• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, March 18, 2015

German software  maker SAP, which has been touting its cloud services, will open its own café in Silicon Valley in hopes of drawing in a tech crowd. The café, which opens in a former cinema in downtown Palo Alto, will sell high-end coffee, provide free Wi-Fi access, and offer programming advice.

Perhaps the name of the café, HanaHaus, reflects a simple marketing and branding campaign to bring awareness to the company's database of the name HANA aimed at supporting small businesses. HANA reflects a new type of in-memory database that runs in a computer's memory, rather than on storage disks, allowing it to crunch through enormous amounts of data quickly. The focus could eventually include cloud services.

The 15,000 square-foot multi-purpose space features a cafe as well as work areas. Every aspect of HanaHaus is designed to encourage creativity, connection and community. While its vision is rooted in the philosophy that great ideas spring from anywhere and they often emerge when diverse people come together, it also focuses on SAP's move into cloud services.

SAP partnered with Blue Bottle Coffee to provide the full cafe service featuring its coffee and teas, baked goods and freshly prepared meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

If the idea works, a string of the cafés will follow. There are three already planned, with more to come in Berlin and Shanghai. All will connect to each other 24 hours per day. 

Hasso Plattner, the billionaire co-founder of German software giant SAP, made the announcement during a panel discussion in Germany this week. The first planned location isn't far from the headquarters of rival Hewlett-Packard, along with Facebook, Google and others. It opens to the public Thursday.