Workshop: Optimization Modeling with MPL: Integrating Optimization in Real-World Business Applications

Maximal Software will be hosting a half-day workshop, Optimization Modeling with MPL: Integrating Optimization in Real-World Business Applications, on the day before the INFORMS 2007 Seattle Conference, Saturday November 3rd, 2007. Optimization technologies have become key tools in making important business decisions that increase competitive advantage. Optimization, through the use of advanced mathematics and computer science techniques, is used to assist organizations with solving their complex business problems in areas such as manufacturing, distribution, finance, and scheduling. The success of optimization projects depends on many different factors such as which modeling tools are used, integration with corporate data, and the selection of the most efficient solution algorithms available for the problem.

The purpose of the workshop is to provide participants with an insightful overview and give step-by-step instructions for successfully building optimization applications. In this workshop, the speaker, Bjarni Kristjansson has decades of experience in this field, will take you through all the steps of an optimization project. using powerful optimization tools such as MPL Modeling System, OptiMax 2000 Component Library, and the CPLEX, CONOPT and LGO Solvers.

The MPL On-Line Tutorial goes International!

The MPL for Windows Tutorial is now available in German, Spanish, and Italian. We hope that this will enable our German, Spanish, and Italian speaking users to learn MPL in their native language. As this is still relatively new we ask your assistance in correcting any mistakes in the translation by emailing us with updates and corrections to info@maximalsoftware.com.

Our tutorial is specifically designed for teaching optimization modeling the way it is currently being applied in the corporate world. Included is a complete course, featuring MPL, with all the supporting tools needed to teach optimization modeling to your class. All the software required for the course is also available, free of charge, as a download from this web-site, allowing you to introduce MPL for Windows into your classroom.

Introducing the Innovative OptiMax 2000 Component Library

MPL for Windows 4.2

MPL for Windows 4.2 is an advanced modeling system that allows the model developer to formulate complicated optimization models in a clear, concise, and efficient way. The MPL modeling language offers a natural algebraic notation, unrivaled in its expressive power, readability and user friendliness. MPL is the fastest and most scalable optimization modeling software on the market today, easily capable of handling problems with millions of variables and constraints, quickly and efficiently. MPL works with the world's fastest optimization engines, such as CPLEX and XPRESS, and many other industrial strength solvers. Among the exciting features offered in this new release are:

• Multiple improvements and additions to the modeling language, the Database Connection, and the development environment
• Much faster processing, up to forty times, of large, difficult models
• Support for new Windows versions of commercial LP solvers, including CPLEX 7.5
• Quadratic Programming with CPLEX and OSL
• Nonlinear Programming with CONOPT and LSGRG2.

Conference Slide Presentations

We recently added selected Conference Slide Presentations to our web site. The presentations include, for example, talks about:

• Optimization Modeling in Practice
• MPL for Windows
• OptiMax 2000 Component Library
• Optimization on the Internet
• MPL Online-Tutorial

Download a FREE Student/Trial Version of
MPL for Windows with CPLEX Solver

Maximal Software is currently making available for download the student/trial versions of MPL for Windows and CPLEX free of charge. The student/trial versions are limited size (300 constraints) but are otherwise fully functional versions of the software. This allows users to install the software on their own personal computer and evaluate it for use in their optimization modeling projects.

A New and Enhanced MPL Model Library

The MPL Model Library has now been enlarged to include three sections:

• MPL Model Library (Examples) contains examples of various model formulations from popular LP textbooks available to view and examine from our web site.

• MPL Model Library (Problems) contains formulations of problems from popular LP textbooks that can be used as exercises in teacher's lesson plans and class assignments.

• MPL Model Library (Cases) contains several model formulation cases for teachers with data sets based on real world problems that can be used as another source of homework assignments. These cases are larger and more difficult models than the examples and problems available in the other sections.

Try Our Step-by-Step MPL On-Line Tutorial

Our tutorial is specifically designed for teaching optimization modeling the way it is currently being applied in the corporate world. Included is a complete course, featuring MPL, with all the supporting tools needed to teach optimization modeling to your class. All the software required for the course is also available, free of charge, as a download from this web-site, allowing you to introduce MPL for Windows into your classroom.