Dive Brief:

• SAP on Monday announced an "express" edition of HANA developers can download and use for free.
• The new express edition can be used on a laptop or PC to develop, test and deploy production applications, according to an SAP announcement. The edition will run on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and Windows, Mac and SUSE via virtual machine.
• "We want to expand to the broader development community and their ability to use in-memory computing," said Marie Goodell, vice president of SAP's HANA platform marketing, in a statement. 

Dive Insight:

With the express edition, SAP hopes to give developers at SMBs access to a data management and app development platform normally available only to larger organizations. In doing so, SAP hopes to eventually broaden adoption of HANA.

HANA also forms the basis for S/4HANA, the enterprise suite that SAP released early last year.

SAP is adding other features, such as a software developer kit, for its core developer base. In May, SAP announced a collaboration with Microsoft that will combine SAP’s HANA databases and Microsoft’s Azure cloud to allow Microsoft customers to run SAP software without installing it on their own servers. The deal also allows companies to link Office 365 with SAP’s business software.

The same month, SAP announced it would partner will Apple to develop iOS native enterprise apps for iPhones and iPads using SAP’s HANA platform and will introduce dozens of enterprise applications, including both industry specific and more general apps. 

SAP is betting big on HANA, and appears to have some momentum. In July, the company announced HANA now has more than 3,700 customers, including some big names added in the second quarter such as The Hershey Company and Cathay Pacific.