SAS/IntrNet Extends SAS S/390 Services to Web Clients

SAS, the world's largest privately held software company, is the leader in decision support and data warehousing, providing integrated enterprise information-delivery and e-business solutions. What better testament to the SAS/C Compiler products than their use in our own strategic SAS System solutions! Internal use of the SAS/C Compiler products allows SAS programmers to create Common Gateway Interfaces for SAS System end user products. SAS/IntrNet is a perfect example of how this application is employed.

Every day, technology implementers confront the challenge of reducing software maintenance and shielding users from operating complexities, while at the same time opening the door to the benefits of thin-client computing. SAS/IntrNet provides the tools to unite distributed networks with easy-to-use data analysis and decision-support tools.

SAS/IntrNet’s Common Gateway Interface (CGI) for OS/390 built using the SAS/C Cross Platform Compiler, supports the building of dynamic Web applications and data and compute services that allow users to access and execute remote SAS programs and perform sophisticated analysis and decision support -- all from the Web. Users can share reports with anyone inside or outside the organization through a Web browser, and application developers can streamline software maintenance and distribution. Dennis Merrill, Senior Systems Developer in the WEB Tools group explains, "We used the SAS/C Cross-Platform Compiler on UNIX for the majority of our development and then did the final linking on OS/390". "We were pleased with the excellent compile time, error checking and efficient code generation. We also took advantage of the extensive C runtime library".

SAS/IntrNet integrates the SAS System and the World Wide Web, extending the power of SAS to desktops worldwide. SAS is the only data warehousing and decision-support vendor to offer three levels of Web interactivity: Web technology components range from non-interactive Web publishing tools to application development environments for building highly interactive Java client interfaces. By taking advantage of thin-client interfaces, applications can be geared toward different activity thresholds and made available across the client continuum.

SAS' unique MultiVendor Architecture (MVA) enables users to unlock corporate stores of information existing on any platform and use Windows, UNIX and mainframe servers for deploying thin clients. To help supervise this flow of information, Version 8 of SAS/IntrNet includes the Load Manager module, also built with the SAS/C Compiler. This optional component provides for balancing and scheduling of SAS/IntrNet server requests to promote optimal resource utilization.

Founded in 1976, SAS markets packaged business solutions for vertical industry and departmental applications, as well as an integrated suite of software tools and consulting services. These allow departments and agencies to transform the wide variety of data within their organizations into information that business users and researchers need to make better decisions. SAS software and services are used at more than 33,000 business, government and university sites in 110 countries. SAS' 1999 revenues totaled $1.02 billion. For more information on the SAS and SAS System solutions, please visit our website at: www.sas.com/solutions.