SAS and Esri Announce Software Link

Benjamin Franklin once said, "An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest."

That principle still applies today--especially in Business. In the retail industry, for example, Businesses must evaluate consumer spending potential, forecast demand, gauge competitive influence, and select sites for stores and warehouses--preferably before making a significant financial commitment. Both analytics and spatial relationships are key elements in solving problems that need to evaluate location as part of strategic decision making.

To address customer-driven demand, SAS and Esri have created a product that links the two companies' software. This joint product, called the SAS Bridge for Esri, will allow organizations to exchange spatial and attribute data as well as metadata between ArcGIS and the SAS server. The product will let mutual customers use SAS intelligence within ArcGIS software's spatial analytics and mapping environment with an easy-to-use interface. This new product is sold and licensed by SAS through its Customer Information Center.

The partnership between SAS, the market leader in Business intelligence, and Esri, the market leader in GIS, will significantly increase the ability to deliver intelligence in spatially enabled applications.

"SAS and Esri have been working together, cooperatively helping customers solve spatially related Business questions," says Tom Everly, SAS Business development manager. "The SAS Bridge for Esri allows for an easier and more transparent way to move, display, manipulate, and analyze the data between the two companies' products."

SAS offers an integrated portfolio of software capabilities that enables users to access, manage, analyze, and understand all of their data. With SAS software, users can pull data from multiple, disparate sources for data entry, retrieval, and management; report writing and graphics design; statistics and mathematical analysis; Business forecasting and decision support; operations research; project management; and applications development.

SAS solutions are used at more than 39,000 sites worldwide--including 98 of the top 100 Businesses in the Fortune 500--to develop more profitable relationships with customers and suppliers; enable better, more accurate and informed decisions; and drive organizations forward.

The initial release of the SAS Bridge for Esri will operate under SAS 8.2 and higher releases with Windows 2000, NT, and XP operating systems. It works with ArcGIS Desktop 8.x. The first version of this tool, V1.0, is a graphical user interface (GUI) that will allow the read-and-write exchange of data between SAS and ArcGIS. Example templates for running SAS programs in the ArcGIS environment are also included.

"A variety of organizations will benefit from the tighter linkage between SAS and Esri software," says Fiona McNeill, SAS global technology strategist.

"The insurance industry can more easily answer questions of risk associated with different properties," says McNeill. "Is the property in a 100-year flood zone or a 1,000-year flood zone? Is crime high in the neighborhood or is it relatively safe? An Esri spatially enabled database would allow spatial inquiries that would answer these types of questions. Based on the results, the measured risk could be assigned and used to help set insurance premiums."

For public officials, according to Jennifer Hill, SAS director of public sector strategy, "The SAS Bridge for Esri will add significant value to federal, state, and local agencies as they endeavor to leverage their critical data assets in support of their legislative mandates."

"SAS' leading Business intelligence and analytic capabilities will extend traditional GIS capabilities to solve more complex Business questions," says Jack Dangermond, president of Esri. "Esri is very pleased that SAS' vast experience in Business intelligence and information delivery will be tied very closely with us to help drive the spatial information management market."

For more information, call 1-866-610-6111, visit www.esri.com/sas, or e-mail sasinquiries@esri.com.