Combining enhanced object classes with professional consulting; SAS Institute Announces OLAP++ Solution.

CARY, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 14, 1995--Providing a powerful solution for multidimensional analysis and reporting, SAS Institute today announces the availability of its OLAP++ solution.

The OLAP++ solution is a software/service offering that combines professional installation and customization services with advanced object libraries for fast development of customized OLAP (on-line analytical processing) applications. Currently available for Windows, Windows NT, OS/2 and UNIX clients and supporting Windows NT, OS/2, and UNIX servers as well as MVS, CMS and OpenVMS, the OLAP++ solution enables users to draw the data from any source and to summarize it on any platform in a distributed environment.

SAS Institute's OLAP++ solution supports an object-based approach to multidimensional analysis that leverages an organization's existing investment in relational technology -- eliminating the need for expensive and proprietary multidimensional data base management systems. By eliminating the need for these specialized data structures, the OLAP++ solution can reduce the cost and complexity of data warehousing projects requiring multidimensional analysis of data.

"As the world's leading provider of business analysis tools, we will continue to offer customers a full range of technologies, including OLAP, that enable development and easy implementation of strategic decision support systems," said Barrett Joyner, SAS Institute's vice president of North American sales and marketing. "OLAP++ is an extension of our existing OLAP offering and we are excited to make it even easier for our business users to derive views of data and perform 'slicing and dicing' in a timely manner, without a need for contacting IS departments to create new formulas or recoding."

The OLAP++ solution, empowering many levels of users with analytical functionality, will provide employees of CoreStates Financial Corp. a powerful means to assess risk management, said Kim Foster, manager of the Retail Credit Risk Information System (RCRIS) at the Philadelphia-based financial organization.

"We have several different data sources, and we do a lot of analysis and risk management," Foster said. "This tool would allow us to go from an account level to a customer level, then to a household level by letting us tie these data sources together with one application. I definitely see significant uses for this application in our company."

The OLAP++ solution uses the distributed data access and processing facilities of the SAS(R) System, an integrated suite of business analysis software for better decision making, to ensure availability of data from various RDBMSs, including Oracle, Sybase, Informix and legacy and PC file formats. Available on more than 40 platforms and with interoperability capabilities via ODBC, OLE 2.0 and DDE, OLAP++ class libraries can obtain and analyze data from various sources without a need for a separate data base for OLAP. As a result, the models are dynamic and automatically pass the most recent data to the business user for analysis enabling mission-critical decisions to be made on time-sensitive data.

"The OLAP++ class library extends our customers reach across their enterprise to include all relevant data, integrated at a single point of viewing," said John McIntyre, SAS Institute's program manager for business intelligence. "Our Professional Services staff can quickly customize any OLAP processing with these tools, enabling the benefits of multidimensional analysis without the necessary cost of a separate data base. This offering simply makes it easier to make use of SAS business intelligence facilities in a distributed, enterprise-wide environment."

The OLAP++ solution itself was developed using the advanced object-oriented techniques of SAS/EIS(reg) software -- a component of the SAS System for building and maintaining Executive Information Systems -- and SAS/AF(reg) software -- a SAS System component for applications development. As a result, the OLAP++ solution permits code-free application building. Both the multidimensional data engines and the EIS objects are defined in a menu-driven, point-and-click environment.

The OLAP++ solution is available through the Institute's Professional Services Division, comprised of teams charged with helping SAS customers maximize the return on their investment in technology. Pricing for the OLAP++ solution starts at $30,000.

The SAS System, the world's leading information delivery software for business decision making, provides organizations with tools to access, manage, analyze and present their data within an applications development environment. Capabilities within the SAS System include EIS, data warehousing, client/server computing, database access, applications development, graphics, data storage and analysis, report writing, quality improvement, project management, computer performance evaluation, decision support and more.

Headquartered in Cary, privately held SAS Institute is one of the world's 10 largest independent software companies. Since its incorporation in 1976, SAS Institute has consistently led the major software vendors in percentage of revenue devoted to research and development (31 percent in 1994, or $149.4 million of its $482 million total revenue). -0-

SAS, SAS/EIS and SAS/AF are registered trademarks of SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA. All other trade names referenced are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

CONTACT: SAS Institute Inc., Cary

Beverly Liles or Miranda Drake (Editorial), 919/677-8000

or

The Weber Group

Mirena Reilly or Patty Williams, 617/661-7900