IBM, SAS Institute Join Forces on Global Consulting
San Diego, PartnerWorld 2000 -- In one of many anticipated announcements promised from IBM on its commitment to enter into alliances that will match its partner's applications with IBM's technology to deliver best-of-breed e-busines solutions worldwide, IBM and SAS Institute have announced the formation of a consulting practice and further developments of e-business intelligence solutions that will integrate IBM's DB2 database product family and SAS software.
The three-year agreement and joint development efforts will result in the creation of a consulting practice in IBM Global Services specializing in SAS solutions. These consultants will work with joint customers to integrate the decision support capabilities of SAS solutions with existing transaction systems and other IBM e-business solutions.
In addition, it will provide closer integration of SAS performancemonitoring solutions and DB2 Universal Database to further enhanceperformance on all IBM server platforms, including AS/400, Netfinity, RS/6000, S/390 and NUMA-Q. Finally, the pairing will grant IBM Global Services access to a range of SAS Institute solutions for business intelligence, data warehousing and decision support.
"In today's competitive e-business environment, it's critical to build on a solid database foundation when deploying enterprise applications," says Barrett Joyner, president of SAS Institute North America. "Through the agreement with IBM ... our joint customers will continue to tap the acclaimed business intelligence capabilities of SAS software solutions as well as the expertise of Ibm consultants."
IBM Global Services will provide analytical services, systems integration and specific, e-business intelligence consulting expertise. SAS will provide software solutions for Customer Relationship Management, ERP exploitation and Supplier Relationship Management.