This article was brought to you by Intel. 

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been writing about the partnership between SAP and Intel. The two technology companies have been collaborating to offer their shared customers improvements to their SAP landscapes—both in the cloud and on premises.

One of the main draws of this partnership is that this partnership assists a wide range of SAP and Intel customers leveraging a variety of landscapes.

“One of the best things about leveraging Intel technologies with SAP solutions like SAP BW/4HANA or SAP Sales and Distribution is that we can accommodate so many different types of customers,” said Rudolf Meier, Head of Performance & Scalability in Product Engineering at SAP. “[Whether] you’re a small, medium, or large enterprise with an on-premises or cloud landscape, Intel can help you make the absolute most of your SAP investments.”

Not only does Intel offer the only x86 CPU that’s certified and supported on SAP HANA, but also, the company offers the only hardware platform that supports SAP HANA Accelerator for SAP ASE.1, 2 We reviewed the SAP Standard Application Benchmarks3 provided by SAP customers and partners to demonstrate just how diverse the support options are for SAP and Intel customers. Overall, Intel and SAP customers reported more diverse options and better performance, proving Intel’s leadership in the SAP partner ecosystem. Here are some of the most significant insights we found from diving into this benchmark data.

Intel Can Help Your Organization, No Matter the SAP Landscape Type and Size 

FIGURE 1. See footnotes for configuration details.6

At first glance, one of the most striking aspects is the sheer diversity of SAP landscapes that Intel solutions can leverage and ultimately improve. One of the worst things an organization can do during an IT project is to lock itself into a restrictive software and partner ecosystem. Not only does Intel have established, successful relationships with leading commercial software providers—including SAP, VMware, Oracle, Red Hat, SUSE, and Microsoft SQL—but also, Intel has worked hard to collaborate with over 1,000 independent software vendors (ISVs) to ensure that every layer of software stack is adequately tested and optimized. This gives Intel customers a wider breadth of options when it comes to improving their SAP landscapes.4, 5

Starting with SAP BW/4HANA, certified benchmarks were reported across every size of Intel Xeon Scalable processor. Intel processor-based solutions are available in 2-, 4-, 8-, 16-, and 32-socket options. By far, the node sizes with the greatest number of reported benchmarks were the 4-socket processors (with 42 reported certified benchmarks) and 8-socket processors (36 reported certified benchmarks) out of about 100 published results.

FIGURE 2. See footnotes for configuration details. 7

We also saw this trend play out when it came to the size of initial records. Sticking with SAP BW/4HANA and Intel Xeon Scalable processors, there are benchmarks recorded for the smallest initial record size (1.3 billion) all the way to the largest initial record size (205.4 billion).

With the Intel Xeon Scalable processor, there was also a large variety of benchmarks reported across initial record size with both cloud and on-premises SAP landscapes. Cloud landscapes were represented literally across all record sizes, with benchmarks reported in both the largest (205.4 billion) and smallest (1.3 billion) record sizes. On-premises landscapes were represented mostly in the lower record sizes, with the largest record size with a reported on-premises benchmark of 41.6 billion. Bottom line—no matter the record size or type of SAP environment, your organization can leverage Intel Xeon Scalable processors to improve its SAP landscapes.  

FIGURE 3. See footnotes for configuration details. 8


Optimizing Performance with Intel Inside

We also looked at the performance improvements afforded to SAP customers leveraging the Intel software that countless developers rely on to get the most performance out of their software and hardware investments. Among SAP Benchmarking Data, there are also performance boosts for organizations leveraging Intel solutions in combination with SAP Sales and Distribution. SAP uses a unit of measurement called SAP Application Performance Standard (SAPS), which the technology company defines as “a hardware-independent unit of measurement that describes the performance of a system configuration in the SAP environment.” Notably, 100 SAPS is equivalent to 2,000 “fully business processed order line times per hour.”

SAP and Intel customers leveraging 2-socket Intel Xeon Scalable processors on Linux operating systems saw an increase from 175,350 SAPS with Intel Xeon Platinum 8180 processors, up to 261,970 SAPS with Intel Xeon Platinum 8380—a gain of over 49%. There was also a similar increase with customers using Windows operating systems.

