On March 30, 2004, SAS announced the general availability of SAS 9. In the announcement, SAS introduced the phrase "SAS Intelligence Platform" to emphasize the enhanced integration and adaptability of SAS applications.
SAS calls SAS 9 a "breakthrough" with enhancements that extend SAS’s lead in data warehousing while providing better integration for business analytics. It’s a combination SAS says provides the only true "end-to-end business intelligence" solution.
SAS is now shipping SAS 9.1 to customers who requested it previously. Although SAS 9.1 contains a wide range of new features, the bigger news is the fact that SAS is recommending this new release for everyone. The last time SAS said it was time for everyone to upgrade was a decade ago with SAS 6.09, the last cross-platform release of SAS 6. Recently, most SAS sites have been using releases 8.1 and 8.2, but others have been using older releases while waiting for the next leap forward. Now, that wait is over.