SAS, Vector Research Alliance to Increase Services to MHS

As reported by Bill Belina, BridgeNews, SAS Institute, a market leader in e-intelligence and data warehousing, announced a three-year strategic alliance with Vector Research Inc (VRI) to provide increased SAS solutions and technology to the military health care market.

Using SAS software and accessing SAS public sector's pilot program, VRI will deliver advanced technology to support the unique needs the military health service (MHS), which provides health care to the U.S. armed forces.

"Key to our success serving the Military Health System is our in-depth knowledge of their business processes and the specific issues underlying their business data," remarked Linc Smith, president of VRI. "Our partnership with SAS Institute perfectly complements VRI knowledge with SAS industry leading software tools."

Offering services that include analysis and consulting, information technology and enterprise support, VRI currently leverages SAS technology within the MHS for legacy system enhancement and migration, ad hoc data analysis and enrollment-based capitation reconciliation.

"This alliance makes perfect sense," said Jay Sloane, director of business operations for SAS public sector. "With VRI's 20 years of experience and leadership in the military health care market and SAS' expertise and leadership in the data mining and data warehousing fields, we are now able to combine our respective knowledge to offer focused and proven solutions to the Military Health System."

"SAS/VRI alliance makes it easier for our MHS clients to obtain the best value SAS solutions," added Myong Jensen, senior vice president of healthcare solutions group for VRI.

About Vector Research

Vector Research, www.vrionline.com, is a 400-person, high-end services and software development firm based in Ann Arbor, Mich., with major offices in Northern Virginia and San Antonio, Texas. Founded in 1969 by University of Michigan faculty from the Department of Industrial Engineering, VRI has grown in planned stages to a $60-million company that develops information systems and decision models for such government agencies as the Department of Defense and the states of Michigan, Texas, and California.

About SAS

SAS is the world leader in e-intelligence software and services, enabling its customers to turn raw data - including the vast quantity generated by e-business - into usable knowledge. Software from SAS, the world's largest privately held software company, is used at more than 35,000 business, government and university sites in 110 countries. SAS' 1999 revenues totaled $1.02 billion. Please visit SAS on the Web at www.sas.com.

Contact SAS Institute Inc, Cary, Mary Ann Campbell-Hickland, 919-677-8000 x16997, MaryAnn.Hickland@sas.com .