The same holds true for both 4-socket and 8-socket Intel Xeon Scalable processors. Windows users leveraging the 4-socket processors saw an increase from 333,830 SAPS to 357,420 SAPS from the Intel Xeon Platinum 8180 processor to 357,420 SAPS with the 8380HL processor. With the 8-socket processors, Windows users saw a jump from 595,500 SAPS with the Intel Xeon Platinum 8180M processor to 670,830 SAPS with the Intel Xeon Platinum 8380H processor.

FIGURE 4. See footnotes for configuration details. 9

There were also performance improvements with SAP BW/4HANA, specifically when it came to query executions per hour. Across three different initial record sizes, there were improvements on query executions per hour with each newest generation of Intel Xeon Scalable processors. With 1.3 billion initial record sizes, query executions per hour doubled between the first and third generations of Intel Xeon Scalable processors. Initial record sizes of 2.6 billion and 5.2 billion records saw similar improvements between the older and newer generations of Intel Xeon Scalable Processors. 

FIGURE 5. See footnotes for configuration details. 10

Get the Most Out of Your SAP and Intel Investment

Intel’s proven technology can be a win-win for SAP customers. The benchmark data clearly shows that SAP customers who leverage Intel solutions have high-performing landscapes. These benefits can apply to SAP landscapes of any size.

“I love that Intel can help essentially any SAP customer with any size of landscape,” said Rudolf Meier. “We want our customers to get the most of their SAP investments. It’s such a point of pride that we are able to help them do just that.” 

Footnotes: 

  1. https://www.sap.com/dmc/exp/2014-09-02-hana-hardware/enEN/#/solutions?filters=v:deCertified information from Certified and Supported SAP Hana Hardware Directory, accessed October 20, 2021.
  2. https://help.sap.com/viewer/eb3777d5495d46c5b2fa773206bbfb46/2.0.05/en-US/d3d1cf20bb5710149b57fd794c827a4e.html information from SAP Hana Hardware and Software Requirements page, accessed October 20, 2021.
  3. http://www.sap.com/benchmarkdirectory
  4. https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/now/aws-software-ecosystem.html, accessed October 20, 2021.
  5. https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/software/software-partnerships.html, accessed October 20, 2021.
  6. Configurations see: https://www.sap.com/dmc/exp/2018-benchmark-directory/#/bwh?filters=v:2d281462-0870-4ae6-b728-0b43e7ffc4e3;v:6bc6523a-6abc-4c6d-8964-91e7d3b5f5be;v:3782ae74-cbb3-4dc6-ba44-fefe87d9ed4f;v:4a9e824336e2837bf9081e423d59696c;v:11cdd7df-fbf6-4a52-8717-1f920d8fe8ba
  7. Performance varies by use, configuration, and other factors. Configurations see https://www.sap.com/dmc/exp/2018-benchmark-directory/#/bwh
  8. Configurations see 2018060, 2019026, 2021026: https://www.sap.com/dmc/exp/2018-benchmark-directory/#/sd
  9. Configurations see 2017014, 2019010, 2021062: https://www.sap.com/dmc/exp/2018-benchmark-directory/#/sd
  10. Configurations see 2018052, 2020047, 2021035, 2018044, 2021068, 2019051, 2021053: https://www.sap.com/dmc/exp/2018-benchmark-directory/#/bwh?filters=v:2d281462-0870-4ae6-b728-0b43e7ffc4e3;v:6bc6523a-6abc-4c6d-8964-91e7d3b5f5be;v:4a9e824336e2837bf9081e423d59696c;v:11cdd7df-fbf6-4a52-8717-1f920d8fe8ba;v:4a9e824336e2837bf9081e423d59b2b4;v:4a9e824336e2837bf9081e423d59c075;v:4a9e824336e2837bf9081e423d59d5cf;v:catProc2

Performance varies by use, configuration, and other factors. Learn more at www.Intel.com/PerformanceIndex.

Performance results are based on testing as of dates shown in configurations and may not reflect all publicly available updates. See backup for configuration details. No product or component can be absolutely secure.

Your costs and results may vary.

Intel technologies may require enabled hardware, software, or service activation.

© Intel Corporation. Intel, the Intel logo, and other Intel marks are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries. Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

Intel does not control or audit third-party data. You should consult other sources to evaluate accuracy.

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