SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) and the National Basketball Association (NBA) announced that the league has selected the SAP HANA platform to develop a new statistical experience for its fans on NBA.com.
The HANA-based real-time data platform will enable the league to bring virtually unlimited amounts of official NBA statistical information directly to fans’ fingertips on the league’s official Website.
In addition, the NBA and SAP announced a new multiyear marketing partnership that will make SAP the official business analytics software partner of the NBA. The partnership includes the Women’s National Basketball Association and the NBA Development League and will allow SAP to connect with the passionate fan bases of all three leagues. Along with the U.S, the partnership extends to several international markets, including Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India and Russia.
“We are constantly researching new and emerging technologies in an effort to provide our fans with new ways to connect with our game,” said NBA Commissioner David Stern, in a statement. “SAP is a leader in providing innovative software solutions and an ideal partner to provide a dynamic and comprehensive statistical offering as fans interact with NBA basketball on a global basis.”
“SAP is honored to partner with the NBA, one of the world’s most respected sports organizations,” said Bill McDermott, co-CEO of SAP, also in a statement. “Through SAP HANA, fans will be able to experience the NBA as never before. This is a slam dunk for SAP, the NBA and the many fans who will now have access to unprecedented insight and analysis.”
SAP HANA is a real-time platform for analytics and applications. While simplifying the IT stack, it provides features such as significant processing speed, the ability to handle big data, predictive capabilities and text mining capabilities, SAP said. SAP HANA is SAP AG’s implementation of in-memory database technology. There are four components to it. SAP HANA DB, or HANA DB, refers to the database technology itself. SAP HANA Studio is a set of modeling tools for the platform. The SAP HANA Appliance refers to HANA DB as delivered on partner-certified hardware as an appliance, and includes the modeling tools from HANA Studio as well replication and data transformation tools to move data into HANA DB. And SAP HANA Application Cloud refers to the cloud-based infrastructure for delivery of applications, typically in the form of existing SAP applications rewritten to run on HANA.
The NBA statistics team will implement SAP HANA to run the league’s enhanced statistical offering on NBA.com, which previously was accessible only to NBA employees and select media members. NBA fans will be able to access large volumes of statistical information and analysis tools on the SAP HANA platform, which will enhance their overall experience.
To read the original eWeek article, click here: SAP, NBA Team to Deliver Real-Time Basketball Analytics for Fans
