SA office brings access to world class software bundles and new demo centre to local resellers SAS Institute South Africa has announced the local launch of its global reseller programme and partner initiatives, emphasising its commitment to growing its business in the country and giving local resellers and systems integrators access to its software. With the global launch of the programme in June this year, SAS SA is proud to announce that it has already signed on two local resellers, EPS and Octoplus, to the programme. Says Murray de Villiers, Manager - Africa Middle East Regional Alliances at SAS Institute SA: "It is great to be answering the call of our partners, by bringing such a full reseller programme to the market, and it is even better to be able to kick off the programme with two partners already having signed on." OCTOPLUS JOINS SAS GLOBAL RESELLER PROGRAMME Octoplus has announced its participation in the global SAS channel programme, which will help bring SAS Business Intelligence software to mid-market businesses in the Southern African Region. Octoplus focuses on the Education, Insurance and Research sectors with special focus on the integration and the visualisation of information. "Being a member of the SAS reseller programme allows Octoplus to deliver solutions based on proven, reliable business intelligence software that is maintained by a broad support network" says Hans de Roos, General Manager Octoplus. Markus van der Neut of Anglo Platinum has this to say about the relationship with Octoplus: "It is fantastic to deal with a company that takes the time to understand our business and implements solutions based on SAS Software, in particular JMP, powerful extension of the SAS programming environment that adds the capabilities of statistical discovery and genomics to an already comprehensive solution." As a SAS reseller, Octoplus will promote and sell the SAS Enterprise Intelligence Platform, which includes data integration, business intelligence in particular, JMP Statistical Discovery, JMP Genomics and Visual Bl. Octoplus and SAS will work together to ensure an ideal customer experience, from pre-sales to implementation and beyond. In addition, the two companies will engage in targeted marketing activities to drive greater awareness of SAS software in Octoplus' core markets. BPS AND SAS With the launch of the SAS Global Reseller programme, SAS Institute in South Africa and Business Performance Solutions are already celebrating 4 years of successful partnership. BPS became a reseller in South Africa following the purchase by SAS Institute of ABC Technologies Inc. in 2002. "BPS demonstrated to us that they had very specific domain expertise and strong relationships with their existing clients" says de Villiers. "This relationship is based upon BPS adding significant value to their customer engagements through the supply of SAS software, implementation consultancy, training and technical support." Nick Grenfell, Managing Director of BPS, is pleased with the way the relationship between SAS and his company has developed: "We have received excellent support from SAS in South Africa, from commercial and contractual disciplines through to joint marketing initiatives." The proof of the companies' joint success is illustrated by the fact that BPS and SAS Institute recently extended this relationship to include the representation of SAS Profitability Management which was launched in December 2006. TO END In addition to expanding its channel partner programme internationally for value-added resellers (VARs), systems integrators and independent software vendors interested in selling SAS® software, the company has also introduced new product bundles for channel partners that focus on medium sized businesses. A new online Demo Centre will also further support SAS partners and resellers during the sales cycle. To learn more about this unprecedented opportunity to sell the world's best Bl and analytic software, visit us on the Web at www.sas.com/resellSAS1 or call Nathalie Ing, on +27 (0)11 713-3400 or email: Nathalie Ing.

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