The Power to Know® for 50 years
Driven By Purpose.
Proven Over Time.
Fifty years of progress is shaped by more than technology alone, it’s defined by intent.
From the dawn of modern computing to the rise of AI – code, culture and collaboration have quietly moved the world.
These are the moments that have been shaped, one decision, one breakthrough, one collaboration at a time.
The Proof Years
Before analytics had a name, SAS set the standard.
In its earliest days, SAS focused on solving real problems with data long before analytics became a business function or software category.
The story begins not with automation or dashboards, but with curiosity, discipline, and a belief that decisions should be grounded in evidence. What started in an academic setting became a foundation that organizations would come to rely on for decades.
Step inside the moments that proved credibility comes first.
Key moments from the beginning
Early decisions and breakthroughs that established analytics as a discipline, long before it became an indurstry.
MILESTONE
NC State beginnings
In the late 1960s, inside Cox Hall at North Carolina State University, a small research team began developing software to analyze complex agricultural data. That campus project would become SAS. A company known for transforming statistical research into an integrated platform built for real-world impact.
1971
TECHNOLOGY
Beta release of the Statistical Analysis System
In 1971, SAS 71 was published as a beta release of the software. What began as academic research became a distributed system used beyond campus walls. The user guide signaled a shift: SAS was no longer just a research tool, it was becoming a platform for broader statistical computing.
MILESTONE
From Research to Enterprise
In July 1976, SAS was incorporated with four employees, evolving from university research into a company focused on long-term impact. Disciplined engineering, customer focus, and reinvestment shaped its early work near NC State and became lasting competitive advantages.
The Stand for Permanence
When analytics had to hold up under pressure, SAS chose permanence.
As organizations grew more complex, data systems couldn’t afford to be fragile. Results had to repeat. Platforms had to scale. Decisions had to stand up long after they were made.
SAS made a defining choice not to chase shortcuts, but to build analytics and data platforms engineered for durability. This is where SAS became infrastructure: software organizations could depend on, year after year.
Explore the decisions that turned vision into a competitive advantage.
Defining moments of the 1980s
Choices that ensured analytics could scale reliably, support growing complexity, and earn enterprise trust.
CULTURE
Culture Takes Shape
As SAS continued to grow in Cary, the company opened its first on‑site childcare center, an early, intentional investment in supporting employees and their families. Long before work‑life balance became a corporate talking point, SAS embedded it into the fabric of how the company worked.
CULTURE
On‑Site Care Comes to Campus
SAS opened an on‑site Health Care Center at Cary HQ, bringing primary care, preventive services and everyday medical support closer to where people work. The center reflected a belief that easy access to high‑quality care supports healthier decisions, stronger focus and long‑term sustainability for both people and SAS.
1984
TECHNOLOGY
Adapting to the Next Platform
As computing shifted beyond mainframes, SAS expanded in 1984 to support minicomputers. This was more than a technical update, it was a strategic decision to meet customers where computing was evolving. While others stayed fixed, SAS adapted. It would not be the last time SAS made changes ahead of the curve.
MILESTONE
First International Office
The first European subsidiary of SAS opens in the United Kingdom, beginning a global expansion. Today, SAS has nearly 50 offices across 39 countries.
1989
MILESTONE
Discovery, Not Just Output
SAS introduces JMP, an interactive statistical discovery platform that transformed how analysts engaged with data. Users could manipulate variables, visualize outcomes and uncover patterns in real time making insights faster.
Decisions Without Walls
When the world connected, decisions moved faster and farther.
The rise of networks and the internet didn’t just change technology, it changed expectations. Data and decisions no longer lived in isolated systems or single teams.
SAS adapted by extending analytics beyond boundaries, enabling organizations to apply data across operations, industries, and geographies. Decisions moved into the flow of real work, supported by systems built to move with them.
Follow the moments that pushed analytics into the real world.
Moments that reshaped the 1990s
As networks expanded and decisions spread, these milestones show how analytics moved beyond boundaries and into everyday operations.
1990
IMPACT
Taking SAS to New Heights
When an early hardware issue limited where the Hubble space telescope’s antenna could move, engineers used a SAS graphics program to map safe pointing zones, quickly turning complex data into clear visuals that helped keep the mission on track.
1996
MILESTONE
Analytics Goes Online
SAS web-enables its software bringing advanced analytics to the emerging internet. While many companies chased hype in the .com era, SAS delivered profitable, enterprise-grade web-based analytics. The internet era tested many companies. SAS didn’t just survive it. It evolved through it.
1998
CULTURE
Culture as Competitive Advantage
SAS ranked No. 3 on Fortune’s inaugural list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For. More than perks, the recognition reflected a philosophy: private ownership, reinvestment, employee support, and long‑term thinking. In an era of tech volatility, SAS built stability.
IMPACT
Trusted Where It Matters Most
By 1999, SAS was the trusted standard for clinical trial analysis. In regulated environments where precision saves lives, accuracy and consistency earned that trust. SAS became foundational to global drug development.
