SAP重金打造云计算先锋形象

    一提到SAP公司，人们或许立即想到了超级无聊的企业资源规划软件（ERP）。但这家总部设于德国沃尔多夫的公司正在努力改变这种形象。

    周二上午在旧金山举行的一个新闻发布会上，SAP公司推出了一系列措施，旨在提升该公司在数据库和移动应用领域的市场份额。为实现这项目标，SAP公司将启动一个1.55亿美元的风险投资基金，以鼓励研发依托于HANA的应用。HANA是该公司不久前推出的内存数据库技术。它还拨出3.37亿美元（转换为欧元就是一个容易记住的整数）预算，用以帮助客户转向HANA数据库平台。在移动应用方面，SAP公司宣布它正在收购企业移动应用提供商Syclo公司（但没有披露这笔交易的具体价格），同时还公布了一些其他的进展。

    “我们有能力成为世界上增长速度最快的数据库公司，”SAP公司执行董事，技术和创新事务负责人维舍尔•斯卡对一屋子的记者和分析师说。

    HANA很有前途。它是SAP公司成立近40年来增长速度最快的产品，去年就轻而易举地赚得2亿多美元。但直至2011年年中，该公司甚至还没有开展数据库业务，绝大多数SAP应用产品其实都是在竞争对手甲骨文公司（Oracle）制造的数据库平台上运行。

    SAP公司相信，它有望在2015年前成为第二大数据库提供商。即使对于联席CEO孟鼎铭和施杰翰而言，这也是一个雄心勃勃的目标。但如果SAP能够激发起开发人员的兴趣，进而创造出大量基于HANA平台的企业级应用，实现这项目标也并不是不可能完成的任务。当然，HANA现在依然处于发展的早期阶段，甲骨文公司势必将全力发动反击（甲骨文拒绝接受本文作者的采访）。

    此外，SAP公司还在移动应用领域发力。成为面向企业的iTunes如果真的能够实现的话，也需要一定的时日。但SAP公司已开始更好地阐述其移动应用和HANA平台的远景和战略。目前仍不清楚的是该公司在云计算领域的整体规划。云计算是业界对SAP产品线最大、最有威胁的演变趋势。

    When you think SAP (SAP), you probably think uber-boring enterprise resource planning software. But the Walldorf, Germany-based company is trying hard to change that image.

    SAP unveiled a series of initiatives to boost its market share in databases and mobile apps at a press conference in San Francisco on Tuesday morning. To that end, the company is launching a $155 million venture fund to spur development for applications built on HANA, its newish in-memory database technology. It is also putting up $337 million (convert to euros and you'll get an easier-to-remember round number) to help customers switch to HANA. On the mobile front, SAP announced it is acquiring enterprise mobile app provider Syclo for an undisclosed sum, among other developments.

    "We have the ability to be the fastest-growing database company in the world," Vishal Sikka, executive board member and head of technology and innovation at SAP, told a roomful of press and analysts.

    HANA is promising. It is the fastest-growing product in SAP's 40-year history, and raked in over $200 million in revenue last year. But up until middle of 2011 the company wasn't even in the database business, and the vast majority of SAP applications actually run on databases made by its rival Oracle (ORCL).

    SAP believes it can become the number two database player by 2015. That's an ambitious goal, even for co-CEOs Bill McDermott and Jim Hagemann Snabe. But it's not impossible, especially if the company is able to generate developer interest and create loads of fast, business-ready apps on top of HANA. Of course, it's still early days for HANA, and Oracle is sure to fight back hard. (Oracle declined to comment for this story.)

    SAP's got its work cut out on the mobile side too. Becoming iTunes for the enterprise will take time, if it happens at all. But the company is starting to better articulate its vision and strategy on both the mobility side and in regards to HANA. What remains unclear is its master plan for the cloud -- the biggest and most threatening transition in its line of business.