Initially to be available on Sun SPARCstations running Solaris 2, further implementations will follow for Pentium, PowerPC and other processors.
The high performance compiler will combine the NAG f90 Compiler front-end with the new CoSy generated back-ends and optimizers from ACE.
Integration of the two products will enable users to document, simulate and optimize a mission-critical business project, and export the resulting model into Visual WorkFlo, thus assuring a rapid transition from the business model to the workflow implementation.
TopLine Prophet is an automated Windows-based system that operates at the property level. It is equipped with a sophisticated forecasting module that analyzes a property's supply and demand to optimize rates for both transient and group business. Prophet also has a component that considers the "stay pattern" of transient and group business to optimize a hotel's mix of reservations, even when rates cannot be managed.
The software will be available in the first quarter of 1996, and is designed to operate as an independent system or to interface with property management, sales and catering systems.
SAS also awarded three other users with its annual User Feedback Awards. These awards, presented to individual users who have assisted the Institute in fine-tuning its products for improved decision making, were presented to Jim McDonald of Sprint, Karen Grippo of Dun & Bradstreet and Candy Habich of Eastman Chemical Co.
U S WEST won the Enterprise Computing Award for its Business Performance Analysis (BPA) program. The BPA is a comprehensive data collection, management, analysis and reporting process aimed at improving overall company performance and customer service. The transformation to a more customer-driven, process-oriented mode of doing business meant streamlining processes that were fragmented and scattered among 563 work centers in 120 cities in 14 states and linked by 39 mainframes, more than 400 operations support systems, and about 45 million miles of fiber/copper communications lines.
The contest was based on compliance to the SAA's Audit Standards, developed by the Methods Committee, as well as certain sections of the Malcolm Baldrige Award Criteria. A team of SAA auditors conducted a detailed on-site examination to evaluate Yellow Freight's use of rigorous quality standards applied to sales automation in areas such as strategic goal setting, sales processing design and automation, software and hardware design, training, support results monitoring, and overall continuous improvement programs.
Yellow Freight began its project using the SNAP/VirtualOffice from Sales Technologies in mid-1994, and has since automated its entire 800-user sales force.
The URL address to MicroMath's web site is: http://www. micromath.com/~mminfo
Under the agreement, McGraw-Hill Book Co. Europe will distribute English-language versions of Mathcad 6.0 Student Edition technical calculation and communications software, the Explorations with Mathcad series of electronic books, and Mathcad's User's Guide printed book through its book publishing channels in a range of markets outside North America.
The combination of EXSYS and LINDO provides a unique solution to real-world problems such as: LP applications delivered to end users not trained in interpreting LP results; automating frequently run LP interpretation; LPs that require interaction with other programs; LPs that have constraints which cannot be expressed numerically; LPs that need graphical interfaces; Expert systems that solve optimization problems; Integration of PC-based expert systems with a mainframe LP; Portability across environments.
The total EXSYS Professional user interface wraps around LINDO, allowing delivery of complex but usable applications. When data is needed from the user, the EXSYS user interface can ask for data with custom screens, graphics, custom programs, hypertext, or even speech and video.
Data can be obtained from direct access to SQL ODBC databases, spreadsheets, custom programs written in any language, frame-based data representations, data tables, or any computer program. The results from LINDO can be formatted with the EXSYS report generator and intelligently analyzed to produce the reports users want and need.
Embedded SpatialWorks components allow companies to integrate all corporate data into a common spatial context. This common view of information provides knowledge workers with new capabilities to monitor changes, identify trends, examine relationships, and make faster, more competitive business decisions.
OptiSite can suggest the optimum number and location of distribution centers, as well as the best use of current facilities. It can help decide which suppliers to use, where to stock products, how much to stock, and what distribution centers will provide the best service, at the least cost, to each market area.
OptiSite also helps determine the optimum distribution network in minutes.
OptiSite weighs nearly every variable possible, such as number and size of shipments, inbound and outbound freight rates by product, warehousing needs and capacities, supply sources, service levels, and many others. The model selects potential distribution center locations on its own, and it considers the potential distribution center locations provided, the ones it selects, or any combination thereof.
The Experimental Design module contains all the routines necessary to set up an experiment, generate a worksheet for data collection and entry, and interpret the results graphically. Procedures include screening designs, response surface designs and mixture designs. Features include new contour plots and three-dimensional surface plots that allow users to see relationships among experimental variables, a built-in catalog containing over 140 experimental designs, and the ability for users to define custom designs.
The Time-Series module is for the analysis of data collected over successive periods, such as product sales, demographic information, or stock prices, enabling the easy identification of patterns and trends. Routines include descriptive methods, smoothing, seasonal decomposition, and forecasting. In addition, a range of mathematical transformations can be applied, including accounting for inflation and seasonal factors.
