SAP Australia and New Zealand is providing the University of Queensland (UQ) with a one terabyte SAP HANA in-memory database for a mobile-based business analytics research and development project.
The partnership has been made possible through a $450,000 grant from the Australian Research Council (ARC), with SAP contributing an added $210,000 in cash funding to UQ.
The project is entitled ‘In-memory moving objects analytics for real-time business applications’ and will aim to address significant challenges of big data and location-based business intelligence such as fleet management solutions.
The novel computing foundation will be based on in-memory technologies and will use GPS devices and smart-phone applications utilising on-board sensors and intelligent transportation systems.
According to SAP, the research will lead to dramatic reductions in operational cost, increase safety and enhance fleet productivity as well as offer specialised and targeted services to customers who can carry out real-time what-if analysis to find and book the best services for specific transportation needs.
“The SAP HANA technology will provide our researchers with the computing power they need in order to analyse their large experimental datasets,” said Prof. Xiaofang Zhou, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Queensland.
The university is now in a position to recruit a number of post-doctorate and PhD students to contribute to the project over the next three years, SAP stated.
