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Contact: Daniel Fylstra |
News Release |
INCLINE VILLAGE, NV -- August 28, 2006 -- Frontline Systems is shipping Version 7.0 of its Premium Solver Platform for Excel, the market leader for spreadsheet optimization, and seven large-scale Solver Engines V7.0 that 'plug into' both the Premium Solver Platform and the Solver Platform SDK V7.0. Frontline's products are upward compatible with the Solver in Excel and offer a comprehensive solution for businesses seeking to better allocate scarce resources using optimization technology. Trial versions are available for download from https://www.solver.com.
"Premium Solver Platform V7.0 is the first optimization software with full support for the new features of Excel 2007, including worksheets of 16 thousand columns and 1 million rows,' said Daniel Fylstra, President of Frontline Systems. "But it also delivers new capacity, speed, ease of use, and multiple solutions for users of Excel 2003, XP and 2000."
"Using Frontline Systems' Premium Solver Platform and their Extended Large-Scale LP Solver Engine V6.5, I was able to solve several very large linear optimization problems. The largest contained 2.4 million variables," said Christian Peters from Cornell University. "I will continue to push the bounds to see if it can solve even larger problems."
New Support for Large, Multi-Worksheet Models
The Premium Solver Platform V7.0 supports Solver models spread across multiple worksheets in a workbook, with decision variables and constraints on any worksheet. Different models may be defined on each worksheet, and each model can include variables and constraints on any sheet in a workbook. In Excel 2007, the Platform V7.0 supports Solver models with 16,384 columns and 1,048,576 rows -- far beyond the 256 column and 65,536 row limits in previous Excel releases. Solution reports, previously limited to 65,536 rows, are now automatically 'wrapped' and may be of virtually unlimited size, even in Excel 2000-2003. Report generation is typically 5-7 times faster for models of a few thousand variables, and many times faster for larger models.
The Polymorphic Spreadsheet Interpreter (PSI Technology) in the Premium Solver Platform V7.0 is faster than ever in model analysis, especially for multi-worksheet models, and supports more Excel features than ever, such as the new built-in functions in Excel 2007.
New Simulation Optimization Capabilities
When used with Frontline Systems' new Risk Solver Engine V7.0, the Premium Solver Platform V7.0 can solve simulation optimization problems with unprecedented speed. This is Frontline's first step in a long-term effort to support optimal decision-making under uncertainty, using quantitative models in Excel. Models can include random variables, defined by probability distributions, and formulas that depend on these random variables. Risk Solver Engine performs Monte Carlo simulation, with thousands of trials, on each change to the spreadsheet. Statistics for any uncertain formula, such as its mean and variance, Value at Risk, and percentiles, are available on the spreadsheet and can be used in the objective and constraints of a V7.0 optimization model.
The potent combination of the Premium Solver Platform V7.0 and its multiple Solver Engines with Risk Solver Engine V7.0 for simulation optimization is frequently ten to a hundred times faster than competitive products for Excel. This means that users can find solutions for much larger, more challenging simulation optimization models in Excel than has been possible with any software before the Premium Solver Platform V7.0.
Multiple Solutions for Integer Programming and Global Optimization Problems
The Premium Solver Platform V7.0 and Solver Engines V7.0 can now deliver multiple solutions, not just a single best solution, for integer programming and global optimization problems. The best integer solutions ('incumbents') for MIP problems, locally optimal solutions for global optimization problems, or best 'final population' members for non-smooth problems solved with the Evolutionary and OptQuest Solvers can be viewed in a worksheet report, or easily accessed in user VBA programs via the Platform's new object-oriented API.
New Function-Based Models and Interactive Optimization
Also new in the Premium Solver Platform V7.0 are optimization models defined via functions on the worksheet, and Interactive Optimization. Users can move easily between the traditional interactive modeling style and the new functions such as PsiVar(), PsiObj() and PsiCon(), or between the new V7.0 functions for optimization and Risk Solver Engine's functions for simulation.
Interactive Optimization enables the Solver to re-optimize the model each time the user changes a number on the spreadsheet. This interactive process goes far beyond traditional 'sensitivity analysis,' enabling users to quickly gain insights about their models and decisions they can make.
New Object-Oriented Programming API
The Premium Solver Platform V7.0 also features a new, objected-oriented API (application programming interface), accessible from Excel VBA, that matches the object-oriented API of the Solver Platform SDK V7.0, Frontline's very popular tool for optimization and simulation using modern programming languages such as C#, C++, VB.NET, Java and MATLAB. The new API makes it much easier to develop powerful custom applications in Excel, and to move applications from Excel to a programming language.
Pricing, Upgrades, Academic Versions, and Free Evaluations
The Premium Solver Platform V7.0 is priced at $1,495 for a single user license in the U.S., and €1,725 and £1,145 in Europe, plus required first-year annual support. Existing users of the Premium Solver Platform V6.5 with current annual support subscriptions will receive free upgrades to the new product version. For a limited time, special pricing on Risk Solver Engine V7.0 is available to users who are purchasing or upgrading to the Premium Solver Platform V7.0.Prospective users can download a fully functional, full capacity and speed, free trial version of the Premium Solver Platform V7.0 (limited to 15 days) at Frontline's Website https://www.solver.com.
About Frontline Systems, Inc.
Frontline Systems, Inc. (https://www.solver.com) is a leading developer of optimization and simulation software, and the leader in spreadsheet optimization software that helps analysts and managers optimally allocate scarce resources -- money, equipment, and people -- to realize substantial cost savings. Frontline developed the solvers/optimizers in Microsoft Excel, Lotus 1-2-3 and Quattro Pro, distributed to more than 400 million spreadsheet users.
Founded in 1987, Frontline is headquartered in Incline Village, Nevada (775-831-0300 or info@solver.com).
More Version 7.0 Product Line Highlights >