An important part of the Maptitude package is a collection of data on CD including maps of all the streets in the United States as well as ZIP codes, counties, metro areas and demographic statistics. Also included are translators for important geographic data, including the U.S. Bureau of Census TIGER files, DXF files and geographic files from other popular desktop mapping systems.
New features in Version 4.0 include:
Period demands and product orders can be scheduled in detail across a multi-staged production facility. Bulk, intermediate and finished products are planned and coupled with raw material or packaging component requirements. Scheduling interactions are provided to allow the user to review and manipulate the current schedule. A shop-floor update facility is also included that links to your data collection systems to allow for frequent update and regeneration of your production schedules.
NAG offers IRIS Explorer release 3 scientific visualization and application builder software for Silicon Graphics workstations. Release 3 is the result of joint development between software engineers at NAG and Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI).
IRIS Explorer release 3 features many performance improvements and system enhancements, as well as an increased module library. System enhancements include the passing of geometry via shared memory and an improved scripts interface. Additionally, scripting has improved synchronicity, providing more reproducible results. Synchronization ports on all modules provide better control over loops. A new visual drag-and-drop interface has been added, as have new widgets for module control panels. Editable groups are also available. Documentation has been completely revised and updated, and both hard copy and on-line versions are available.
New modules in release 3 include: NAG-based modules which use the well-known NAG numerical libraries and the NAG graphics library; modules for displaying vector data using particle avection, streaklining and vector display; new data analyzers for interpolation through 2-D and 3-D data, and outlining regions of interest in datasets; modules for creating and manipulating geometry; new annotation modules; new data readers (including PHOENICS and NTF data); and new colormap manipulators.
SCIENTIST Version 2.0, from MicroMath Scientific Software, is a new program for Windows dedicated to fitting model equations to experimental data. Other programs focus on matrix operations, or symbolic manipulation, or graphics, or engineering calculations in a worksheet; SCIENTIST incorporates elements of all these types of software, and more. A central activity in teaching and research is the analysis of data generated by experiments. This requires evaluating how well theoretical equations predict experimental results, which, in turn, requires fitting model equations to data. SCIENTIST fits equations to data: anything from y = a + bx to systems of differential equations, Laplace transforms, combinations of ODE's and nonlinear equations, or a variety of least squares or interpolating splines and polynomials.
The MathWorks, Inc. has released MATLAB 4.2c for the Macintosh, a version of the MATLAB Technical Computing Environment (TCE) that includes native-mode support for Power Macintosh and 68000 series Macintosh computers.
MATLAB on the Power Mac runs three to four times faster than on previous Macintosh platforms over the range of mathematical and graphical functions. MATLAB 4.2c also offers a new technical computing option - the Notebook interface for Microsoft Word. The Notebook feature runs on both the Power Mac and 68000-based Macintosh platforms. This feature allows users to create MS-Word-based interactive, technical documents, complete with embedded MATLAB commands and graphics. The Notebook combines the word processing features of MS-Word with the numeric computation and graphing capabilities of MATLAB to produce technical reports, presentations, documentation and electronic teaching materials.
Meta Software has extended the architecture of WorkFlow Analyzer, its BPR tool, to connect to commercially available workflow production systems. Meta is the first BPR tool vendor to link business process capture and simulation to workflow production in an easy-to-use package.
WorkFlow Analyzer allows users to document the structure of a mission-critical business process, and simulate its behavior, using a high-level graphical model. This same model is then used to automatically generate the routing information and flow logic needed to drive a workflow production system - guaranteeing consistency between the business model and the workflow implementation.
Batch Process Technologies, Inc. has just released BATCHES Version 5.0, a simulator designed for batch and semicontinuous processes. The Recipe Network has been upgraded by the addition of signals for inter-subtask communication, by expanding User Constants usage, and by the addition of process models. The User Interface improvements includes textual output controls, and more effective display of results. Other enhancements include batchwise mass balance, reporting of mass balance for tasks in selected equipment, more robust volumetric flows, and an interface to the PPDS2 physical properties database.
BATCHES has been designed to handle problems which are unique to multi-product and multi-purpose batch and semi-continuous chemical processes. The simulator allows you to evaluate alternatives for a variety of applications, such as scheduling, debottlenecking, retrofitting, "what if" case studies, process design, and detailed process dynamics.
GIS/Trans has released GIS/T-Conflate v1.51, an automated GIS conflation product. This ARC/INFO-based software provides conflation for the effective integration of complex GIS datasets, including TIGER, DLGs, modeling networks, polygon coverages and route systems.