Speaking the Language with a Groundbreaking Acquisition

The SAS coding language was developed in the early 1970’s at North Carolina State University. Over the last 40 years, many large enterprises have used the SAS language to develop data processing, statistical analysis, and data analysis programs which run critical back-office functions, often on mainframe computers. Many organizations and individual programmers have been using the SAS language for decades and are comfortable and extremely proficient in it.

While compilers and interpreters are widely available for most languages, SAS language compilers only had one available source for many years, the SAS Institute. As time evolved, many customers felt the SAS Institute took increasing advantage of the exclusive position it enjoyed in the market. As a result, some companies have actively worked to eliminate their dependence on the SAS language, mostly moving to Python.

The SAS language has become increasingly viewed by industry, university students, and others as old, archaic, and not “cool.” This is unfortunate because for many functions the language remains exceptional, and its use for data processing across industry is still widespread.

Last December, Altair acquired World Programming, a UK-based technology company founded twenty years ago specializing in data analytics software. World Programming’s flagship product allows programmers to develop and execute software solutions in multi-language coding environments including Python, R, SQL, and most notably the SAS language. Over the years, World Programming’s SAS language compiling technology has become extremely competitive from a performance and completeness perspective as over 500 customers employ it and push its development.

World Programming technology exemplifies Altair’s dedication to an open architecture philosophy, as the best way for people to harness innovation, improve products, and get the most from their work. Customers can address evolving organizational requirements and embrace modern computing and open-source concepts while simultaneously leveraging decades of investment they’ve put into the SAS language. Importantly, SAS language programs that have been running on mainframes and outdated servers can migrate to new servers and to the cloud without rewriting the entire code base. Rewriting software programs to new coding languages is a massive, costly, and time- and expertise-intensive operation requiring a significant logistical commitment.

As you may be aware, World Programming has been involved in litigation with the SAS Institute since 2009 across multiple jurisdictions. SAS repeatedly attempted to assert copyright infringement claims against World Programming, but each court in which SAS levied its copyright infringement claims — including the Court of Justice of the European Union and courts in the United Kingdom, North Carolina, and Texas — found no evidence of copyright infringement and in each case ruled against SAS Institute.

Although SAS failed to successfully assert its copyright infringement claims in its North Carolina proceedings, SAS did prevail on its North Carolina statutory breach of contract claim and was awarded the monetary damages judgment. In 2019, SAS obtained an injunction from the North Carolina Court that prohibited WPL from licensing its software to new customers in the U.S. After acquiring World Programming, Altair paid the monetary damages judgment in full. The North Carolina Court declared the case closed and immediately lifted the injunction that precluded U.S.-based sales. WPL solutions are now available to customers in the United States and around the world.

I cannot overstate how excited we are to deploy World Programming technology as part of Altair’s growing portfolio of data analytics solutions to our customers around the globe. Users and implementation partners are already telling us it will be a game-changer, allowing them the power, flexibility, and autonomy to help enable digital transformation in their enterprises.

The acquisition of World Programming aligns with our vision for an open, connected, and smart future, as we continue our trailblazing path at the forefront of modern computational science.