Currently, there are 15 SAP data centers in Asia that deliver SAP cloud services, including the recently completed one in Korea.
In November 2020, SAP Korea had announced during a virtual conference in celebration of SAP HANA’s 10th anniversary that it will build the country’s first data center to provide a secure and reliable infrastructure for customers. Five months after the announcement, the first SAP Data Center in Korea has officially opened this week to accelerate organizations’ journey to the Intelligent Enterprise while meeting data security and sovereignty requirements.
Lee Seong-yeol, CEO of SAP Korea, said:
“SAP Korea has further strengthened its ability to provide solutions to domestic companies faster through the opening of this data center, allowing various business departments to quickly introduce the desired solution and realize data value quickly. SAP Korea will provide necessary solutions to domestic companies in various industries and support them to successfully transform into intelligent companies .”
First Stage Completion
The first data center in Korea is part of the software company’s multi-cloud strategy designed to help its customers in their business transformation journey. As part of the data center’s two-stage plan, the currently completed first stage will be offering core services related to application development and process integration such as:
- SAP HANA cloud-based database and data management related services
- DevOps environment
- UX and mobile services
- Collaboration services
The SAP Analytics Cloud service will be offered by the second quarter of 2021.
The timely launch of the Korean data center aligns with the aggressive campaign for RISE with SAP, the German enterprise’s latest Business Transformation as a Service offering. The new comprehensive, intelligent, customer-specific offering enables a holistic digital transformation that goes beyond performing a technical migration to the cloud or adopting a new technology to propel businesses’ journey to an intelligent enterprise.
RISE with SAP leverages SAP solutions such as the next-generation, intelligent ERP business suite SAP S/4HANA Cloud and the platform for the Intelligent Enterprise SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP). SAP BTP delivers one semantic layer across an enterprise, providing the foundation for a holistic business transformation.
SAP Korea stated that it leverages the infrastructure advantages of a Hyperscaler as well as business content and dozens of platform services that are built into SAP BTP. By leveraging SAP BTP, local consulting and system integration (SI) companies can develop SAP industry cloud services and provide service-type cloud (SaaS) to global SAP customers.
Running SAP Data Center
In recent years, there has been a remarkable increase in the use and popularity of data centers to address the growing demand for cloud solution services. For SAP data centers, successful operations strongly depend on the robust design of every individual component and in the redundancy of critical components to ensure SAP and its customers are guaranteed access to secured data.
The critical components based on SAP’s data center in St. Leon-Rot, Germany are:
- Power Supply. The data center is connected to two separate grid sectors operated by the local utility company. If one sector were to fail, then the second one will ensure that power is still supplied. In addition, it also has 13 diesel generators, which are housed in a separate building.
- Cooling. Electronic components, especially the processors, generate heat when in operation. If it is not dissipated, a processor’s efficiency decreases, in extreme cases, to the point that the component could fail. Therefore, cooling is essential for data center operations.
- Controlled Access. Access to the data center is allowed only for a limited number of authorized individuals. Entry is possible only through single-person access and mantrap systems. Freight can be brought into the data center using a special freight lock.
In addition to a well-constructed “hardened” building that houses servers, storage devices, cables, a connection to the Internet, SAP implements rigorous measures to ensure mission-critical applications housed in its 59 data centers around the world are uninterrupted.
- Secure Operations. SAP protects its data centers by regularly checking smooth operations of technology and infrastructure. Whether fire, data breach, or hardware defect, SAP data centers are protected against many hazards.
- Certified Security. The company regularly undergoes internal and external audits and reviews of its policies and controls, including data security and data protection regulations worldwide.
- Optimized Value. Data centers run efficiently with the help of improved hardware use, simplified interfaces, and uninterrupted operations. Technologies such as virtualization,multi-tenancy, and adaptive computing play a critical role in providing cloud services.
- Zero Emissions. SAP is able to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions in the data centers globally by practicing energy efficiency and procurement of electricity
