CARY, N.C., Jan. 12, 2005 -- SAS, the leader in business intelligence, was again recognized in FORTUNE magazine's annual list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For in America. SAS ranked No. 16 this year; the company has been among the top 20 companies - including six times among the top 10 - all eight years that the list has been published. This consistent performance has earned SAS induction into the newly introduced "Hall of Fame," a compilation honoring the 22 companies that have appeared on every list since its inception in 1998.

This year, in addition to breaking the list down into small, midsize and large companies, FORTUNE also created a subset of lists identifying top companies in certain benefit areas. SAS placed in the top 10 for "Most Generous Health Coverage," "Most Paid Time Off," and "Most Widely Used Day Care." The company holds the No. 6 position in the midsize company category.

SAS' vice president of human resources, Jeff Chambers, attributes the company's record of excellence to a business model that emphasizes long-term relationships with employees and customers.

"We have always had a commitment to investing in and cultivating meaningful, long-term relationships with our employees and clients," said Chambers. "This has led to unusually low turnover in both populations and is at the core of our 28 years of sustained profitability and success."

"The 100 Best Companies to Work For" list is compiled for FORTUNE by Robert Levering and Milton Moskowitz of the Great Place to Work Institute in San Francisco. The list is based on two criteria: an evaluation of the policies and culture of each company, and the opinions of the company's employees. The latter is given more weight; two-thirds of the total score comes from employee responses to a 57-question survey that goes to a minimum of 350 randomly selected employees from each company. The survey asks about such things as attitudes towards management, job satisfaction and camaraderie within the organization. The remaining one-third of the score is based on an evaluation of each company's demographic makeup, pay and benefits programs, and culture. Companies are scored in four areas: credibility (communication to employees), respect (opportunities and benefits), fairness (compensation, diversity) and pride/camaraderie (philanthropy, celebrations).

Wegmans Food Markets, the Rochester-based grocery chain, tops FORTUNE's eighth annual list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For in America. Second on the list is W.L. Gore, the privately held maker of Gore-Tex fabric. Michigan-based mortgage banker, Republic Bancorp is No. 3, while the No. 4 spot is held by San Francisco drug maker Genentech. San Jose-based Xilinx, a supplier of programmable chips, fills out the top five. The complete rankings and accompanying stories appear in the Jan. 17, 2005, issue of FORTUNE and are currently available at www.fortune.com.

About SAS

SAS is the market leader in providing a new generation of business intelligence software and services that create true enterprise intelligence. SAS solutions are used at more than 40,000 sites - including 96 of the top 100 companies on the FORTUNE Global 500(R) - to develop more profitable relationships with customers and suppliers; to enable better, more accurate and informed decisions; and to drive organizations forward. SAS is the only vendor that completely integrates leading data warehousing, analytics and traditional BI applications to create intelligence from massive amounts of data. For nearly three decades, SAS has been giving customers around the world The Power to Know(R). Visit us at www.sas.com.

SAS and all other SAS Institute Inc. product or service names are registered trademarks or trademarks of SAS Institute Inc. in the USA and other countries. (R) indicates USA registration. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective companies.

Copyright (C) 2005 SAS Institute Inc. Cary, NC, USA. All rights reserved.

John Dornan, 919-531-5234; 
John.Dornan@sas.com