A NEW PARADIGM IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
There is a revolution happening in information technology, and it’s not just the newest app for your smartphone. There is sea change occurring in the way enterprises manage their data, breaking a technology paradigm that has been in place since the midpoint of the last century. The potential benefits include radically better computing performance at less cost in US national security missions.
A WALK DOWN “MEMORY” LANE
Since 1944, mainstream computer design has been based on the architecture created by pioneering computer scientist John Von Neumann. His architecture is based on a control unit taking chunks of data from external memory into main memory, where it is operated upon by the logic processor. The control unit takes in the data that is needed for the program to operate in manageable chunks; the logic processor performs its operations on each chunk of data; and then the system “fetches” the next chunk of data for processing; and so on, over and over again, until the processing is completed.
The essence of the Von Neumann architecture is to bring the data to the logic, given the limitations that existed at the time in logic processor speed and main memory capacity.
A few years ago, the Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS or simply “Hadoop”) was developed at Yahoo, with inspiration from a paper published by Google.1 Hadoop has a fundamental difference in its design. It splits up very large files of data into small chunks spread across hundreds or thousands of computers; then it splits up and sends the business logic to be processed to each of the CPUs and memories on all of those computers. This is what makes Hadoop work well on very large “Big Data” files; the processing logic that the data scientist writes (called a MapReduce program) is run simultaneously on all of the small chunks of the big file.
So a fundamental paradigm shift occurs when Hadoop is used to process data. Instead of bringing the data to the logic processor in small chunks, Hadoop distributes and brings the logic to the data.
Figure 2: The Hadoop Distributed File System Architecture
SOFTWARE BUILT TO LEVERAGE THE NEW CAPABILITIES OF
PROCESSORS AND MEMORY
Most recently, SAP has pioneered a new approach to computing that is another fundamental paradigm shift. It is called the High Performance Analytical Appliance, or SAP HANATM, and it leverages recent advancements in both logic processors and memory chips to deliver a different architecture from the Von Neumann machine.2 Co-innovated with Intel Corporation3, the architecture of SAP HANA makes it possible to radically accelerate Big Data analyses in the enterprise, including data stored in the Hadoop Distributed File System.
In the SAP HANA architecture, all of the data that will be subject to logical processing is contained in main memory at all times, even very large amounts of data. External memory -- either in solid state or physical disc drives -- is no longer necessary, except for back-up and disaster recovery purposes. There is no “chunking” of the data or sequential delivery it to the processor as in the Von Neumann architecture. Nor is there any splitting up and distribution of the logic algorithms as in the Hadoop architecture. With SAP HANA, the logic and all of
the data reside and work together in main memory.
Figure 3: SAP HANA Architecture
The practical result of this is a remarkable increase in analytical processing speed, even on very large data sets. Therefore, SAP HANA can meet users’ expectations of very fast response times for transactions, analyses, and visualizations, even with Big Data sets. Freed from the limitations of the older generation of hardware (including CPUs, memory and discs), SAP HANA does not require the extensive administration and constant tuning that database administrators have had to do with traditional database management systems which were first written in the 1970s.
SAP HANA can be deployed as a stand-alone in-memory database accommodating 2 to 8 terabytes of memory per server node. Alternatively, SAP HANA can be combined with Hadoop’s on-disc data storage in a hybrid deployment in which the “hot,” frequently used data is stored in the SAP HANA in-memory columnar database, while the “warm,” less frequently used data is stored in a Hadoop system.
REAL-WORLD BENEFITS
The real-world mission and business benefits that leaders can expect from employing the SAP Real-Time Data Platform include:
• Accelerated analyses of complex queries against granular (not summary level) Big Data. HANA’s near-real-time analyses can help support your decisions, improve planning, and optimize mission execution. • A single in-memory data repository can be used both for transactional applications and for analyses
simultaneously. This cuts the Operation and Maintenance (O&M) costs of having to maintain a separate
transactional database for mission applications; another data warehouse optimized for reporting and analysis; and multiple other replications into data marts for specific users’ mission needs.
• Integrating highly compressed in-memory data storage in SAP HANA with bulk on-disc data storage in Hadoop allows organizations to optimize the use of their infrastructure resources and save money. • Integrating data from other systems inside or outside the enterprise multiplies the value of internal
data sets by unlocking previously undiscoverable analytical insights and making them easier to access in a
self-service way.
• The SAP Real-Time Data Platform allows for a reduction in specialized skills needed to operate and
maintain the overall system, because data integration with other systems in the enterprise uses standard
interfaces which are commonly available skill sets (such as SQL, MDX, XML, ODATA, JSON, and JDBC).
© Copyright 2013 by SAP Government Support and Services. All rights reserved. May not be copied or redistributed without permission
FOR M OR E INF OR MATION
Contact your account manager or call us at 877-9-SAPNS2 (877-972-7672)Email: [email protected] Website: www.SAPNS2.com
AU THOR
Bob Palmer
Senior Director, Solutions [email protected] 301.641.7785
About SAP National Security Services™ (SAP NS2™)
