Intel, SAS Take Business Intelligence Mobile

Intel has agreed to work with SAS Institute to bundle business
intelligence software with wireless computing capabilities on mobile
machines such as laptops.

Specifically, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based chipmaker will use SAS’ integrated suite of analytic applications to run on
Intel-based mobile PCs and servers via the Intel Itanium 2 processor and
Intel Centrino Mobile Technology.

The move is a part of Intel’s Mobilized Software Initiative to eliminate the
limits of use for mobile applications for end users. Intel maintains that
through a combination of Intel-based devices, Centrino wireless technology
and SAS software that customers will reap the rewards of business
intelligence to help them make more informed choices regarding their
customers.

However, rather than having this software relegated to desktop use, which is
the norm, Intel is proposing to help corporate users access this data on the
go regardless of network connection status. The goal is to keep corporate
users who travel frequently in the loop about their customers’ demands or
behaviors.

As part of the alliance, the companies have extended by two years the term
of the joint SAS Intel Advanced Research Center located at SAS headquarters
in Cary, N.C., for another two years.

Some of the areas where the two companies aim for improvement with their
amended alliance include offline data management to provide a consistent
user experience allowing business users to continue working when
disconnected and seamless connectivity to manage changes in network connection
types.

The collaboration should also allow applications using standards like XML to run on any
operating environment; power and performance management to conserve battery
life and offer quality performance without power cords or network cables.

Though smaller, SAS competes with players such as Business Objects ,
Information Builders, Cognos and Actuate
in the business intelligence space,
which IDC expects to mushroom to $4.5 billion in 2007, at a compound annual
growth rate (CAGR) of 4.1 percent.

Intel’s chief technology for mobile PCs, Intel Centrino Mobile Technology
includes the Intel Pentium M processor, chipsets and 802.11 wireless network
components. Intel enjoyed quite
a publicity event last week over its national, metropolitan-based Unwired
One Day, in which customers and fans of 802.11b technology, also known as
Wi-Fi, could access free wireless connectivity on their laptops from
thousands of hotspots in the country.