Saps databases in particularly high demand in germany

"The adaptation of our customers in the german market is very, very positive," said german boss harry thomsen on wednesday in walldorf at a parallel event to the annual customer trade show in the u.S.

Thomsen did not want to give figures. The positive reaction in the home market, however, is an important signal. SAP recently generated around 14 percent of its product sales in germany.

Just over a week ago, SAP announced that it would also offer its hana database technology as a platform for rent on its own servers. Several german customers had already expressed interest, said thomsen. So far, however, no contracts have been signed, as the prices have not yet been fixed.

The hana database is one of sap’s most important growth areas, along with software for mobile devices such as cell phones and tablets, and rental offerings known as cloud software. The germans seem to have fewer problems with the database, which enables analyses in a matter of seconds, than with the cloud.

Unlike customers in the U.S., many german companies are still reluctant to outsource software to third-party servers. "The market is more open," said thomsen about the u.S. Market with a view to the cloud. In the meantime, however, major german companies have also shown interest in the rental products.

With its new database offering, the software manufacturer is penetrating the core business of its arch-rival oracle. So far, however, sales of databases are still small.

After 392 million euros last year, SAP is aiming for sales of between 650 million and 700 million euros with hana this year. SAP’s total annual revenue in 2012 was 16.2 billion euros.