SAP promises open data flows in both directions as Iceberg and Databricks reshape its strategy
A more open data model
SAP's commitment to Apache Iceberg marks a move away from a closed application storage model toward an open lakehouse approach, according to Aaron Rosenbaum, a senior director analyst at Gartner. Lakehouses combine features of data lakes and warehouses.
Rosenbaum said SAP's approach also extends beyond S/4HANA Cloud to customers using ECC, its widely adopted ERP system. He described the former link between AI-enabled analytics and the ERP upgrade lifecycle as a problem.
Connecting platforms and systems
In May, SAP bought Dremio, a lakehouse platform built around Apache Iceberg. The acquisition ended SAP's previous preference for Databricks' Delta Sharing to connect SAP data products with existing lakehouses in both directions.
SAP BDC Connect, alongside the new technology policy, is intended to enable zero-copy data sharing across Databricks, Snowflake, Google, AWS and Microsoft. SAP said the system will also support Delta Lake, Databricks' open table format.
AI partnership and context
Databricks extended its partnership with SAP at the same conference. The arrangement builds on the previously announced SAP Databricks, which embeds the Databricks Data + AI Platform in BDC.
SAP's Joule assistant and agent platform and Databricks' Genie are expected to come together. Rosenbaum said their planned connection reflects a broader contest among enterprise technology vendors over the context layer, with different sources of context in transaction systems and across businesses. SAP's move toward openness may give users more choice in building that layer, either within its data platform using its semantic layer or with tools from other vendors.
Key points
- SAP is shifting toward two-way data sharing and an open lakehouse model.
- Its Dremio acquisition and Apache Iceberg commitment broaden its data strategy.
- SAP says BDC Connect will support sharing across major cloud and data platforms.
- SAP and Databricks plan to bring their Joule and Genie AI offerings together.