SAP’s in-memory computing to change face of real time business intelligence

The company makes the point that it is a near impossibility to run real-time queries with large data sets. To date, most business users are forced to make requests of the IT department, which runs a query for several hours to produce a report that then needs to be refined – and the cycle starts again, says the firm. SAP's in-memory computing is about changing this, so that business users can do analyses of very large sets of business critical data in 'real' real time – and users to date report speed improvements of 10 to 100 times. The software giant points to recent developments changing the nature of data mining as including 64-bit computing and multi-core servers. Add to those SAP's columnar in-memory database, currently under development, and significantly faster large-scale data analyses will result, it says. "In-memory computing will enable organisations to pull real-time insight from enterprise information systems to better inform decision-making," says a spokesperson. And he adds that the approach is already live with some users of SAP BusinessObjects (around 30 implementations), SAP Business ByDesign and SAP Advanced Planner and Optimiser (for users on liveCache for supply chain). "CEOs can directly pull the information they need to drive operations – in less than a second. This powerful business insight, driven by speed and flexibility, can also be pushed down the entire organisational hierarchy to empower the organisation to make better informed decisions." Commenting on the development, Larry Bossidy, former CEO of AlliedSignal, says: "You need to get this to every CEO in America. They need this tool to better manage their businesses today."