SAP chief offers Oracle possibility of Hana licensing deal

SAP has said it would consider liscensing its HANA big data analytics tool to rival Oracle if the firm was interested, although analysts have cast doubt on whether such a deal would occur.

SAP co-chief executive Bill McDermott put forward the licensing idea in an interview with the German newspaper, as reported by Reuters.

"That would be possible. The question is whether Oracle can imagine it," he said.

"A technological platform is not a real platform if it were not open to partners and even competitors."

Oracle could not be reached for comment when contacted by V3.

The possibility of such a deal comes as industry commentators have spent some time questioning whether Oracle has the big data analytics technology to compete in this white hot area of IT.

Last week, SAP reported its revenue had grown 11 per cent last year to €4.5bn thanks in part to its HANA software, which delivered 2011 revenue of €160m.

Oracle has been comparatively slow to enter the big data analytics market, but did this month launch the Big Data Appliance tool, which integrates the open source Hadoop platform.

The firm also has its Exadata database and Exalytics in-memory business intelligence technology as other products that could be used to compete in the big data analytics market.

Speaking to V3 MWD Advisors analyst Helena Schwenk said these offerings mean McDermott's statement is most likely a competitive jibe at its rivals.

"I think this is something Bill McDermott said to generate a few headlines," she said.

"SAP is buoyed up by its recent financial results but his comments should not be read into."

However, Schwenk said SAP licensing Hana to Oracle could not be ruled out completely as the big data analytics market is "immature" and, in theory, rivals could benefit from sharing complementary technology.

"Oracle's answer is Exadata paired with Exalytics," she added. "If they ever were to partner, Oracle would probably use Sun's hardware and run HANA on that."

But she maintained that she would be surprised if Oracle opted to use SAP's technology.

Meanwhile Ovum analyst Mike Davis echoed Schwenk's views that the big data analytics market is just starting up and that the two firm's work in this space would depend on what customers want.

"Oracle could compete with SAP but they could also license Hana. It depends what [customers] want to do with analytics," he told V3.