1999
CULTURE
Culture Scales Globally
SAS Australia becomes the first SAS office outside the United States to be recognized as a Great Place to Work. The philosophy that began in Cary, proved transferable across borders. Over time, SAS offices in the UK, Mexico, Portugal, Finland, China, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway and Sweden joined the coveted list.
Clarity Under Pressure
As data multiplied, trust became the requirement.
With explosive data growth came new risk. Speed increased, but confidence didn’t. Black‑box approaches promised efficiency without transparency and accountability became harder to maintain.
SAS responded by prioritizing clarity, governance, and reliability. This moment reflects a period when organizations needed more than answers, they needed to understand and defend how decisions were made.
Explore the point when trust became the true advantage.
Turning points of the 2000s
In an time of rapid growth and regulation, these moments reflect how clarity, reliability, and accountability became essential.
2001
MILESTONE
Celebrating 25 Years with The Power to Know
As SAS celebrated its 25th anniversary, the company introduced a phrase that would define its brand philosophy: The Power to Know®.
More than a tagline, it reflected a belief that analytics enables better decisions, stronger institutions and measurable impact.
2007
IMPACT
First Master of Science in Analytics Program
SAS helped establish the nation’s first Master of Science in Analytics program at NC State. As demand for data‑driven leadership grew, analytics was formalized as a profession and elevated to a strategic discipline.
CULTURE
Culture, Proven.
In 2010 and 2011, SAS ranked No. 1 on Fortune’s Best Companies to Work For list. After decades of recognition, the top ranking reflected something structural: an operating model built for continuity, reinvestment and employee stability. Culture was not an initiative. It was design.
Accountable AI in Practice
When AI entered everyday decisions, accountability mattered more than ever.
As AI became embedded across industries, the question shifted from what technology could do to how it should be used. Automation moved faster than oversight, and the cost of getting decisions wrong grew higher.
SAS focused on helping organizations apply AI in ways that are transparent, governed, and understandable, keeping humans accountable for outcomes and ensuring data-driven decisions could be trusted in practice.
Step into the moments where accountability became the new standard.
Defining moments of the 2010s–2020s
As the world accelerates, these actions are shaping innovation and demonstrating how data and AI can be trusted, governed, and understood in practice.
A New Architecture for a New Era
IMPACT
Investing in the Next Generation
By investing in education, SAS helps communities grow stronger, by expanding access to STEM, strengthening early childhood literacy, and helping people build digital skills that shape brighter futures.
IMPACT
A Skill in Demand
In 2016, Money magazine ranked SAS as the No. 1 most valuable career skill, based on analysis of 54 million employee profiles across 350 industries. Analytics had become essential infrastructure across sectors.
Protecting Endangered Species with AI
IMPACT
Care in a Crisis
At the height of the COVID‑19 crisis, SAS and Cleveland Clinic shared predictive models that helped hospitals anticipate surges and act with confidence. By making these models open and accessible, SAS helped turn uncertainty into informed action at a moment when lives depended on it.
Driving Home the Power of AI
Responsible Innovation Takes Center Stage
2023
IMPACT
Investing in the Future of AI
SAS announces a second $1 billion investment in advanced analytics and artificial intelligence. The commitment accelerates industry-specific AI solutions, including trustworthy generative AI, synthetic data generation and digital twin technologies.
The Next Chapter of Trusted Decisions
What comes next is defined by how we use data and AI, on purpose.
The future won’t be defined by technology alone. It will be defined by how organizations choose to apply data and AI as complexity accelerates.
Built on five decades of experience, SAS moves forward with a clear focus: helping people use data and AI responsibly, transparently, and in service of decisions that matter. The story continues but the foundation is already proven.
Explore the signals that point to what comes next, without disrupting what matters.
Signals shaping what’s next
Emerging commitments and decisions that point toward the future, built on five decades of earned trust.
TECHNOLOGY
Human-Centered AI takes the Spotlight
At SAS Innovate 2025, SAS unveils a new generation of intelligent AI agents built on SAS Viya that don’t just power predictions but make decisions with human context and oversight. These systems combine rigorous analytics with flexible reasoning, enabling organizations to balance autonomy with ethical governance, transparency and explainability.
Built on Trust. Built for What’s Next
2025
TECHNOLOGY
Digital Twins, Epic Impact
SAS partners with Epic Games and Georgia-Pacific to reimagine manufacturing through immersive digital twins. Combining SAS advanced analytics with Epic Games’ Unreal Engine, Georgia-Pacific created high-fidelity, real-time simulations of its manufacturing operations to help optimize processes, improve safety and accelerate decision-making.
A Story That Keeps Taking Shape
Moments that reveal how SAS values continue to ripple outward through decisions made, industries shaped, and lives changed.
Article
Analytics Leads to Lifesaving Cancer Therapies
Customer Story
Modernizing fraud
Blog
AS Contributes: OpenSearch
Blog