New Technology Developments from Lanner WITNESS 2001

WITNESS 2001, latest version of a world leading simulation tool, includes new modules, new development platform for simulation-based applications

Lanner Group has announced a number of major technology developments for 2001: a new release of WITNESS, independently rated as the world's leading business simulation modelling product; new modules and upgrades for the WITNESS Toolset of products; plus a new platform for developing simulation-based applications.

WITNESS 2001

The key theme of WITNESS 2001, now in general release, is "Customer Solutions." WITNESS 2001 includes an enhanced user interface and new features for easier customization of business models. Other enhancements include benefits for all levels of operation, from the simulation "power" user to the occasional, non-simulationist user.

Customized menus and toolbars, improved selection, sizing and placing of graphics, and extended user actions features for easier model customization all make model building easier and more flexible. New examples of pre-built models are available to fast-start model building, including a solution for modeling call center operations, and for maintenance management on the factory floor.

"As we strive to make our products easier to use, we are balancing the power and performance we build into WITNESS with the need to make it easier and faster for our customers to build concise and accurate models," says David Jones, Lanner Group's Marketing Director.

Improved WITNESS Toolset

WITNESS 2001 is the modeling engine within the suite of products under the WITNESS Toolset banner. Lanner has also announced a number of new modules and upgrades to be released in 2001.

Available now to all customers is a new reporting plug-in module called WITNESS Documentor. This is for automatic documenting of the attributes and elements of a model, and incorporating associated notes into a document format for use with quality, training and knowledge transfer.

Later in the year, a new data-mining plug-in module called WITNESS Miner will be released. This will enable analysis of simulation input data and experimental output data to identify rules and patterns of the data for enhancing the accuracy of the models. Being able to explore the data being used in a model to identify trends and matching data allows the determination of fundamental relationships that can improve business decision making.

An upgrade to WITNESS SDX (Simulation Data eXchange), the import module for building simulation models directly from CAD layouts, is being enhanced with more objects and elements being translated.

To complete the umbrella announcements for 2001, a new version of WITNESS VR, the 3D modeling tool, is being released with extra features for building more realistic 3D models. Additionally, photo-realistic objects can now be developed, bringing real life visualization to simulation models.

New Development Platform for Applications - SIMBA

Lanner has also announced its new SIMBA Developer Suite, a new technology platform that enables its customers and partners to develop their own applications using the core power of WITNESS in a Microsoft COM development environment.

SIMBA (SIMulation Based Applications) is designed to enable the construction of operational planning systems, in manufacturing, logistics and call centers, using the power of simulation-based "what-if?" decision support. To be released in August 2001, the SIMBA Developer Suite comprises a developer platform, a designer module and a viewer. The technology is designed for industry-standard linkage and, for the first time, enables easy embedding into third-party applications.

SIMBA Developer Suite will enable Lanner's power customers and partners to develop their own applications "by getting under the hood of WITNESS," explains David Jones.

The announcement of these new developments comes shortly after Lanner's reporting a year of record growth worldwide, in both its consulting and technology operations. "In terms of technology products, this is only the beginning of what promises to be a year of exciting developments and a host of new releases from Lanner," David Jones reports.

About Lanner Group

Lanner Group, www.lanner.com, is a fast-growing global company specializing in the provision of Business Performance Improvement software and services to clients across the world. To date, Lanner has helped generate billions of dollars of business benefit through a uniquely visual and quantitative business improvement methodology, enabled by the company's world-leading simulation software.

Established in 1996, Lanner is widely acknowledged as the world's pioneering leader in business simulation and optimization. Today, Lanner offers a unique added-value combination of these powerful predictive solutions with top-level consulting expertise. Based in the United Kingdom with subsidiaries and partners in Europe, The Americas and the Far East, Lanner has a worldwide customer base of more than 3,000 top multinational companies.

Contact Peter Tiernan, Director of Marketing of Lanner Group, 734-462-3122, ptiernan@lanner.com.