SAP optimizes solutions for Intel platforms

Working on the Future of IT

After a decade of collaboration betweenSAP and Intel, the alliance has becomeeven more strategic. For example, Intel isa global sponsor of the Best of SAP WorldTour 2006 and the two industry leadersare working jointly on corporate research,product development, customer educa-tion, sales and marketing, and services.

In a broad sense, SAP and Intelshare a vision of the future. They

strive to educate customers about thecurrent and possible uses for technolo-gy, from mobile solutions to EnterpriseServices Architecture. Together they aimto help companies squeeze the mostvalue and functionality from businessprocesses using state-of-the-art soft-ware and hardware with maximumscalability, flexibility, and performance.

Intel and SAP have collaborated oncreating the industry’s first appliance-like offering for SAP NetWeaver Busi-ness Intelligence implementations. Thetechnology is preloaded on servers run-ning on 64-bit Intel Xeon processors.

The new tool allows companies to in-stantly access valuable business infor-mation, such as inventory and prof-itability data.

That type of high-performance ana-lytics (HPA) capability enables com-panies to improve productivity, makemore accurate sales forecasts, and in-crease the effectiveness of marketingcampaigns. Intel and SAP have workedtogether to co-develop HPA function-ality as part of a collaborative effort todrive the adoption of service-orientedarchitecture (SOA).

The Intel-SAP collaboration extendsdeeply, including research about radiofrequency identification (RFID). A

burgeoning new sensory networkingtechnology in growing use around theworld, RFID is a key focus for the twocompanies.

SAP tailors the development of in-frastructure and solutions specificallyfor use with operating systems that useIntel microprocessors and Intel plat-forms. From mySAP Business Suite andmySAP ERP, to the SAP NetWeaverplatform and SAP solutions for mobilebusiness, SAP’s experts target develop-ment efforts to make the most of Inteltechnology.

Intel itself focuses on “right-sizing”its own worldwide SAP implementa-tion. Right-sizing refers to the sophisti-

14

■ SAP INFO 132 · Strategy

cated process Intel uses to match hard-ware platforms to the software thatruns on them.

Since 73 percent of new SAP de-ployments run on Intel platforms, tar-geted, joint development efforts arecritical. Just as Intel strives to createmore powerful platforms and innova-tions beyond the processor to extendthe value of server platforms for in-creased business agility, SAP strives toensure that its solutions offer superiorperformance and fully exploit the pow-er of the hardware and operating sys-tem they run on. The goal is cost-effi-ciency, scalability, and top-notch func-tionality for SAP customers.

Optimization of mySAP ERP“Another strategic advantage of theIntel and SAP collaboration is SAP’sability to access the next generation ofhardware at the earliest point. So weare able to test and do right-sizing asearly as possible,” says Rolf Mueller,SAP’s development manager for Micro-soft Platforms. Because of Intel’s open-ness and commitment to collaboration,many software developers from withinSAP and from other companies canwork with the new hardware well be-fore it hits the market. “This ensuresthat the platform is tested and that soft-ware is tested on it,” he says.

Mueller and his team have 11 yearsof direct experience working with Intel,and during that time the developmentprocess has changed significantly. Backin 1995 and 1996, SAP undertook de-velopment efforts to get SAP R/3 run-ning on the operating systems (OSs) of Intel-based servers to allow theircustomers to leverage the price/perfor-mance advantage of Intel’s hardware.

Today, since processor speed andplatform performance are well docu-mented, Mueller and his team focus onoptimization for the specific operatingsystem. For instance, SAP requires

standard certification for Windows-based platforms in order to ensure astable and scalable implementation ofthe SAP software on the Windows OS.The performance of each certified serv-er is transparent to the customers. “Werequire our hardware vendors that pro-vide Intel-based systems to do a bench-mark and publish this benchmark,”Mueller says.

Even so, the process of optimizationis complex, requiring the use of sophis-ticated code compilers supplied by theOS vendor well before the OS is on themarket. After the OS and the code com-piler are released to customers, it is toolate to make changes. A complicatingfactor comes from SAP NetWeaver andthe Web services capabilities of SAP’sEnterprise Services Architecture (ESA),which mean there are many types oftechnology that must be included inthe testing and tuning processes regard-less of the OS.

It was simpler to do tuning, testing,and optimization in the past. SAP ap-plications are written in ABAP; in ad-dition, today’s systems use Java andother programming languages as wellas ABAP. “For every release of SAP wehave to analyze on three different lay-ers: On the level of the processor; onthe level of the virtual machine; and on the application level itself,” Muellersays. The difficulty, he says, is in ana-lyzing and fixing problems between thelayers, a task that is even more com-plex as software becomes increasinglycomponentized to leverage the distrib-uted functionality of Web services.

Improving performanceBut the current tools for analysis andoptimization are sophisticated and upto the challenge. Intel supplies a toolcalled the Intel VTune PerformanceAnalyzer that helps SAP analyze what’sgoing on while the software runs onthe processor. Mueller and his team

use it to isolate and fix any performanceproblems. They also compare how ABAPstatements behave differently on differ-ent hardware. They check, for example,whether objects are aligned accordingto a 32-bit or 64-bit architecture anddifferent processor cache line sizes.

