If you have been working in the Data Science ecosystem for a few years, the question often comes up: "When exactly was my SAS Viya environment released?"
It is a legitimate question, especially if your organization is still operating on version 3.5 while the rest of the world has shifted toward Cloud-Native architectures.
In this post, we look back at the exact timeline of SAS Viya 3 and, more importantly, what these dates mean for your IT strategy in 2025.
The Timeline: From Birth to Maturity
SAS Viya didn't appear overnight. It was SAS Institute's answer to the rise of Open Source and Big Data, introducing the CAS (Cloud Analytic Services) engine for the first time.
Here is the official release schedule to help you benchmark your current infrastructure:
SAS Viya 3.0 (May 2016): The initial launch. A revolution for SAS users, finally allowing Python or R coding directly against the SAS engine.
SAS Viya 3.1 & 3.2 (2016 - 2017): Rapid stabilization releases, adding visual interfaces like Visual Data Mining and Machine Learning (VDMML).
SAS Viya 3.3 (December 2017): The arrival of major administration and governance features.
SAS Viya 3.4 (July 2018): For a long time the "gold standard," it introduced near-total parity with classic SAS 9 procedures.
SAS Viya 3.5 (November 2019): The final major release of this architecture.
Why is Version 3.5 So Important?
If you are reading this, there is a high probability that you are running SAS Viya 3.5. Released in late 2019, this version represents the culmination of the "classic" Viya architecture.
It is a pivotal version for two reasons:
Stability: It is the most robust version of the 3.x generation.
The End of an Architectural Era: Viya 3.5 is the last version designed to be installed on "Bare Metal" or standard Virtual Machines using Ansible.
After November 2019, SAS made a 180-degree turn.
The Great Leap: From Viya 3 to Viya 4
There never was a "Viya 3.6". Instead, SAS launched SAS Viya (often referred to as Viya 4) in late 2020.
The difference isn't just functional; it is structural:
Viya 3 relied on static Linux servers.
Viya 4 is "Cloud Native," relying entirely on Kubernetes and containerization.
This rupture explains why so many enterprises remained frozen on version 3.5 for years: moving to Viya 4 isn't a simple upgrade; it's an infrastructure migration.
The Reality Check: Support in 2025
We are now at the end of 2025. It has been 6 years since version 3.5 was released. In the software world, that is an eternity.
If you are still running SAS Viya 3.5, here is the reality you are facing:
Standard Support has ended or shifted to "Limited Support."
New features regarding Generative AI and advanced Python integration are only available on modern Viya 4 releases.
Security patches are becoming rarer and harder to implement.
Conclusion
Knowing the release date of SAS Viya 3 (2016–2019) means understanding that this platform was designed for an IT world before the total dominance of Kubernetes. It served us well, but it is time to look forward.
Your Viya 3.5 platform is reliable, but it belongs to history. The future lies in the continuous architecture of Viya 4.