As you move to SAP HANA and ultimately to SAP S/4HANA, you need an end-to-end solution that helps you share data across business units in real-time for faster and better decision-making. If you’re running your SAP applications on IBM Power Systems, then you already have a high performance and resilient platform to support your digital transformation initiative. SUSE has partnered with IBM and SAP to deliver a superior solution for SAP HANA and SAP S/4HANA on IBM Power. Here’s why SUSE solutions are the best choice for your SAP systems.

First and Best Linux for Power Systems

SUSE was not only the first Linux distribution for Power Systems, for over 2 years it was the first and only Linux validated by SAP for SAP HANA. Today, SUSE Linux Enterprise for POWER and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications are the first and only Linux distributions running natively on the newest IBM POWER9 processor-based servers. Over 18 years of collaboration with SAP has enabled us to deliver SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications as the leading platform on 95% of all SAP HANA installations and over 1000 SAP HANA deployments on Power Systems. But being first isn’t why we have such a commanding market share. It’s our deep understanding of SAP system requirements, and delivering innovative features beyond just a high-performance and reliable operating system.

First and Best at Performance

SAP uses SUSE Linux Enterprise Server as a reference development platform giving you the advantage of optimal performance as SAP applications are developed. It’s worth noting that so far all 62 SAP HANA on-premise and cloud benchmarks have been run on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. With SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications you also get a Page Cache Management option to prioritize SAP application performance over the Linux filesystem.

First and Best at Reliability

When it comes to reliability, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications leads the way as the first distribution to include a full high availability solution for SAP systems. It’s fully integrated with resource agents that SUSE developed to automatically failover to a back-up SAP HANA system, cutting recovery time from hours to minutes. It’s also the first Linux solution to be certified by SAP to manage SAP NetWeaver clusters on IBM Power servers in Little Endian mode. SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications is the first and only SAP application-specific solution to include enhanced encryption management to maintain security of storage in remote data systems after a reboot, without manual intervention. And with SUSE Linux Enterprise Live Patching, your Power servers don’t have to be rebooted after a security vulnerability is patched.

First and Best for Fast Deployment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications is the first solution to deliver SAP application configuration packages and an Installation Wizard. Rather than spending days poring over SAP Notes and configuration guides for the right configuration parameters, administrators can deploy an entire SAP software stack including HA in just hours. And of course it fully supports TDI configurations of SAP HANA on Power Systems. If you’re considering cloud deployments or a hybrid SAP environment, then SUSE can help here too. We’ve partnered with major public cloud service providers including the IBM Cloud to enable rapid deployment of SAP HANA and application services to work consistently with your on-premise SAP HANA on Power Systems.

So if I haven’t convinced you that SUSE is your first and best choice for SAP HANA, then please come by SUSE booth #221 at the IBM Think conference to see me and people slightly smarter than I am to learn more about how we can support the transformation of your SAP environment.

Just look for the giant stuffed chameleons. Who knows? You might get to take one home!

You can also follow me on Twitter at @MichaelDTabron.