Software Tutorials

Track 8
Monday, April 27, 2009

9:10am-10:00am
Microsoft
Microsoft Solver Foundation
Alexander Stojanovic, General Manager
Solver Foundation is a framework and managed code runtime for mathematical programming, modeling and optimization. This tutorial will focus on the technical overview of Solver Foundation, and how Third-party solver vendors, modelers and solution specialists can leverage Solver Foundation from all CLS-compliant languages and Microsoft Office.

10:30am-11:20am
Dynadec
A Hybrid Optimization Platform
Pascal Van Hentenryck, Chief Technology Officer
This software demonstration will introduce Comet, an optimization platform that integrates mathematical programming, constraint programming, and constraint-based local search in a unique modeling language and runtime system. Comet will be illustrated on industrial applications in transportation, manufacturing, rostering and disaster management.

11:30am-12:20pm
LINDO Systems, Inc.
Efficient Tools for Optimization Modeling
Mark Wiley, VP Marketing; Gautier Laude, Software Development Manager
Learn how easy it is to:

• quickly build complex linear, nonlinear, global and integer optimization models;
• incorporate uncertainty into your optimization models;
• easily access data from Excel and databases;
• seamlessly embed a solver into your own application.

Find out about the latest stochastic programming/scenario planning enhancements. See a demonstration of the newest releases of:

• LINDO API - a callable solver engine
• LINGO - an integrated modeling language and solvers
• What'sBest! - a large-scale solver for Excel.

We'll illustrate the features and benefits of each and provide a brief modeling tutorial.

2:00pm-2:50pm
ILOG, an IBM Company
Introducing ILOG CPLEX 12
John Gregory, ILOG CPLEX Product Manager; Ed Klotz, CPLEX Product Expert
Used by more than 1,300 commercial customers, IBM ILOG CPLEX is the world’s most trusted and widely used optimization software for mission critical applications. The release of CPLEX 12.0 confirms IBM's stated commitment to the optimization product line when they acquired ILOG in 2008. Join us for an overview of the new performance and usability enhancements in CPLEX 12.0 that let you solve more realistic models than ever.

3:30pm-4:20pm
Innovative Scheduling, Inc.
Turning Network Models into Decision Support Systems
Ravindra K. Ahuja, President
Innovative Scheduling is involved in developing custom decision support systems using cutting-edge operations research techniques. In this tutorial, we will give a demonstration of some of these decision support systems. We will describe the business problems that needed to be solved, algorithms we developed to solve them, and how we packaged these algorithms within user-friendly interfaces. We will also describe our approach of turning models into decision support systems in a rapid development mode. Finally, we will outline the concept of Development Partnerships that is very enticing for companies to solve important decision problems faced by them that are too complex or too large to solve using their in-house resources.

Track 9
Monday, April 27, 2009

11:30am-12:20pm
AIMMS (Paragon Decision Technology)
So you build this great model…now what?
Gertjan de Lange, VP Sales & Marketing; Peter Nieuwesteeg, Senior AIMMS Specialist
How are you going to assure your models are used and that they will generate promised benefits and advance the organization?
This demo will focus on the ability to create and deploy optimization-based models into the organization (or your customer’s organization) so these models can really create the benefits intended and become powerful tools or drivers for business decisions made every day by (non-OR) employees. Based on some best practices, we will show you how to be successful from the start.

2:00pm-2:50pm
Lyzasoft, Inc.
Prepare and Share Your Data - The Easy Way 
Brian Krasovec, Founder and CTO
Real world data is inherently messy and full of exceptions. Optimization techniques require clean data. Lyza helps you bridge this gap by empowering OR practitioners to combine and transform data from disparate sources, to explore data using a step-by-step analytic approach, and to share datasets–without scripting or intensive IT support. Lyza uses a columnar system that provides the ability to analyze huge datasets without the system requirements of other in-memory solutions, or the data size limitations of other desktop BI tools. Come learn how Lyza gets you through the tedious task of data preparation and into your modeling more quickly.

