You can directly access in SAS 9.1 SAS data sets that were created on a remote host under any previous version of SAS. For example, you may have a Version 5 SAS data set on VSE or a Version 8 data set on UNIX. Alternatively, you can create a transport data set and transport your file from the host to Windows.
A complete explanation of using remote host SAS files in SAS 9.1 can be found in Moving and Accessing SAS Files .