Lenovo Launches Cloud Service Tailored For Taking SAP HANA Off Premise In China

Lenovo will be providing an enterprise cloud platform tailored for enterprise customers in China making use of SAP’s HANA database platform.

The Lenovo Enterprise Cloud designed for SAP, to give the service its whole moniker, is a managed service designed to help Chinese users of SAP HANA migrate to a cloud version of the database platform away from on premise deployments, which is in keeping with SAP’s goal of embracing a cloud first approach.

The two firms already have a strategic alliance, established in January 2016, as a commitment to bring new cloud services to the Chinese market, making use of SAP’s software expertise and Lenovo’s network hardware chops.

“We anticipate that enterprises will benefit from the performance of the SAP HANA platform and Lenovo’s professional services for the data centre, which will help bring them competitive advantage in the future,” Kitty Fok, managing director of IDC China.

Cloudy China

With the cloud service in place, Chinese users will be able to run managed and optimised SAP HANA databases and applications, such as real-time data analytics in a cloud environment.

At a core infrastructure level the cloud service will make use od Lenovo’s System x3850 and x3950 servers. while its System x3650 M5 servers will support instances designed to support SAP applications.

Lenovo will also run the data centres supporting the cloud service, given it is a native Chinese company and is better positioned to work within the confines of China’s cloud and data regulations.

Such partnerships for western companies like SAP help it developed a cloud based product presence in the difficult to crack Chinese market, while avoiding to many pitfalls presented by the Chinese government and its ambition to protect local companies from completion posed by external firms.

Cracking into the Chinese market can be a difficult proposition for external companies, particularly when the nation has controversial cyber security laws.

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