SAS®9 is one of the first major enterprise business intelligence platforms to be ported to Linux running on Itanium 2 processor-based servers. According to research from IDC, the market segment for Itanium processor-based servers shipped with Linux is forecasted to grow to $2 billion by 2008.* SAS customers will have the ability to run the leading business intelligence software on Itanium 2 processor-based servers with the choice of the Linux operating system. These new capabilities will help to lower risk and increase ROI by delivering a high-performance, scalable, secure platform with increased capabilities to address many of the most demanding aspects of enterprise computing.

The Financial Services industry is aggressively adopting the 64-bit computing platform featuring Linux operating systems running on Itanium 2 processor-based servers, due to the return on investment realized by adopting an open-source infrastructure.

"At Citi Cards, a division of Citigroup, business intelligence solutions from SAS enables us to better understand our prospect and customer base in order to provide them the services and products they need, when they need them," said Ron Guggenheimer, senior vice president, Citi Cards. "Improving our ability to provide fast, accurate data is paramount in maintaining our competitive advantage in the credit card industry. SAS and Intel have been great partners in supporting our vision to enable our business intelligence solutions on a low cost, reliable platform built on Linux and Itanium 2-based servers. We are very excited about the potential that this platform can have in bringing continued business value to our organization."

In the spirit of technology collaboration, SAS and Intel have created the SAS and Intel Advanced Research Center (SIARC), a jointly funded and staffed center that focuses on the integration of emerging technologies such as Linux on Itanium processor-based systems.

"Linux on Itanium processor-based servers is a viable operating system for many of our customers, giving them added choice in operating systems and more options for their IT spend," said Keith Collins, chief technology officer at SAS. "Intel's Itanium 2 architecture is well suited for business intelligence applications such as SAS and when combined with Linux, provides a unique value proposition for customers looking for high end business intelligence." SAS and Intel are also exploring dual-core and multi-core support on Itanium processors at the SIARC facility and expect to continue to examine emerging technologies to create powerful integrated solutions for the market.

"The Itanium architecture is designed with reliability, scalability and performance features that organizations need to speed access to business critical information that will help give a leg-up on their competition," said Carol Barrett, director of enterprise platform marketing at Intel. "The addition of a new SAS 64-bit platform for Linux on Itanium 2 processor-based servers will help to increase the breadth of business intelligence solutions for enterprise customers looking to better manage and locate information and resources."

SAS®9 includes the SAS Intelligence Platform, a broad set of integrated software for unmatched data integration, easy-to-use business reporting and unparalleled analytics. It also boasts enhancement of the most tightly integrated optimization and predictive analytics capabilities available, making it even easier to answer complex questions that cannot be addressed by traditional business intelligence. SAS previewed its new Linux offering on the Itanium 2 processor-based servers this week at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco.