Intel on the defensive: more cores, less performance

The better is the enemy of the good. The Intel processor is a very good, universal computing powerhouse. The IBM Power processor has been optimized for big data applications. And the comparison makes it clear: IBM Power is the better platform for SAP Hana.

Both in terms of memory access bandwidth (see chart) and relative performance in terms of the number of computer cores. Power achieves more performance with fewer cores.

Former Chief Technology Officer Vishal Sikka and Professor Hasso Plattner discovered the superiority of Power two years ago. Tests were carried out in secret at the HPI (Hasso Plattner Institute).

The result did not make Intel friend SAP happy. Power is better and so the question arose: did HPI and SAP bet on the wrong horse? No sooner had Sikka stepped down than his successor Bernd Leukert announced the imminent availability of Power, Suse Linux and Hana at Sapphire 2014.

The first prototypes were released last fall and are now generally available for Power, Linux and Hana as a platform for BW. Only political decisions and tough negotiations between IBM and SAP will decide when SAP can be expected to release SoH (Suite on Hana) and S/4. Technically, an SoH system on Power, Linux and Hana would already be possible.

HoP (Hana on Power) has two birth helpers: the SAP community, which demanded a proven data center processor for stable in-memory computing in addition to the Intel general-purpose processor; and Suse Linux, which now offers its operating system version for Hana in a Power version in addition to a Xeon version.

"Suse Linux Enterprise Server is the leading Linux distribution for SAP solutions on Linux and the first operating system to support SAP Hana on IBM Power systems"

says Nils Brauckmann, President and General Manager of Suse.

"As a long-standing IBM and SAP partner, we at Suse want our reliable, scalable and secure Linux solutions to support the hardware and applications that companies need to operate successfully in their day-to-day business.

Suse Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications is an important addition to the IBM Power Systems Solution Editions for SAP Hana to provide our customers with best-in-class performance and high availability at reasonable prices."

Vicente Moranta, Director and Business Line Executive, SAP on IBM Power Systems at IBM, adds:

"Clients leveraging the business benefits of in-memory databases like SAP Hana can now benefit from faster throughput, higher bandwidth and the reliability of IBM Power8."

Suse Linux Enterprise Server 11 Service Pack 4 for SAP Applications is the platform for IBM Power Systems with SAP Hana.

It is based on Suse Linux Enterprise and Suse Linux High Availability Extension. Joerg Latza, Head of SAP Hana Platform Product Management:

"Business users can use the Hana next-generation application and analysis platform to manage huge amounts of data and extract important information from it in real time.

Power Systems Solution Editions for SAP Hana now offers our customers many valuable additional functions in combination with Suse Linux Enterprise Server."