Unique integration of SAS and ESRI server technologies takes BI to a higher level

SAS, the leader in business intelligence and analytics, has unveiled integrated business intelligence (BI) applications that will allow organisations to visualise and analyse data relationships in new ways by considering both location and traditional business information dimensions together.

GIS combines layers of information about a place to provide a better understanding of that place; the layers of information you combine depends on your purpose: finding the best location for a new store, analysing environmental damage, viewing similar crimes in a city to detect a pattern, and so on.

For example, an insurer can combine a layer of existing insured properties with a layer showing FEMA's flood zone boundaries to determine financial impact in the event of a flood. If a disaster actually occurs, a map can be added to the same reports and distributed to field agents who can then more easily locate potentially damaged properties.

The combination of SAS and ESRI will enable organizations to apply the best technology to solve high-value business problems that inherently consider the impact of spatial relationships as part of the intelligence-creation process. Organizations will be hard-pressed to find alternate solutions that provide the power and flexibility that SAS and ESRI provide.

Both ESRI and SAS have designed their latest software releases to integrate BI and GIS functionality into a Web-based, zero-download application running in a browser. This new application allows users to analyze and visualize complex BI data relationships in the context of locational influences. Users will access the new functionality through the SAS Web OLAP Viewer, one of the analysis and reporting interfaces to SAS Enterprise BI Server, and now ESRI's ArcGIS Server.

"By integrating geographic information technology with business analytics, SAS and ESRI bring together a rich view of fast-breaking trends that impact organisations worldwide," said Dr. Jim Goodnight, founder and CEO of SAS.

"Tight integration between SAS Enterprise BI Server and ESRI's ArcGIS Server opens a way for all organisations to add the valuable dimension of location to business intelligence while leveraging existing IT investments in hardware."

Users will have access to SAS data analysis and reporting functions as well as ESRI location analysis and map display functions. This integration of the SAS and ESRI platforms allows companies to analyse, display, and distribute traditional business data and location-based data to multiple departments across the enterprise from a single, integrated platform. SAS and GIS functions will also be available to developers for creating focused, custom marketing, sales, logistics, risk analysis and other applications that blend seamlessly into their existing desktop, browser, dashboard or portal environments.

"The ESRI partnership with SAS has succeeded in making geographic analysis an integral part of everyday business intelligence processes in an environment familiar to both business and government," said Jack Dangermond, ESRI founder and president.

"We are extremely pleased that SAS has chosen ESRI to provide the geographic analysis behind its breakthrough application."

Advantages of integrating ESRI GIS with the SAS business intelligence platform are:

* Ability to explore and visualize GIS and BI relationships in a familiar Web-based analysis and reporting environment.
* Obtaining more rigorous and useful business intelligence from existing data.
* Communicating discovered intelligence more intuitively through maps.