Breaking records: unlocking maximum performance for SAP HANA

In today’s data-driven economy, SAP HANA environments are far more than IT platforms, they are the operational backbone of the enterprise. From real-time analytics to mission-critical business processes, infrastructure performance directly impacts agility, resilience, and growth.

But how can organisations objectively assess that performance? And how can they make confident infrastructure decisions for large-scale, mission-critical SAP HANA environments?

With a long-standing track record of achieving world-class performance levels, Bull brings deep expertise in designing and optimising large-scale SAP HANA platforms. Mark Walker, one of our SAP HANA benchmark experts explores how the SAP HANA BWH benchmark works, what our recent record-breaking results reveal about modern scale-up architectures, and how benchmark performance ultimately translates into measurable business value.

Can you explain the SAP HANA BWH benchmark methodology and how it works?

How do benchmark results help SAP architects, infrastructure leaders, and IT decision-makers make strategic infrastructure choices for mission-critical SAP HANA environments?  

The SAP HANA BWH benchmark evaluates how well a system handles typical enterprise SAP workloads by testing data loading, parallel query execution, and sequential complex query performance in a structured way.

The benchmark is organised into three phases, each answering a specific question about system performance:

Together, these phases provide a comprehensive view of a system’s performance, helping organisations understand its ability to handle large-scale SAP HANA workloads efficiently and reliably.

You recently published new benchmark results for BullSequana SH81. What are the key highlights from this latest campaign?  

The latest benchmark campaign for the BullSequana SH81, powered by Intel Xeon 6 processors, delivered outstanding results, confirming its position as the leading for large-scale SAP HANA environments.

Key highlights include:

• World record for an 8-socket system - in phase 2, the BullSequana SH81 achieved 20,231 queries per hour, making it the first 8-socket server ever to reach this level of performance.
• Comparison with previous generation - the SH81 nearly doubled the performance of our previous-generation BullSequana SH80, showing a major leap in processing power.
• Exceeding Class L requirements - it delivered four times the minimum performance required for an SAP HANA Class L system, comfortably handling enterprise-scale workloads and more.

These results also highlight the strength of its modular scale-up architecture and massive memory capacity, enabling high-speed, mission-critical in-memory processing.

Overall, the benchmarks not only showcase raw performance but also give IT architects and decision-makers confidence that the SH81 can reliably support the most demanding SAP HANA environments.

What technical factors most strongly influence SAP HANA benchmark results? 

Several technical elements play a key role in determining SAP HANA benchmark performance: 

• CPU architecture and cores – SAP HANA is an in-memory, highly parallel platform, so the number of cores, clock speed, and CPU efficiency directly impact how many queries can be executed simultaneously, particularly in Phase 2 of the benchmark.

• Memory capacity and bandwidth – since HANA stores all data in memory, having sufficient RAM and high memory bandwidth is critical. It ensures that large volumes of data can be processed quickly and that calculations can be done on this in-memory data without needing to free up space for intermediate results

• Glueless scale-up architecture – a modular, glueless design lets all CPUs and memory work together seamlessly, avoiding bottlenecks and enabling full system utilisation for massive workloads.

• I/O design and storage performance – while HANA runs in memory, data still needs to be loaded, persisted, and backed up efficiently. Fast and well-architected storage ensures that Phase 1 (data loading) runs smoothly and that checkpointing or disk writes do not limit overall system performance. 

Optimising these factors allows a system like the BullSequana SH81 to achieve outstanding performance, with high query throughput and fast, reliable in-memory processing for mission-critical SAP HANA workloads. 

SAP recommends scale-up architecture for many HANA workloads. How do scale-up and scale-out approaches impact performance, resilience, and operational complexity? 

Scale-up systems consolidate CPU, memory, and storage in a single machine, delivering maximum performance, low latency, and simplified management for large SAP HANA workloads. Scale-out systems spread workloads across multiple nodes, increasing capacity and redundancy, but introducing latency and operational complexity.

For mission-critical HANA environments, scale-up platforms like the BullSequana SH81 offer the best combination of performance, resilience, and simplicity.

How do strong benchmark results translate into tangible benefits for enterprises running mission-critical SAP environments?  

Strong SAP HANA benchmark results give enterprises confidence that their infrastructure can handle peak workloads reliably. This translates directly into business value:

• Faster decision-making – real-time access to large volumes of data enables quicker insights and more informed business decisions.
• Operational efficiency – high-performance systems reduce processing times for complex analytics and reporting, freeing IT and business teams to focus on strategic initiatives.
• Optimised infrastructure use – more power in the same footprint enables running multiple HANA instances per data center, maximising ROI.
• Sustainable efficiency – with performance gains over previous generations, enterprises can achieve the same results with smaller, more energy-efficient systems, reducing both costs and environmental impact.
• Scalability for growth – systems that exceed benchmark expectations can support future data and workload increases without costly upgrades or disruptions.
  
  

Beyond technology, what differentiates Bull in the SAP HANA ecosystem?  

Performance is critical, but infrastructure alone is not enough. What truly differentiates Bull is the combination of engineering excellence, industrial capability, and deep SAP expertise.

Bull benefits from strong industrial capabilities, with advanced manufacturing and integration facilities in France and in Phoenix. This ensures full control over quality, supply chain, system integration, and customisation for large-scale enterprise deployments. It also guarantees sovereignty, reliability, and the ability to deliver complex configurations at scale.

Its dedicated Competency Centre, bringing together more than 15 experts in many domains such as SAP HANA, networking, virtualisation, and AI, supports customers from benchmarking and sizing to optimisation and large-scale deployments.

This combination of industrial strength and deep SAP HANA know-how enables Bull not only to design record-breaking platforms, but also to support customers end-to-end, from architecture strategy to production optimisation.

Conclusion  

The latest benchmarks for the BullSequana SH81 clearly demonstrate what companies can achieve when infrastructure is built for mission-critical SAP HANA workloads. From record-breaking Phase 2 performance to modular scale-up architecture and massive memory capacity, the BullSequana SH81 delivers unmatched power, efficiency, and scalability.

For IT architects and decision-makers, these results go beyond numbers on a report—they provide confidence in performance, reliability, and future growth. High benchmark scores translate into faster decision-making, greater operational efficiency, optimised infrastructure use, and more sustainable IT.

BullSequana SH81 enables enterprises to run complex, large-scale SAP HANA workloads with speed, resilience, and efficiency, turning technical excellence into tangible business impact.