IBM expands SAP capabilities for cloud

New IBM services, partnerships and capabilities will allow customers to deploy and run SAP software workloads wherever they choose – from public cloud to on-premises.

IBM and SAP are also expanding their ecosystem of global systems integrator (GSI) and independent software vendors (ISV) partners, to include Syniti, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Tech Mahindra and others.

According to a recent IBM IBV study, 64% of executives surveyed now plan to shift to a more cloud-based business model over the next two years.

"The global pandemic has seen a year's worth of digital transformation efforts with the acceleration of cloud adoption compressed into months," says IBM public cloud general manager Harish Grama.

"Clients across industries are looking to shift to cloud and this is the core focus of our collaboration with SAP – giving our clients the ability to embrace the benefits of cloud without compromising on security and controls. This is all done through an open hybrid cloud architecture so our clients have a choice in how they approach their digital transformation, guided by the industry expertise needed to be successful in their journey.

New partnerships, services and capabilities are designed to make it easier for businesses to deploy their SAP applications to IBM public cloud – or another environment of their choice.

Expansion of partner ecosystem

Syniti's Knowledge Platform Cloud Edition on IBM Cloud is helping speed project times by up to 46% for clients deploying complex datasets to SAP S/4HANA.

SAP also sells the SAP Advanced Data Migration application by Syniti, with a cloud edition delivered on IBM Cloud.

Syniti is an SAP partner offering solution extensions to SAP software.

IBM and TCS are engaging in joint go-to-market initiatives focused on accelerating cloud transformation journeys with TCS industry solutions and extensions for large enterprises.

New offerings through IBM Services

Services including IBM Rapid Move for SAP by IBM, are powered by IBM Cloud to help clients deploy to SAP S/4HANA.

The services are bundled to include access to IBM Services, Cloud and Global Financing.

IBM Services offers clients a hybrid option to allow customers to selectively deploy applications to the new cloud-based platform.

New SAP certifications

IBM recently acquired several new SAP certifications, adding to its portfolio of more than 100 solutions tested and certified by SAP.

These will allow clients running SAP software workloads on an IBM infrastructure to access SAP applications in an optimised, quality-controlled way.

The new certifications include:

• IBM Power Systems Virtual Server – helps customers modernise their SAP software workloads with the option to run them in a virtualised infrastructure hosted in IBM data centers. With this certification, IBM can run applications based on SAP HANA or the SAP NetWeaver technology platform within its virtual server stack.
  IBM Power Systems Virtual Server is a private infrastructure-as-a-service offering with access to the full catalogue of IBM Cloud offerings.
   
• 2nd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processor-based servers on virtual private cloud – gain data insights from SAP-certified instances on IBM Cloud with Intel technologies.
   
• NetApp certified storage for SAP workloads – gives clients running large and highly complex enterprise workloads access to ultra-high performance storage.
  IBM is now offering up to 180,000 IOPS of NetApp-based storage in the cloud – previously available only on-premises.