SAS cancels Washington, D.C., conference due to coronavirus concerns

Another one of the Triangle’s large technology companies is shutting down its annual summit out of fears of the coronavirus — this time Cary-based SAS Institute.

The company told The News & Observer on Thursday that its annual SAS Global Forum conference will no longer be held in person. That event was scheduled to be in Washington, D.C., on March 29 through April 1.

The cancellation comes a day after Raleigh-based software company Red Hat said it would cancel its annual conference in San Francisco in April. Like Red Hat, SAS said it would try to provide a virtual alternative to the conference, which is popular among workers and customers and usually features a keynote from SAS co-founder Jim Goodnight.

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“Our top priority is the health and well-being of our attendees, partners and employees,” SAS spokeswoman Shannon Heath said in an email.

“Out of an abundance of caution related to COVID-19, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the in-person SAS Global Forum conference in Washington, D.C.,” she said. “Instead, SAS will be hosting an online virtual event during the same time frame.”

Heath added that the company continues to monitor recommendations from the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control, and it has implemented travel restrictions as a preventative measure.

So far, there have been 80 cases of coronavirus reported in the U.S. and nine deaths from the disease, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Many Triangle-based tech companies have now canceled events that were scheduled to be held in San Francisco in the coming weeks, but SAS appears to be the first one to shut down an East Cost event.

Cary-based video game maker Epic Games said last week that it would not attend the 2020 Game Developers Conference scheduled to be held in San Francisco.

And IBM, which has a large presence in Research Triangle Park and owns Raleigh-based Red Hat, also canceled plans to attend the RSA Conference in San Francisco.

This story was produced with financial support from a coalition of partners led by Innovate Raleigh as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work. Learn more; go to bit.ly/newsinnovate

This story was originally published March 5, 2020 at 10:54 AM.