SAS Institute has upgraded its flagship data analysis tools that
includes a series of new features aimed at improving the software's
ease of use and manageability.
At its European users conference, SAS said the upcoming SAS Version
9 will add Java-based user interfaces that are being designed to
simplify the software. SAS also plans to add new analysis
functionality and multithreading technology designed to reduce the
amount of server resources required by the applications.
Pieces of SAS Version 9 will be released this summer, and the new
user interfaces are due to start rolling out by September, said Don
Hatcher, vice-president of technology strategy at SAS. The
interfaces will offer role-based views for end users in different
parts of a company, Hatcher said.
Also during the summer, SAS plans to ship a Java-based management
console that will allow IT workers to distribute upgrades of the
software from a central point instead of having to separately
install them on individual PCs.