SAS BRINGS e-Intelligence TO 64-BIT COMPUTING

At the Intel Developer Forum, SAS Institute, a market leader in integrated data warehousing and decision support, previewed the computing power of the Intel Itanium processor in a demonstration of the SAS e-Intelligence solution.

SAS demonstrated SAS/INSIGHT, a data visualization component of its e-Intelligence solution, on Itanium processor-based systems running Microsoft's Windows 2000 64-bit Edition, Hewlett Packard's HP-UX and the IBM-led Project Monterey operating systems. The data visualization software provides real-time multi-dimensional analysis and gives knowledge workers the ability to graphically explore and evaluate Web-based and traditional data, helping them identify patterns and trends that affect their business.

"The new Intel Itanium processor, aimed specifically at enterprise-wide IT requirements, gives SAS customers new versatility and power for data-intensive SAS e-intelligence applications," said Jim Davis, vice president of worldwide marketing at SAS. "The large memory addressability offered by 64-bit processors allows SAS applications to retain vast amounts of data. Ultimately, this feature helps deliver decision-support data extracted from data warehouses more quickly. This means that SAS customers will have the information they need to make business decisions in or near real time. And the Intel Itanium processor's capability of supporting multiple high-quality operating systems gives our customers the freedom and flexibility to select the best platform for their SAS applications."

Today's business environment requires the ability to analyze and rapidly act upon ever-increasing amounts of data. Many SAS customers have deployed enterprise data warehouses, e-business and e-commerce applications, and customer-relationship management (CRM) solutions that pull data out of transactional processing systems (such as ERP systems), and from Web sites and other sources. For these and other high-end computing applications, the speed and scalability of the processor is critical for business decision-making.

Itanium processor-based servers with 64-bit addressability lead to better performance for data warehousing, data mining and transactional applications that involve database access. And the Itanium processor's large memory capabilities helps companies process larger volumes of data faster, enabling them to provide better quality service and support to their customers.

SAS announced plans to support the Itanium processor and, with Intel's support, demonstrated its software running on a simulated IA-64 processor in August 1999. In the past year, SAS' research and development teams have worked closely with Intel's engineers to prepare for and take advantage of this new architecture. As a result of this close working relationship, customers can be assured that SAS solutions will be optimized for leading operating systems when Itanium processor systems become widely available in 2001.

"SAS's work with Intel continues to be a key factor into the ongoing development of the Itanium processor based solutions," said Ron Curry, director, Intel IA-64 marketing. "SAS software running on three enterprise-class operating systems at IDF is a significant demonstration of the progress towards delivering Itanium processor based solutions to the industry and endcustomers."

e-Intelligence

Through the SAS Solution for e-Intelligence, SAS leverages its core technologies to help companies turn their Web-based data -- including the huge volumes from e-business and e-commerce applications -- into actionable knowledge for decision making.

The SAS solution provides an e-business framework that gives businesses the insights needed to customize and enhance the Web experience of their customers and integrate data from all customer contact points for analysis, providing better service and one-to-one customer relationships. The solution also helps companies optimize Web content and ensure maximum Web-site performance.

The SAS Solution for e-Intelligence leverages SAS Institute's core competencies in data warehousing, data mining, OLAP and other areas.

• e-Discovery - helps companies improve customer loyalty and retention and build one-to-one relationships with customers by enabling these companies to understand and predict customer behavior and needs, and offer customized and focused products and services to meet those needs.
• WebHound - helps companies understand the effectiveness of their web content and of their various channels, and helps provide a complete picture of customers and how they interact with the company.
• IT Service Vision - ensures peak IT performance to provide quick response time and 24x7 Web server availability.

About SAS

SAS, one of the world's largest privately held software companies, is a leader in decision support and data warehousing, providing integrated enterprise information-delivery and e-business solutions. Founded in 1976, the company markets packaged business solutions for vertical industry and departmental applications, as well as an integrated suite of software tools and consulting services. These allow departments and agencies to transform the wide variety of data within their organizations into information that business users and researchers need to make better decisions. SAS software and services are used at more than 33,000 business, government and university sites in 110 countries. SAS' 1999 revenues totaled $1.02 billion. Please visit SAS' Web site: www.sas.com.

Contact SAS Institute Inc, Cary, Wally Maczka, 919-677-8000 x5350, Wally.Maczka@sas.com.