Integrating the Apple Macintosh into the enterprise's computing mix; SAS(reg) System Ships For "Enterprise" Macintosh.

CARY, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 3, 1995--Helping organizations integrate the Apple Macintosh into the enterprise's computing mix, SAS Institute today announced the availability of the SAS(reg) System -- an integrated suite of information delivery software for business decision making.

Now shipping for the first time on the Macintosh, the SAS System includes all the application breadth and client/server capabilities that have distinguished it as an enterprise solution on more than 40 computing platforms. The new release supports Apple's 68K-based Macintosh and provides native support for the Power Macintosh, Apple's PowerPC-based Macintosh implementation.

"Our current users encouraged us to bring the entire SAS System to the Mac environment. They wanted to be able to take their Macintoshes out of isolated pockets of their companies and integrate these machines into the corporate mainstream," said SAS Institute President Jim Goodnight. "Macs have always been a popular machine because of their graphical nature and easy-to-use features. And now, with the addition of the SAS System, the Macintosh is a viable platform for true enterprise-wide computing."

The "Enterprise" Mac

For supporting enterprise-wide computing, the SAS System for the Macintosh provides organizations with the information delivery capabilities necessary to turn its corporate data into meaningful information and deliver it to the people who need it to make effective business decisions. The software allows users to access their data from a variety of sources, manage this data, perform virtually any type of analysis on this data, then present the resulting business information graphically or in text-based reports.

"These capabilities are the hallmark of the SAS System on all platforms -- from mainframes to midrange computers, to PCs and UNIX workstations," said Joanna D'Aquanni, SAS Institute's Macintosh marketing manager. "Our current users told us that to best integrate their Macs into their corporate computing mix they needed the full SAS System -- not just a subset -- available for the Mac. They wanted an environment to which they could move their current SAS System applications with ease, develop new SAS System applications on the Mac, and include the Macintosh as a client in distributed applications."

For integrating the SAS System for the Macintosh into an organization's current interoperability strategy, the new software release offers support for outside data sources. Through connectivity to the SAS System running in other environments, Macs can gain access to corporate legacy systems in DB2, IMS and others.

"We plan to soon add support for the ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) client as another gateway to local database products," said Tom Cole, SAS Institute's manager of Macintosh research and development. "This will enable the SAS System on the Macintosh to communicate locally with any database or file format for which the user has an ODBC driver."

Full network connectivity with TCP/IP, which is supported in this release, works into many organizations' plans for data warehousing with the SAS System, Cole added. TCP/IP support allows sites to connect their applications across multiple platforms and operating systems for distributed client/server computing. Cole said SAS Institute is currently researching the possibility of adding additional networking protocols support, such as AppleTalk and DECnet.

Responding to Customer Needs

SAS Institute's development of the SAS System for the Macintosh was in direct response to its current customers' needs. From 1990 to 1992, the Macintosh topped the list of most requested new platforms for the SAS System among users voting on SAS Institute's annual wishlist -- the SASware Ballot(reg).

"Many SAS System customers have a large population of Macintoshes at their sites," D'Aquanni said. "These customers told us that they wanted these Macintoshes to be better integrated in their organizations' information delivery process."

"Although we began investigating the port several years ago, it wasn't until Apple released System 7 that the Mac environment was robust enough to accommodate the SAS System," Cole said. "So, in 1993, we dedicated resources to the project and began the development effort."

Throughout the effort, SAS Institute has solicited and incorporated the feedback of its current customers.

SAS Institute conducted two usability studies at its Cary, N.C., headquarters where various industry representatives -- most of whom are experienced SAS software and Macintosh users -- worked one-to-one with developers in interface usability and applications porting sessions.

"The feedback we've gained from these studies helped fine-tune our development efforts and shaped the eventual look and functionality of the SAS System for the Macintosh," D'Aquanni said.

True Macintosh Support

The SAS System for the Macintosh adheres fundamentally to Apple's Human Interface Guidelines. Users will see the traditional elements of the Macintosh GUI present in their SAS software applications on the Macintosh -- elements such as the appearance of windows and their contents, menus, and menu handling.

Much of the traditional point-and-click approach that Macintosh users expect from their applications has been implemented with the SAS System for the Mac. However, the release also has the same general "look and feel" of the SAS System on other platforms, D'Aquanni added.

"This, naturally, will assist current customers who are already familiar with the SAS System," she said. "For these people, there's no learning curve associated with the new release."

The SAS System supports Apple's System 7.5 operating system and exploits such features as the Apple Thread Manager and the Apple Drag Manager. An implementation of Apple's AppleGuide technology provides SAS System users with a native viewer for extensive online help.

The SAS System also supports AppleScript, Apple's automation and scripting tool. AppleScript enables users to use English-like text language to create commands that direct an application to perform specified functions.

The SAS System for the Macintosh is licensed on an annual basis with fees determined by number of components and number of copies licensed. The first-year fee for the SAS System begins at $985, with significant discounts for multiple-copy purchases (for example, less than $75 each for 500 copies). Renewal rates are lower, and discounts are available for academic customers.

Currently installed in about 29,000 businesses, government agencies and universities worldwide, the SAS System is an integrated suite of information delivery software for business decision making. The software 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, data storage and organization, applications development, graphics, data analysis, report writing, quality improvement, project management, computer performance evaluation, decision support and more.

Headquartered in Cary, N.C., 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).

For more information, contact the Software Sales Department at SAS Institute Inc., Cary, N.C. Telephone [phone].

CONTACT: SAS Institute Inc., Cary

Beverly Liles or Miranda Drake, 919/677-8000

or

The Weber Group

Mirena Reilly or Patty Williams, 617/661-7900