SAS Stays the Course On Solaris 9; A Close Alliance Benefits Mutual Customers

Business Wire, Oct 24, 2002

Business Editors, High Tech Writers

CARY, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 24, 2002

SAS(R), the leader in business intelligence, announced today the company's steadfast commitment to Sun Microsystems' UNIX(R)-based platform by embracing Sun's newest edition of the Solaris(TM) Operating Environment.

SAS on Solaris(TM) 9 builds on one of the most extensive UNIX-based application portfolios available with solutions that help improve industry practices and business processes.

Solaris 9 marks a new generation of operating systems by combining traditional OS performance and applications with a bundled server, strengthened firewall protection and enhanced management features. Users of the powerful new system can gain increased application speeds, timesaving management functions and the increased performance necessary to help IT departments expand services while decreasing costs and risk.

Continuing in the tradition of joint engineering and design, SAS and Sun have been working since January to improve SAS performance in Solaris 9. Sun engineers worked at SAS headquarters to build on the success of years of performance advancements and to help clients meet their rapidly changing technology goals.

"Working together to develop cutting-edge applications, SAS and Sun provide products that help businesses navigate through swiftly changing economic currents," said Keith Collins, senior vice president and chief technology officer at SAS. "Since Sun is the most popular UNIX-based platform for SAS software, it is important that we continue to invest in our thriving engineering partnership as it continues to create innovative products."

Since 1989, Sun and SAS have collaborated on multiple development projects to improve performance of pivotal technology programs including data warehousing, customer relationship management and several business intelligence initiatives. SAS and Sun have successfully helped clients in multiple industries improve their technological performance and increase their return on investment.

"Because performance is one of the key elements of Version 9 of SAS software, Solaris provides a solid foundation for product development to drive performance improvements and multithreaded scalability," said Collins.

The Solaris Operating Environment is the premier operating environment for the enterprise. With over 300 new features, Solaris 9 is one of the most scalable, available, manageable and secure service delivery platform for the networked world. By focusing on industry standards, the Internet, innovation and integration, Solaris 9 delivers a documented lower cost of operation. Solaris is the leading UNIX operating environment with 64 percent market share in shipments and 54 percent revenue share, according to Gartner Dataquest's 1Q02 Servers Quarterly Statistics.

About SAS

SAS is the market leader in providing a new generation of business intelligence software and services that create true enterprise intelligence. SAS solutions are used at more than 39,000 sites - including 98 of the top 100 businesses on the Fortune 500 - to develop more profitable relationships with customers and suppliers; to enable better, more accurate and informed decisions; and to drive organizations forward. SAS is the only vendor that completely integrates leading data warehousing, analytics and traditional BI applications to create intelligence from massive amounts of data. For more than 25 years, SAS has been giving customers around the world The Power to Know(R). Visit us at www.sas.com.

SAS and all other SAS Institute Inc. product or service names are registered trademarks or trademarks of SAS Institute Inc. in the USA and other countries. (R) indicates USA registration. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective companies. Copyright(c) 2002 SAS Institute Inc. Cary, NC, USA. All rights reserved.

Sun, Sun Microsystems, and Solaris are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and in other countries.