Hardware FixRecommendedDevice not working? Your driver may be the problemCheck updates for common hardware issues.Fix DriversOctober DealsAmazon USOctober deal check: compare before you payAmazon US: current deals, useful picks and tech finds.Check DealsWindows FixRecommendedWindows errors stealing your time? Find the fix fastScan stability, cleanup and performance issues.Fix Now×
Skip to content
The Finance Base
The Money Desk · Blog
Re:

SAS’s 2009 Plan for a $70 Million Cary Data Center

In March 2009, SAS planned a $70 million data center at its Cary headquarters to expand hosted analytics capacity. Later coverage identifies a facility there, but does not settle every detail of the original plan.
From TheFinanceBase Team4 min to read
Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

In March 2009, SAS announced plans to invest $70 million in a 38,000-square-foot data center at its headquarters in Cary, North Carolina. The facility was meant to expand the analytics company’s capacity for hosted applications and SAS OnDemand services—not to serve as a conventional office building or a general-purpose public-cloud campus. Later architectural coverage identifies a SAS data center at the site, but the available accounts do not confirm the original project’s exact completion date or whether every planned phase was built as announced.

What SAS announced in 2009

The plan called for a new data center on SAS’s world headquarters campus at 100 SAS Campus Drive in Cary, Wake County. SAS described the investment as an extension of its existing information-technology and hosting operation. Contemporary accounts put the planned cost at $70 million and the building’s area at 38,000 square feet. Data Center Knowledge and WRAL reported the announcement; Mountain Development also identified the Cary address.

Those figures describe different things: 38,000 square feet was the planned total building area, while the two server farms were each planned for 10,000 square feet. The 2009 announcement did not provide a final construction cost or the facility’s eventual usable capacity.

Why SAS wanted more hosted-computing capacity

SAS was responding to demand for software and analytics delivered from centrally hosted systems. Instead of requiring every customer to install and operate all of the necessary computing infrastructure locally, SAS could host applications and make them available over the internet. The facility was intended to support SAS OnDemand, hosted applications, cloud-computing services, and SAS’s own IT needs. WRAL and Data Center Knowledge described that purpose.

What’s actually slowing this PC down?

Pick the symptom - the matching free tool is one click away.

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.
#1 Best Overall
Tecmojo 6U Wall Mount Server Cabinet IT Network Rack Enclosure Lockable Door and Side Panels Black, Cooling Fan, Standard Glass Door, 450mm Depth, for 19” IT Equipment, A/V Devices
  • Save valuable floor space: 6U wall mount server cabinet Dimensions: 13.78" H x21.65" W x17.72" D.Maximum mounting depth is 14.2"
  • Keep critical network equipment secure: glass door and side panels are lockable to prevent unauthorized access. Front door can be installed on either side of the front of the cabinet to satisfy your door swing orientation preference
  • Easy equipment configuration: Fully adjustable mounting rails and numbered U positions, with square holes for easy equipment mounting with top and bottom punch-out panels for easy cable access
  • Durability: Made of high quality cold rolled steel holds up to 110lb (50kg) (Easy Assembly Required)
  • PCI & HIPPA and EIA/ECA-310-E compliant

Examples cited at the time included pharmaceutical companies using hosted analytics in drug-development work and telecommunications companies applying hosted tools to marketing analysis. Those examples illustrate possible uses; they do not mean the data center was dedicated to either industry. In this 2009 context, “cloud computing” meant remotely hosted computing and software services. It should not be read as evidence that the facility used the same architecture or delivery model as today’s cloud-native platforms.

How the planned build-out was phased

Data Center Knowledge reported that the project was designed around two 10,000-square-foot server farms. SAS expected the first to be operational by mid-2010 and said its capacity was intended to cover roughly three to five years of growth. The second server farm was to begin as a shell, with fit-out planned after the first reached about 80% capacity. These were projections and a construction plan reported in 2009, not independently confirmed operating milestones.

Phasing the second server farm offered a way to defer some fit-out spending until demand justified it. The trade-off was that expansion would require later construction work. The contemporary account does not give a final capacity figure or confirm whether the second server farm was completed on that schedule.