3:30pm-4:20pm
Maximal Software, Inc.
Why is Maximal now giving away free development copies of MPL??
Bjarni Kristjansson, President
The short answer: the IT world is changing and we need to change with it. In our view, the era of expensive CPU-based development licenses for optimization software will soon be over! In today's challenging economy, many companies are now looking for ways to save money, including on their IT budget for purchasing optimization software. We at Maximal Software have therefore decided to fundamentally change how we sell our software, by greatly reducing how much you pay for development copies of MPL, in many cases bringing the actual cost down to zero. This includes introducing the following new special programs:

• Pay maintenance only
• Subscription-based pricing
• Free development copies of MPL
• Free open-source solvers
• Affordable runtime/floating licenses
• Free model conversion to MPL
• Free software for academics

In this tutorial presentation, we will go over each of these new programs, and explain in detail how they work. At the end of the presentation, we will also go over some of the major changes that happened in the optimization field during 2008, and what impact they are likely to have in the future:

• ILOG purchased by IBM
• DASH purchased by Fair Isaac
• New solver released by GUROBI
• Microsoft Solver Foundation released
• Parallel computing: the next major battleground?
• Grids, clouds and virtual machines

Track 17
Tuesday, April 28, 2009

10:30am-11:20am
Frontline Systems, Inc.
Risk Analysis and Robust Optimal Solutions: High Productivity Modeling in Excel
Daniel H. Fylstra, President
The path to better decisions can be shorter: more than ever, models for risk analysis and optimal resource allocation in the presence of uncertainty can be built more easily, scaled up to large size, and solved more effectively in Microsoft Excel. Robust optimization and stochastic programming models that once required scarce expertise and long development cycles are easy to create and solve in Excel. Software that exploits multi-core PCs in both optimization and simulation yields faster-than-ever solutions. This session focuses on how practitioners can build models, get results quickly, and create reports, charts and graphs to communicate results to decision-makers.

11:30am-12:20pm
AMPL Optimization LLC
Access to Advanced Solver Features in the AMPL Modeling Language
Robert Fourer, Principal
AMPL has set the standard for optimization modeling languages that handle complex models naturally and large models efficiently. As a result, it is available for many more solvers than competing products. Bob Fourer, an AMPL developer, will give a quick but lucid tour of AMPL’s current solver support, with emphasis on recent enhancements to AMPL’s facilities for optimization problems of varied kinds. Topics will include extensions to algebraic modeling such as generalized variable domains and logical constraints, as well as extended support for solver features that detect tractable problem types, accelerate optimization methods, and provide modelers with analyses of results.

3:10pm-4:00pm
Salford Systems
Introduction to Data Mining for Absolute Beginners
Mikhail Golovnya, Senior Scientist
This is a perfect place to start if you are new to data mining, even if you have little-to-no background in statistics. We will discuss:

• data basics - data types, formats, and preparation steps,
• what kinds of questions we can answer with data mining,
• how data mining models work,
• evaluation criteria - how models can be assessed and their value measured;
• specific background knowledge to prepare you to begin a data mining project.

Track 18
Tuesday, April 28, 2009

9:10am-10:00am
SAS
Optimization in SAS with OPTMODEL”
Ed Hughes, Product Manager; Trevor Kearney, Manager, Numerical Optimization R&D
SAS/OR is the primary SAS product for operations research, including optimization, scheduling and simulation. Foremost among SAS/OR’s optimization modules is OPTMODEL, featuring a powerful and intuitive algebraic language designed specifically for optimization modeling. We’ll demonstrate how OPTMODEL delivers value directly–in the clarity and economy of its syntax, through its unified support for various model types (LP, MILP, QP, NLP), and in its enablement of customized solution methods. We’ll also explore the benefits of OPTMODEL’s integration into the SAS language, which enables OPTMODEL to coordinate easily with other SAS capabilities (data, analytics, reporting) to create integrated optimization-based solutions to business problems.

10:30am-11:20am
JMP Division – SAS
Introduction to JMP
Don McCormack, JMP Product Manager
Everyone can relate to “aha” moments–those moments of clarity when, all of a sudden, something makes perfect sense. Because every day should be filled with those moments, SAS created JMP statistical discovery software. It’s the SAS software designed for dynamic data visualization on the desktop. Check it out.

11:30am-12:20pm
FICO
Building Optimization Applications in Xpress-MP
Yuri Smirnov, Principal Engineer; Oliver Bastert, Lead Engineer
This tutorial will focus on developing and deploying complete optimization applications using FICO’s array of mathematical modeling and optimization tools. These tools can be used for modeling, solving, analyzing and visualizing optimization problems, and integrating them seamlessly in business applications. During this tutorial we will explain how Xpress-Mosel, Xpress-IVE and Xpress-Application Developer can decrease development time for new optimization applications and enable you and your customers to make smarter decisions. The proven technologies offered by FICO can be used in range of applications such as Supply Chain management, transportation, finance, energy, manufacturing, retail, insurance, and manufacturing industries, to name a few.