Going Vertical!

Our circulation statistics tell us that you, our readers, are likely to work in some area of financial services, life sciences or the public sector. If not, perhaps you're one of many sascom subscribers with careers in retail, telecommunications, manufacturing, insurance or education. Add utilities, travel, hospitality, publishing and agriculture and you have a fairly comprehensive list of industries where our subscribers earn their livelihoods.

As a company whose customers include 96 of the top 100 companies of the FORTUNE Global 500®, SAS has customers in every major industry. With such a varied customer base, how in the world do we communicate effectively?

At sascom, we strive to cover the right balance of industries, initiatives and other areas so that each of you finds value in every issue. And with many of our other communication strategies, we're going vertical – aligning our efforts to match your industries.

Have you taken a look at any of our industry-specific sascom supplements or special reports? SAS customers in the financial services, public sector and the insurance industries can download entire editions dedicated to their own unique challenges at www.sas.com/fs-supplement, www.sas.com/gov-supplement(PDF) and www.sas.com/ins-supplement, respectively. More editions are slated for later in the year.

Have you subscribed to the financial services, health and life sciences, or academic initiatives e-newsletters? If not, you can do so at www.sas.com/subscriptions.

Many SAS solutions have been tailored to specific industries for a while now. And our events have taken an industry-specific turn, as well. If you're not already familiar with some of the many SAS conferences and events designed to add value to your SAS investment, you'll want to see how your industry is represented. Check out www.sas.com/eventsfor worldwide event listings or look further in this issue for information on SAS' two largest international events, SAS Forum International and SUGI.

For an in-depth look at what's offered for your field, explore our Web site by industry: www.sas.com/industry. And for an expansive look at the breadth of SAS offerings, we hope you'll stay right where you are and enjoy this issue of sascom , SAS' flagship publication.

Diana M. Levey
sascom Editor-in-Chief

Matthew Barnason
sascom International Editor