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19.9 BDC Connect & Zero-Copy

1. Why zero-copy matters​

SAP Business Data Cloud Connect is part of SAP's open data ecosystem and enables bidirectional sharing with supported external platforms while reducing unnecessary data duplication. SAP currently documents connections involving platforms such as SAP Databricks, Snowflake, Microsoft Fabric, Google BigQuery and Amazon Athena.

2. Zero-copy mental model​

Platform A
   |
metadata / governed sharing
   |
BDC Connect
   |
Platform B

Data remains in its managed location where supported.

Zero-copy does not mean zero architecture.

You still need:

  • ownership,
  • security,
  • semantics,
  • freshness,
  • availability,
  • cost,
  • lifecycle.

3. When zero-copy is attractive​

Use it when:

  • data already resides in a capable platform,
  • copying is expensive,
  • the consumer can execute against the shared representation,
  • governance can be maintained.

4. When copying is still justified​

Persist a copy when:

  • workload isolation is required,
  • source availability is insufficient,
  • local transformation is valuable,
  • retention differs,
  • performance requires local execution.

5. Architect exercise​

A company has 30 TB in a cloud lake and wants SAP analytics.

Compare:

  • full replication,
  • selective replication,
  • federation,
  • zero-copy sharing.

Choose a target and quantify the trade-offs.