SAS Forum, STOCKHOLM (May 22, 2007) – SAS, the leader in business intelligence, today announced product and partner initiatives emphasizing its commitment to small to medium businesses (SMB). In addition to expanding its channel partner program internationally for value-added resellers (VARs), systems integrators and independent software vendors interested in selling SAS® software, the company also introduced new product bundles for channel partners that focus on SMBs. A new online Demo Center will further support SAS partners and resellers during the sales cycle.

“SAS has made significant progress since launching its channel program only last year,” said Stephen Graham, IDC Group Vice President for Global Software Business Strategies. “In this short time, the company has made several investments that are important to demonstrate its commitment and longer term perspective to partners.”

Added Dr. James H. Goodnight, CEO of SAS: “Our partnerships have a big impact on our business. We value the knowledge, domain expertise and service they deliver to customers. We’ve had positive results, with new resellers and new customers, since unveiling the program.”

Countries participating in the first phase of this launch, being rolled out now through the third quarter of 2007, include Canada, UK, France, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Italy, South Africa, Russia, Japan, China, Australia and India. SAS has signed more than 60 top-level industry VARs in the Americas – a rapidly increasing number. Internationally, more than a dozen SAS resellers have signed on, among them Keyrus and Umanis (France), Morse (UK), Prowerks (Canada), BPS and Octoplus (South Africa), and DiSo (Switzerland). SAS projects more than 150 resellers worldwide by year-end.

“Many of our clients are coming to us for advice around data integration, business intelligence and analytics. We are working with them to develop efficient solutions that will provide them with more tailored, effective information to improve business performance. As such, we are pleased to be working with SAS as one of the leading vendors in this market,” said Adam Clements, Partners and Alliances Manager at Morse, a business and technology consultancy in the UK.

After launching its reseller program in the Americas last year to drive BI sales opportunities, specifically for businesses with revenue of $1 billion U.S. or less, SAS has taken further steps to address the SMB space with specially priced bundles based on the SAS Enterprise Intelligence Platform. Nine different bundles, customized specifically for small to midsize businesses, include SAS data integration, business intelligence and analytics software. “The new pricing bundles offer mid-market organizations the full breadth of SAS analytics capabilities to a wider market. The SAS reseller program is already adding value to our marketing and sales strategy and management,” said David Septoff, CEO of Zencos Consulting in Durham, NC.”

“As SAS resellers, our global channel partners can offer their customers the most comprehensive business intelligence software on the market, including a ‘one stop shop’ for software and services,” said Miles Mahoney, Vice President of SAS’ Global Alliances and Channels Group. “We are ensuring that each country has the necessary internal resources and support to help their resellers be successful. This includes appropriately priced products as well as field marketing, pre- and post-sales, service and engineering to support the entire product lifecycle management for the SMB market.”

SAS is further supporting partners with a new Partner Demo Center, an on-demand hardware and software environment to showcase SAS via the Internet. Available in June, the Demo Center, run by the SAS Enterprise Excellence Center (EEC), offers sales support by proving SAS' use in enterprise settings. SAS partners can request a SAS software demonstration when they need to demo an enterprise-class, fault-tolerant environment that extends beyond the laptop.

SAS’ global reseller program will continue to emphasize the SAS Enterprise Intelligence Platform, which includes data integration, intelligence storage, business intelligence and analytics. In addition to establishing a country channel manager, each country will leverage SAS’ global partner development team, internal channel sales teams and system engineers, as well as needed local partner and program resources.

More information about SAS’ partner programs is at http://www.sas.com/italy/partner.

Today’s announcement came at SAS Forum 2007 – An Executive Conference that brings together C-level executives and a group of the world's most respected thought leaders.