Rank #2
Tecmojo 12U Wall Mount Server Cabinet IT Network Rack Enclosure Lockable Door and Side Panels Black,Cooling Fan,Glass Door,17.7inch Depth,for 19” IT Equipment,A/V Devices
  • Save valuable floor space: 12U wall mount server cabinet Dimensions: 24.25" H x21.65" W x17.72" D. MAXIMUM MOUNTING DEPTH is 14.2".
  • Keep critical network equipment secure: glass door and side panels are lockable to prevent unauthorized access; Front door can be installed on either side of the front of the cabinet to satisfy your door swing orientation preference
  • Easy equipment configuration: Fully adjustable mounting rails and numbered U positions, with square holes for easy equipment mounting with top and bottom punchout panels for easy cable access
  • Durability: Made of high quality cold rolled steel holds up to 110lb (50kg) (Easy Assembly Required)
  • PCI & HIPPA and EIA/ECA-310-E compliant

What the project meant for North Carolina

SAS estimated that about 60% of construction and equipment spending would take place in North Carolina, according to Data Center Knowledge. The company also said the project was expected to create approximately 1,000 construction jobs. WRAL reported that SAS did not disclose a permanent-job total; the company said it would add staff as demand for hosting solutions grew. The construction estimate is not a count of permanent SAS positions.

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

SAS said the facility was designed to qualify for LEED certification. That describes an environmental design goal, not proof that the building received certification. The announcement does not establish a certification level or report energy, water-use, cooling, or power-efficiency figures.

The project was a sizable planned investment by a major North Carolina technology company during the 2009 downturn. SAS CEO Jim Goodnight presented it as evidence that the company continued to grow and innovate despite the weak economy, as reported by Data Center Knowledge. That was the company’s characterization of the investment, rather than a quantified measure of its wider economic effects.

Rank #3
Tecmojo 4U Wall Mount Rack,4U Rack 14 inch Depth,19" Network Rack for Shallow Server and IT Equipment, Network Switches,Patch Panel Bracket,110lbs(50kg) Weight Capacity,Black
  • Sturdy:4u server rack is construct from cold rolled steel, with a weight capacity of 110lbs(50kg); Electrostatic powder coat prevents rust and corrosion,quality finish
  • Direct use:Open and use, not having to assemble it.Network rack can be placed flat or mounted on the wall,also can be installed vertically under the table
  • Design Features:maximum mounting depth of 14 in,cables can be fixed on the side panel;Open frame server rack achieves effortless inspection, replacement and assemble
  • Installation:wall mount network rack is easy to install,with instructions or videos for reference;Equipped with multiple accessories, suitable for different needs
  • Application:EIA/ECA-310-E Compliant;wall mounted 4u rack fits all 19" racks and cabinets to hold various IT, network, and AV equipment;wall mount rack available in 4U, 6U, and 8U to choose
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Support on Ko-Fi

What later coverage establishes—and what it does not

LS3P’s later architectural portfolio identifies a SAS data center at the Cary headquarters and describes infrastructure supporting cloud-based analytics platforms, including redundant fiber and disaster-recovery functions. This is later evidence that a SAS data-center facility existed at the campus, but it is not a contemporaneous corporate or municipal completion record.

The sources cited here do not establish the facility’s precise completion date, a final cost reconciliation, its final capacity, whether the second server farm was fully fitted out as originally planned, or whether LEED certification was awarded. For that reason, the 2009 headline is best understood as a record of a planned investment, while later architectural coverage supplies evidence of a facility at the site without resolving every detail of the original plan.

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

Why the announcement mattered to enterprise analytics

The plan marked an investment in delivering analytics through hosted services, alongside SAS’s established enterprise-software business. It reflects an early shift toward customers accessing business applications and computing resources remotely rather than supplying all of the infrastructure themselves. The evidence supports describing this as a corporate data center built to support SAS’s hosted analytics ambitions—not as a general-purpose public-cloud provider or a modern hyperscale campus.

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

More post from the Money Desk

  1. The Money DeskBlogTheFinanceBase09 OCT 267 minMortgage Escrow FAQs: Taxes, Insurance, Shortages, and Refunds
  2. The Money DeskBlogTheFinanceBase09 OCT 265 minHow Mortgage Escrow Accounts Work and What Homeowners Pay For
  3. The Money DeskBlogTheFinanceBase09 OCT 265 minHow to Read a Stock Chart, Volume and Market-Cap Data
Recommended PC Tool
Recommended PC Tool
PC Slower Than It Used to Be?Free scan - under a minute
Crashes, No Sound, or Screen Glitches?Free driver scan

Two free Windows tools

One Free Minute Could Fix That PC

Before you go - each of these free tools takes about a minute and tackles what quietly slows a Windows PC down.

Special offer. View Outbyte info, uninstall instructions, EULA, and Privacy Policy.