A separate SAP development teamhandles application performance is-sues. The standard sales and distribu-tion (SD) benchmark is a well-knownbenchmark used for analysis and tun-ing efforts. For Mueller’s part, he andhis team concentrate on the tough jobof relating the complex technology lay-ers underneath the applications. Theytest, analyze, tweak, and repeat theprocess again and again until perfor-mance is optimal.

As the world’s adoption of 64-bitcomputing accelerates, SAP, like Intel,will focus its efforts in that direction.Just as Intel is helping drive the marketto faster, more powerful computingwith its 64-bit Intel Itanium 2 and IntelXeon processors, Mueller and his teamwill, over time, move away from 32-bitinfrastructure development. On theother hand, he says, SAP will alwaysoffer technical support for its customersthat stay with 32-bit systems. As ESAbecomes more prevalent, SAP and In-tel will continue to collaborate andsupport previous technologies while at the same time working together todrive adoption of ESA.

And because SAP NetWeaver iscompatible with many different data-bases and applications, Mueller and histeam will face new development chal-lenges. They will have to port and opti-mize the infrastructure for differenttypes of platforms. That will require ad-ditional testing, tuning, and optimiza-tion. “SAP NetWeaver introduces forus a new level of complexity in devel-opment,” he says. “For the customerhowever, SAP NetWeaver is easier andmore flexible than the rigid enterprise

15

16

■ SAP INFO 132 · Strategy

systems of the past.” All of the SAPNetWeaver components run on Intelarchitecture. SAP uses Intel servers fordevelopment and solution validation,which ensures the highest reliability ofSAP solutions when running on Intelarchitecture.

Mobility matters at SAPIn addition to work to optimize mySAPERP, SAP developers are devoted tothe optimization of SAP Mobile Infra-structure for both Intel Centrino mo-bile technology and Intel XScale tech-nology. Enterprise mobility is a hottopic for companies that aim to pro-vide employees not just with e-mail ac-cess, but with access to key, corporateinformation and processes that theyneed to conduct business.

Howard Beader, director of solutionmarketing for SAP NetWeaver Mobile,says SAP and Intel work closely to en-able optimized mobile solutions. “Intelis one of our most strategic, go-to-mar-ket partners from a mobile standpoint.Together we look at how to move theoverall mobility market forward, andhow to ensure that we are educatingthe business community about the op-portunities,” he says.

The SAP development organizationworks quite closely with Intel to ensurethat SAP’s mobile client capabilities bestleverage the Intel architectures, Beadersays. Just as in the case of mySAP ERP,optimization of SAP NetWeaver Mobileis a collaborative effort. The infrastruc-ture must be tested, tweaked and tunedto fit the OS and the microprocessor

capabilities that power the variousmobile devices such as smart phones,PDAs, laptops, and tablet PCs.

“Intel has a mobile division wherethey focus on improvement of IntelXScale and Intel Centrino-based tech-nology solutions. We are in close con-tact with the experts from Intel andhave direct access to their knowledge,”says Thorsten Stephan, developmentmanager for SAP NetWeaver Mobile.“Intel provides road-map informationso that we are aware of what will comein the future and can tailor our devel-opment efforts,” he says. Because ofthe close collaboration between thetwo companies, SAP has the total in-sight it needs to focus developmentefforts now, as well as to appropriatelyplan future development.

Just as in the case of mySAP ERP,application functionality depends onthe supporting layers of technology. All applications developed on SAPNetWeaver benefit if SAP NetWeaverMobile is optimized for the specificdevice type and the Intel processorcapabilities are at maximum. So SAPand Intel work together to do all theycan to make that happen. Intel runstests to evaluate SAP NetWeaver Mo-bile and it provides feedback. SAP iden-tifies and implements performanceimprovements recommended by Intel.

In the recent past, Intel added en-hanced power management and morereliable wireless connectivity to itschipsets, which greatly enhance SAPmobile solutions, Stephan says. Theability to synchronize easily with an

enterprise network is a business-criticaltask for mobile workers.

A unique development challenge forSAP comes from the constant need tocreate and tailor infrastructure to bestsupport faster and faster applicationswhile using the least possible batterypower to operate mobile devices. “Inthe mobile space, products are chang-ing very fast and all the improvementsin the operating systems and the de-vices themselves and the chipsets arechanging a lot. It requires an ongoing,proactive optimization processes,”Stephan says. The back-and-forth be-tween SAP and Intel creates a circle ofimprovement. Better chipsets supportbetter mobile infrastructure and fasterapplications. In the end, everyone ben-efits from the collaborative approachtaken by SAP and Intel. “The fasterand more feature-rich the chipsets are,the easier it is for SAP. Our applica-tions benefit from the improvements tothe chipsets,” Stephan says. “And SAPcustomers benefit from the entire de-velopment process.”

Through the SAP and Intel alliance,customers have access to integratedend-to-end solutions, ranging from da-ta center-class server platforms to busi-ness desktop and mobile clients. Theend result is that customers receive op-timized SAP solutions and SAP infra-structure with excellent performance,scalability and reliability on Intel plat-forms.

Richard Page, SAP AG ■