SAP wants to be no.2 in database biz

MUMBAI, INDIA: For SAP AG, India is among the fastest growing market for database management solutions and the company is expecting high demand of database solutions here.

“There are customers in the market that are looking for better performance, higher return on investment (RoI) and simplicity. They are replacing the existing database with SAP,” said Peter Gartenberg, SAP India Managing Director.

“In the first quarter, we have already got 20 customers using SAP Sybase ASE. India is an early adaptor of HANA. The local R&D team has played a key role in innovation of HANA. It is like made in India and made for India,” Gartenberg added.

According to Gartenberg, SAP's database management solutions are 28 percent cheaper than other vendors like Oracle and offer high value to business, openess and ease of use helping customers to migrate from existing database.

“Currently, we are no.4 after Microsoft, IBM and Oracle; however we are expecting to move to no.2 in coming years,” Gartenberg said. Unlike other vendors, SAP's database are open in nature and support Oracle, IBM and Microsoft.

According to Steve Lucas, SAP's global executive, vice president and general manager, HANA is our iPhone of database and it addresses specific needs of customers.

“Database is a key enabler for applications and applications drive the demand of database in the market. SAP not only has the database but also has technology to meet business requirements,” Lucas said.

“HANA has high adoption in fast growth markets like India.”

“India is among the top 4 or 5 markets where we need to win as it has a huge impact on global market and technology. And we cannot afford to lose India,” Lucas stressed.

The company is vowing new customers with offers like a 30 percent credit back on consultancy service for migration to HANA.

Last year, SAP had launched HANA and other mobility solutions such as Sybase IQ.

"We started last year and today, we have 1 billion euros in pipeline from HANA and 3,000 customers are evaluating HANA.”

“And globally 400 have purchased and around 100 have deployed it. I won't be surprised if we cross 2 billion euros business by end of this financial year," Lucas said.

SAP India, the subsidiary of SAP AG, has over 6000 people based in India at company's research facility, which is the second largest R&D center for the NYSE listed giant.