SAS said it will expand its channel program globally. Previously focused just on partners in the Americas, the new program will first expand to Canada, the U.K., France, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Italy, South Africa, Russia, Japan, China, Australia and India.

SAS has signed more than 60 "top-level" industry VARs in the Americas, the company said. Since its launch just a year ago, the Cary, N.C., company's revenue from channel sales has grown to about 4 percent of revenues, according to Miles Mahoney, vice president of global alliances and channels.

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By 2008 SAS wants that percentage to reach 15 percent, and by 2010 the goal is to get to 20 percent, Mahoney said.

"Our channel strategy is to cover and penetrate the SMB [small and midsize business] marketplace, where SAS has not traditionally focused," he said. "We see this as a great opportunity to begin to accelerate where we are today."

With an eye to capturing more business from the SMB market, which the company defines as those with less than $500 million in revenues per year, the company has introduced nine new product bundles for channel partners looking to gain SMB business.

"We've really put some thought into what offerings are needed to cover what this market segment has been asking for," he said. The bundles are specially priced for the SMB segment and are based on the SAS Enterprise Intelligence platform, the company said. They include SAS data integration, business intelligence and analytics software.

Last year's channel program launch focused on partners reaching customer organizations of $1 billion or less in revenues. The new bundles take the SAS target deeper into the SMB space.

"The new pricing bundles offer midmarket organizations the full breadth of SAS analytics capabilities to a wider market," said David Septoff, CEO of Zencos Consulting in Durham, N.C., in a statement. "The SAS reseller program is already adding value to our marketing and sales strategy and management."

SAS charges customers a first-year fee of 35 percent, and year-over-year customers pay a renewal, said Mahoney. "We are going to give 25 percent of that annual renewal to channel partners," he said.

The new global channel program is a mirror of the Americas program with a localized flavor, said Mahoney. SAS took 60 to 75 percent of the program elements that worked in the Americas and duplicated them to create the global program.