First, SAP engineers candidly admit that solving the IoT (and related Big Data) issues remains a work in progress. There are products in place -- and customers using those products -- but engineers recognize they need to offer more. The systems in place, though, start with decisions made close to the sensors and edge systems.

 A HANA database that references data sitting in other databases (which can include Hadoop, MongoDB, Oracle, or just about any other commercial database) can use SAP's Smart Data Access -- a data virtualization feature that lets the HANA control structures see data in "virtual data tables" that span multiple databases.

 SAP expects to use a concept called "streaming" to use HANA for analysis without assuming that all data is hot until proven otherwise. Streaming will, essentially, use a HANA instance as a high-speed Hogwarts Sorting Hat to determine whether the data coming in should be stored in another HANA database or sent to a cooler location for future analysis at a somewhat more leisurely pace.

 Given the SAP IoT customer base, the "things" in question are much more likely to be on an industrial shop floor than attached to a consumer's wristWith HANA, SAP has made a series of key early steps to power their customer and partner plans. If the company can polish and fit the last of the pieces it's promising, SAP S4/HANA will be a formidable presence in the IoT market.