Modernize Your Enterprise Integration Strategy with SAP and Red Hat

As enterprise integration continues to evolve, business technology leaders face a pivotal inflection point. With mainstream maintenance for SAP Process Integration and Process Orchestration (PI/PO) ending in 2027, organizations must chart a path forward that not only ensures continuity but positions them for long-term agility. SAP’s Integration Suite is the designated successor, but for enterprises where sensitive data must remain inside the organization’s firewall or that have architectural restrictions, a cloud-only approach may fall short. To meet that need, businesses should consider SAP Integration Suite’s Edge Integration Cell, deployed on Red Hat OpenShift, a robust, hybrid-ready solution that meets the demands of modern integration landscapes.

SAP PI/PO has been used by many customers as the foundation for integration across SAP-centric environments. SAP Edge Integration Cell allows these customers to benefit from the innovations that come with SAP Integration Suite, and gives them the option to design and monitor integration content in the cloud, and deploy and run their scenarios in their private landscapes.

Extending SAP Integration to the Edge

SAP’s Edge Integration Cell meets this need head-on. It enables real-time, event-driven integration in disconnected or intermittently connected environments, such as factory floors or remote operations centers. This localized capability ensures that business-critical integrations can continue uninterrupted—even when cloud connectivity is unavailable.

But Edge Integration Cell doesn’t operate in a vacuum. To deliver on its promise, it requires a scalable, resilient, and enterprise-grade infrastructure layer. This is where Red Hat OpenShift—a leading Kubernetes platform built for hybrid cloud environments—proves essential. Recognizing the potential to best meet customer needs, SAP and Red Hat have joined forces to ensure full support for Edge Integration Cell on OpenShift, creating a powerful platform for hybrid integration.

Why OpenShift is the Right Foundation

Red Hat OpenShift offers several strategic advantages for running Edge Integration Cell:

• Unified hybrid experience: OpenShift supports consistent deployment and management across different cloud, on-premise, and edge environments, simplifying operations and lifecycle management.
• Enterprise-grade resilience: Its Kubernetes backbone provides high availability, fault tolerance, and scalability—critical for running mission-critical integration workloads.
• Operational efficiency: Red Hat’s certified operators for PostgreSQL, Redis, and other services streamline infrastructure setup, while Red Hat Quay enables rapid, consistent deployment through localized image repositories.
• Open architecture: Built on open-source standards, OpenShift allows organizations to avoid vendor lock-in while integrating with existing tools and workflows.
• Extensive ecosystem: A broad network of technology partners and Red Hat’s global field expertise ensures compatibility and ongoing support.

Strategic Guidance for Technology Leaders

To navigate this transition effectively, CIOs and integration leaders should take a phased, informed approach:

• Assess your current integration landscape. Use SAP-provided tools to evaluate PI/PO usage and identify areas suitable for migration.
• Adopt a hybrid strategy. Combine the cloud-based capabilities of SAP Integration Suite with the on-premise power of Edge Integration Cell on OpenShift to meet diverse enterprise needs.
• Start small, scale fast. Run a pilot using representative workloads to validate performance, identify gaps, and build stakeholder confidence. Red Hat’s 60-day OpenShift trial is a good starting point.
• Understand technical requirements. Review SAP Note 3247839 for prerequisites, including licensing, infrastructure (PostgreSQL, Redis), and system configurations.
• Plan for high availability. Design your OpenShift architecture with production-grade reliability, considering master/worker node configurations and anticipated integration volume.
• Leverage expert support. Engage with Red Hat and SAP’s partner ecosystems to access deployment guidance, roadmap insights, and best practices tailored to your industry.

The retirement of SAP PI/PO represents not just a technical milestone but a strategic opportunity to modernize enterprise integration. By deploying SAP Integration Suite’s Edge Integration Cell on Red Hat OpenShift, organizations can build a resilient, flexible, and future-proof integration framework that meets today’s hybrid needs and tomorrow’s innovation demands.

Learn more by reviewing SAPinsider’s on-demand webinar with Red Hat: Accelerating the Adoption of SAP Integration Suite, On-Premise and Beyond.

What this means for SAPinsiders

Plan for PI/PO end-of-life now to avoid integration disruption. With SAP PI/PO support ending in 2027, organizations must act quickly to assess their current integration architecture and define a clear migration strategy. Waiting too long could create operational risk and reduce the time available to properly evaluate modern integration options that meet compliance, security, and performance needs.

Adopt a hybrid integration model to future-proof your landscape. Many enterprises need to connect both cloud and on-premise systems. SAP Integration Suite’s Edge Integration Cell, deployed on Red Hat OpenShift, offers a powerful solution for bridging these environments—enabling seamless, event-driven integration while maintaining control over local workloads in disconnected or regulated environments.

Use OpenShift to simplify deployment and scale integration confidently. Red Hat OpenShift provides the enterprise-grade Kubernetes foundation needed to deploy Edge Integration Cell reliably and efficiently. With built-in high availability, lifecycle management tools, and support for required services like PostgreSQL and Redis, OpenShift ensures you can scale integration workloads across hybrid environments with speed and resilience.