Contributed by Karen Lee and Kim Darnofall, SAS Communications

Thirty-five years ago, SAS changed the world of computing when it opened its doors for business in Raleigh, North Carolina.

A lot has happened in 35 years, but one thing remains the same: SAS is still changing the world of computing, with its powerful combination of data management and high-performance analytics.

"We're set to change the world," SAS Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Keith Collins said in remarks delivered at the Technology Connection, at the start day two of SAS® Global Forum in Las Vegas, Nevada.

"We're pushing hard on five areas this year -- high-performance computing, process automation, business visualiztion, data management and software-as-a-service," Collins said.

Collins invited Oliver Schabenberger on stage to give a demo of high-performance computing. Schabenberger called high-performance computing a way to bring "big data and big analytics together."

Customers today have incredibly large amounts of data and might need, for example, to produce models based on billions of observations. Schabenberger took one such example and got results in 80 seconds -- a process that used to take 20 hours.

"This is predictive modeling of the finest sort," Schabenberger said. "What you are seeing today is a game changer. It's totally revolutionary. These are transformational performance gains. We want to go from days to minutes, from hours to seconds, and it can be done."

SAS® software enhancementsAnnette Harris, Vice President of Technical Support, and Mark Torr, Director of the Global Technology Practice, took the stage to discuss the latest and greatest in SAS® software.

Harris summarized some of the enhancements due to customers' input on the SASware® Ballot. "We've always stressed the importance of listening to you, our users," Harris told the audience. "You help us make our software better, stronger and more responsive to your needs."

Among the enhancements made as a result of the software ballot were:

• The ability to add a signature or comment in a graph file.
• ODS support of vector graphic output.
• Two new procedures for SAS/QC 9.3: MVP Model and MVP Monitor.
• Default appearance of SAS output in Display Manager improved.

Torr also presided over a number of demos by SAS staff, including:

• Robert Allison - SAS® 9.3 graphics.
• Nancy Rausch - SAS® Data Management in SAS 9.3.
• Udo Sglavo - SAS and JMP® integration.
• Chris Stephens - SAS® Model Manager.
• Lina Clover - SAS® Enterprise Guide® and SAS® Add-In for Microsoft Office.
• Wayne Thompson - SAS® Enterprise Miner™ 7.1.
• Bruce Kitto - SAS® Conversation Center for SAS® Social Media Analytics.

View all demos at the SAS Global Forum site.