SAS System Customers Give New PC Release High Marks

CARY, NC (June 28, 1994)--SAS Institute is set to unveil a new release of
the SAS System for Win32s and OS/2 2.1 systems that will empower users
with new graphical interface capabilities and an extended range of
functionality.

And this new release of the SAS System, an integrated suite of software
products for enterprise-wide information delivery, is already finding
favor among users who have been beta testing the product for the past
month.

"You can definitely tell it' s faster in processing," said Lee Edwards,
decision support services project leader at the Charleston Area Medical
Center in Charleston, W. Va. "Programs are considerably faster, and I'm
assuming that's because of the 32-bit access. All of our data, including
SAS, reside on the network and are set into decision support."

Edwards is one of more than 70 current SAS software users testing the new
release of the SAS System (Release 6.10). The release is being previewed
this week in Booth #3904 at PC Expo in New York.

Highlights of Release 6.10 include: a Windows-like look and feel, with a
common menu bar, tool bar and status line; printing enhancements, such as
Windows-native printing dialog boxes; OLE 2.0 compatibility; and various
Email enhancements supporting both VIM (Vendor Independent Mail) and
Microsoft' s MAPI (Messaging Applications Programming Interface).
Host-related enhancements include 32-bit processing, compilation to take
advantage of 486 and Pentium processors and file resource tracking, which
provides options for keeping track of files used during SAS sessions.

Customers contacted about the new release cited ease of use and performance
gains among its many advantages.

The redesign of the SAS Application Work Space around the Microsoft
Multiple Document Interface Model, which gives Windows applications a
similar look, is getting rave reviews at Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Motorola
Government Strategic Technology Group (GSTG).

"It makes better use of the Windows facilities," said Michael Gulino,
systems analyst. "It's more intuitive to somebody who already uses
Windows."

Gulino added that SAS/INSIGHT software, the data visualization component of
the SAS System, is making data analysis go more quickly and smoothly at
Motorola. "It's more convenient," he said. "You're able to enter data
right into the spreadsheet without having to go through any preliminary
steps. That' s a big plus for the folks over here. That makes it more user
friendly."

Edwards agreed. He said Release 6.10 of the SAS System for Windows
processes information a quarter to a third faster than its predecessor,
Release 6.08.

"We definitely like it," Edwards said. "The overall increase of ease of use
and performance is very significant."

The graphical user interface enhancements are also getting high marks at
the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington, D.C. Andy Parks,
international economist, said users there like being able to tailor the
Display Manager interface features to suit them.

"Generally, it has an improved look and feel to it," Parks said. "When you
save something in a file in your program editor, the name of the file is
displayed in the titlebar. Having that information is very useful. Also,
the standard pull-down menus across the top is a step in the right
direction. I like how it looks."

Release 6.10 of the SAS System also includes ODBC server support, which
provides third-party software with the ability to read or write to SAS
data sets. The ODBC driver will work with data sets stored on a local
system or a remote SAS server.

In addition, five new products debut in the SAS System, Release 6.10:
SAS/SPECTRAVIEW software, for multidimensional data visualization and
modeling; SAS/GIS software, a geographic information system for spatial
and attribute data analysis; SAS/ACCESS interface to ODBC and SAS/ACCESS
interface to SQL Server, products that provide direct access between the
SAS System and ODBC and SQL Server; and SAS/SHARE*NET software, which
enables a server licensed with SAS software to accept requests for and
updates to SAS data from non-SAS applications.

The SAS System is licensed on an annual basis with fees determined by the
number of workunits supported and number of SAS System components
licensed. The first-year license fee for base SAS software, the foundation
of the SAS System, ranges from $940 for one workunit to $46,738 for 1000
workunits (less than $47 a workunit). Renewals are available at a lower
rate. Discounts are available for degree-granting customers.

Currently installed in 26,600 sites worldwide, the SAS System is an
integrated suite of software products for enterprise-wide information
delivery. 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, spreadsheets,
graphics, data analysis, report writing, quality improvement, project
management, computer performance evaluation, client/server computing,
database access, decision support, applications development and more.

Headquartered in Cary, NC, 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 software industry in
percentage of revenue devoted to research and development (34 percent in
1993, or $143 million of its $420.3 million total revenue).

For more information, contact the Software Sales Department at SAS
Institute Inc., Cary, NC. Telephone (919) 677-8000.

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