Briefs

Dec 3, 2003. PUNE: SAS - the business intelligence software and services company has announced plans to expand its SAS Global Services (SGS) operations in India. SAS plans to increase the R&D strength in Pune from the current 50 to 100 in 2004. Addressing a press conference, SAS Inc. senior VP and CTO Keith Collins said that while the company is doubling the capacity now, it has plans to double it further next year. This would make it single largest R & D facility outside USA.

SAS has R&D facilities in Tokyo, Heidelberg, Denmark and Japan. The Pune R&D center is working on various analytical solutions that leverage Java expertise and on industry focused solutions. The company that boasted of an 11,000 sq feet facility added another 11,000 sq feet today to accommodate around 120 odd engineers. "The Pune operations are indicative of SAS' larger, ongoing effort to remain an R&D driven software company. While many vendors have flattened or reduced spending on R&D, SAS has maintained its annual reinvestment of more than 25 percent of revenue back into product research and development. After the successful creation of a business intelligence solution from India in telecom vertical, the Indian team is now engaged in developing similar vertical solutions for the banking, insurance, retail and manufacturing sector," Collins added.

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