Is SAP HANA useful for optimization? An exploration of LP implementation alternatives

Abstract

While SAP HANA is reported to significantly speed up business information systems that rely on large databases, it is unclear whether HANA has the same power to impact optimization modules. Optimization problems occur both in enterprise resource planning and supply chain management. This paper explores factors influencing the performance of linear optimization programs running inside and outside HANA. Basic simplex implementations in R, SQLScript, JavaScript, and Java are used for comparison. A number of test cases from the Netlib library are employed to evaluate the different approaches and to draw conclusions regarding further research needs.