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SAS Institute Announces The Scalable Performance Data Server 2.0 BETA SAS Institute has announced the beta availability of its Scalable Performance Data Server TM (SPDS) Version 2.0. A multi user, high performance data server designed for data retrieval in Data Warehousing and Data Mart applications, SPDS 2.0 provides fast and efficient access to large volumes of data for hundreds of network clients across multiple processors. Key features of the SPDS 2.0 include full pass through SQL capability, explicit column level security, specialised parallel evaluation methods and server side �tunnel� access to ORACLE, ODBC/JDBC support. In addition SPDS 2.0 includes file partitioning for very large data, Centralised Security through Access Control Lists (SCLS), plug compatibility with existing applications, automated multi-server support via Name Server architecture and 24/7 availability. It is a true client server implementation, which ensures a fast return in hardware investment. SAS Institute�s SPDS 2.0 lets us develop a complete end-to-end SAS solution for data mining, reporting and analysis," said Jay Stevens, assistant vice-president of portfolio analysis at Prudential Bank in Atlanta, Georgia. "The SPDS provides us with industrial strength, speed and power, without the overhead normally associated with Relational databases. Migrating from our old DB2 system, queries which used to take 3.5 hours now run in 14.5 minutes." Stevens added, "We were able to successfully complete a load of our main data tables directly to SAS SPDS datasets - a dramatic departure from procedures used since 1995. First indications are that it will reduce our load time by 50 per cent or more, much to the delight of our data analysts and IS programmers!" SAS Institute product manager Jennifer Major said: "This new technology builds on SAS� software�s well-established database-management capabilities. It provides a storage facility which is specifically designed to deal with the large data volumes and security issues which have arisen with the advent of corporate data stores." "Most relational databases on the market started out as Transaction Processing systems, and continue to carry some unneeded baggage. However, SPDS 2.0 was developed specifically as a decision support tool - taking into account the business requirements and access patterns of business analysts that can directly affect application performance." Pricing and Availability: SPDS 2.0 is available on Sun Solaris and Windows NT 4.0. It will soon be available on HP/UX 10.3 and other SMP enabled platforms. SPDS licenses are issued annually and are determined by server size. In the UK, the range for first-year fees is �19,500 - �25,000.