SAP's Executive VP of database and technology, Steve Lucas, has reacted strongly to Oracle CEO Larry Ellison's swipe at HANA - the in-memory database server offering from SAP - in his keynote address at Oracle OpenWorld trade show.

While eulogizing Oracle's capabilities in public as well as private cloud computing, Ellison had - in his keynote address at Oracle's five-day annual trade show - described the company's newest 26TB Exadata X3 in-memory database server as the "world's fastest computer for business."

In reaction to Ellison's evident dig at SAP's HANA in-memory system, Lucas said that the "baseless" remarks made by Ellison at the trade show had left him with his mouth "hanging open" because of the fact that SAP had shipped "a 100TB HANA system." Lucas also highlighted the fact that the SAP in-memory system was "substantially larger" than the one offered by Oracle.

Pointing out that Ellison's remarks apparently stemmed from Oracle's lack of innovation, Lucas - terming Oracle's 2010 acquisition of Sun Microsystems as an "albatross around Oracle's neck" - said that there was hardly any breakthrough from Oracle of late "besides a faster I/O card."

Noting that, according to him, Oracle had lost not only the battle "but the war" with SAP, Lucas - referring to Ellison's statement at the Oracle OpenWorld - said: "My core issue is that what was behind the statement is more hardware, very little substance when it comes to true software innovation."