SAS Institute Announces Open OLAP Server Solution
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SAS Institute Inc., a market leader in integrated data warehousing and decision support, has announced the production availability of its OLE DB for OLAP data provider, the Open OLAP Server.

The Open OLAP Server accesses any SAS multidimensional database (MDDB) running on a PC or UNIX server and can access remote data on nearly any enterprise platform. Any OLE DB for OLAP compliant consumer (such as Microsoft Excel, Knosys ProClarity, and many others) can use the Open OLAP Server to access SAS OLAP data. The Open OLAP Server extends the corporate investment in data warehousing by allowing nearly anyone in the company to access and analyze important business information.

SAS/MDDB Server software supports OLAP providers on all major platforms, including Windows NT, UNIX, and mainframes. "This strategy makes a great deal of sense for SAS Insitute and has potential to be of great benefit to its customers," said Mike Schiff, Director of Data Warehousing Strategies for Current Analysis, Inc. "Competition always tries to position SAS as a proprietary and closed solution and the Open OLAP Server will help dispel this myth."

According to Rob Stephens, SAS Institute product manager for business intelligence, "Our customers are really going to benefit from the integration of OLE DB for OLAP compliant applications. They can use the most powerful server, richest set of analytical tools, and best suite of solutions without having to force new interfaces on the end user. This will save companies money in software, training, and management while offering the richest information."

The Open OLAP Server provides high-performance access to a variety of enterprise information sources in addition to SAS MDDBs, including relational and non-relational databases on PC's or UNIX servers. This technology enables corporations to integrate diverse data sources, create easy-to-maintain solutions, and use their choice of best of breed tools, applications, and platform services.

"Our support for the OLE DB for OLAP interface on UNIX and Windows NT machines gives customers a wide range of choices for client access to the data warehousing power of SAS software," said Stephens. "SAS Institute understands that critical business decisions are facilitated by making organized data along with robust decision support applications available to the end users. Data warehouses, optimized for decision support, give business users a focused picture of information previously dispersed across the enterprise. And because SAS software is an open, end-to-end solution, organizations can easily integrate existing systems while still benefiting from methodologies only available from a vendor that is familiar with the entire process. SAS Institute can also provide consulting services to assist customers with OLAP implementations."

About SAS Institute

SAS Institute, one of the top 10 independent software vendors, is a leader in decision support and data warehousing, providing integrated enterprise information-delivery solutions. The Institute markets packaged business solutions for vertical industry and departmental applications, as well as an integrated suite of software tools that allow companies 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 over 115 countries. Founded in 1976, SAS Institute is the world's largest privately held software company with annual revenue of $871 million.

Please visit SAS Institute's Web site: http://www.sas.com/.