learn more about multitenancy, take a look at this blog post provided by Product Expert Rüdiger Karl.
Knowledge Graph Engine
Let's talk about another announcement that we're proudly sharing:
In Q1 2025, we will introduce the knowledge graph engine as part of SAP HANA Cloud, offering
businesses a powerful tool to connect and analyze data through semantically connected relationships.
This upcoming addition to SAP HANA Cloud's multi-model data processing engines will allow for smarter applications by using data stored in knowledge graphs to answer complex questions, enhancing large language models (LLMs) and generative AI capabilities.
Key features include native RDF triple store support, interoperability between SQL and SPARQL, and the ability to create a unified view of data, from scattered sources. With the new knowledge graph engine being present, our users will benefit from improved decision-making support, enhanced AI use cases, and the establishment of data fabrics for holistic data analysis.
In this blog post my dear colleague Shabana Samsudheen is giving more details about the capability and it's power and relevance for you as an SAP BTP developer. Don't miss this must-read!
Generative AI toolkit for SAP HANA Cloud
During the executive keynote, Michael Ameling introduced the new Generative AI toolkit for SAP HANA Cloud (available Q1 2025).
Integrated into SAP Build Code, the toolkit enables SAP BTP developers to implement their business scenarios using Intelligent Data Applications. Thanks to the natural language interface, developers will find the process to create in-database machine learning models very easy.
For instance, including advanced forecasts and adding additional insights to existing applications often required multi-team collaboration. Thus, the toolkit’s use of automatic code generation not only helps casual data users to benefit from SAP HANA's native ML capabilities, but also instructs users how to apply the powerful features themselves.
This video demonstrates how the Generative AI toolkit for SAP HANA Cloud in SAP Build can be used to create new intelligent data applications.
✨Innovation Highlights introduced since last years SAP TechEd
The innovations announced at TechEd 2024 only build on a year of success for SAP HANA Cloud. There are three major innovation delivered in 2024 that should be added to this notable list of highlights: the SAP HANA Cloud vector engine, the consumption monitor, and SQL on files.
Vector Engine & Similarity Search
Introduced in Q1 2024, the vector engine represents a powerful addition to SAP HANA Cloud's multi-model data processing and AI capabilities. The vector engine can efficiently store and process vector embeddings as well as perform fully in-memory similarity searches. SAP HANA Cloud now is now the go-to database for augmenting generative AI scenarios.
Large Language Models are very helpful tools for a large variety of use cases. Even though they rely on a broad-spectrum of knowledge, these models regularly lack relevant business context. LLM’s do not have access to sensitive data often needed for business specific responses needed by generative AI use cases. SAP HANA Cloud’s vector engine, in conjunction with SAP's Generative AI Hub, work together to mitigate these challenges and add significant value to the user’s experience.
For more information on the SAP HANA Cloud vector engine, take a look at this blog post provided by product expert Shabana Samsudheen.
Advanced cost transparency & financial governance
In Q2 2024 the so-called "Consumption Monitor" was introduced into SAP HANA Cloud Central - giving customers easier insights into capacity unit consumption by SAP HANA Cloud instances.
This feature is now part of the administration and monitoring tool and provides historical, estimated, and actual values for memory, compute, storage, and network data transfer. The monitor simplifies access to consumption data by offering clear insights and simple forecasting.
SAP HANA Cloud customers can use the reporting to optimize resource use and control costs. A better understanding of resource consumption and associated spending can provide the data needed to manage the overall total cost of ownership and optimize costs in-line with the business requirements.
File-based query processing using SQL on files
In today's data-driven world, enterprises collect vast amounts of data. Unlocking valuable insights from this data while connecting SAP and non-SAP applications is critical for staying competitive.
Starting with SAP HANA Cloud QRC 03/2024, SAP HANA Database introduces native SQL on Files, enabling direct access to data in common formats like CSV, P
arquet, and Delta tables (Open Table Format). This allows users to run powerful analytical queries on structured data without moving or loading it into the database, improving cost-performance balance and flexibility.
Key features include one-click linking to SAP HANA Cloud data lake Files, creating read-only virtual tables, and support for file formats like CSV, Parquet, and Delta tables. Additionally, Delta tables support time travel queries, allowing users to query data at specific versions or timestamps.
For more information on file-based architectures with SAP HANA Cloud, take a look at this blog post by my esteem colleague Seungjoon Lee.
✨Session Replays
In case you have missed any TechEd 2024 sessions live, don't worry! You can meanwhile find the replays for all sessions online; just navigate to your content of interest via the session catalog.
Here, you can find the replays for all sessions related to SAP HANA Cloud:
✨ Stay connected with SAP HANA Cloud and the product team
Make sure to follow the SAP HANA Cloud tag for updates on all the latest developments. Check out the whatsnewinsaphanacloud tag for new blog posts. To learn more about recently introduced innovations, or don't want to miss any new webcasts, pay close attention to this YouTube playlist.
Finally, be sure to sign-up for the SAP HANA Cloud Community. The site is a great place to post questions about topics covered at SAP TechEd 2024, to learn more about SAP HANA Cloud in general, or even to discuss any of the innovations mentioned in this blog.
This year for SAP HANA Cloud is full of great innovations and next year will be just as exciting. Thank you for trusting SAP HANA Cloud with your data and most critical business logic. We can’t wait to hear about what you will do with these great innovations.
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