News Briefs - Software:

Visual Numerics Delivers Math, Stat Functionality To C, C++

Visual Numerics Inc., a leading provider of numerical analysis and visualization software, announced immediate availability of the IMSL C Numerical Library version 5.5 for C and C++ developers. This release provides customer-driven enhanced functionality including new routines for optimization, data mining, time series, and design of experiments analysis. In addition to these strategic enhancements, the IMSL C Numerical Library runs on an even broader set of major development platforms, including Windows PC, MS Visual Studio.NET, Itanium2 with Linux and the Intel C++ compiler, IA-32 with Linux and the gcc compiler, Sun Solaris and IBM AIX.

Unlike other analysis software, Visual Numerics' IMSL C Numerical Library has unprecedented functionality for embedding routines into applications and offers the broadest coverage of mathematical and statistical algorithms. This unique feature provides extreme ease of use since the algorithms are written in pure C and can link directly into new or existing code, eliminating the need to write special programs or rely on wrappers. The IMSL C Numerical Library also maintains Visual Numerics 30-year history of backward compatibility for all of its libraries, a feature that is not typically found in any other brand or open source code.

With the added strength of new routines in key foundation categories and extended platform support, the latest version of this library delivers C and C++ programmers in the finance, business analytics, life sciences, and manufacturing markets, as well as industrial research and scientific communities, the power to perform even deeper data analysis on a broader array of computing environments. Visual Numerics is committed to meeting the needs of its customers by providing the most comprehensive and balanced set of numerical analysis tools available in C.

"Visual Numerics' IMSL C Library allows us to reduce development time by providing fully tested, supported and documented analysis tools to complement our application development," said Anju Gupta, Director, RiskLink Product Management, Risk Management Solutions. "Visual Numerics consistently builds new functionality into its libraries, which allows us to enhance our applications and deliver the results our organization needs."

The IMSL Numerical Libraries are a comprehensive set of mathematical and statistical algorithms that programmers can embed into their C, JavaÔ and Fortran software applications. IMSL software provides the expertise needed to develop and execute robust numerical analysis applications. These applications allow engineers, scientists and researchers to manipulate and visualize simple to extremely complex datasets to detect and display patterns, trends, anomalies and other vital information that would otherwise be overlooked in their data.

IMSL C Numerical Library 5.5 The IMSL C Library 5.5 offers new and enhanced routines in a number of categories. A sampling of these key additions include:

• Optimization: New non-linear constrained optimization algorithm for handling larger and more complex optimization problems. Optimization algorithms are commonly used to optimize tactics ranging from financial trading strategies and risk to logistics to manufacturing in supply chains
• Data Mining: New algorithms for factor analysis and clustering, thereby expanding the abilities to discover and articulate relationships in large data sets ranging from financial data to biological sciences experimental data
• Time Series: New functions for multivariate, multichannel time series, useful for correlating time series such as securities prices and process control
• Expanded Statistical coverage for experimental design and analysis, survival analysis, additional probability distributions, and more

In addition to its already extensive platform compatibility list, the IMSL C Library 5.5 now runs on:

• PC, Windows, MS Visual Studio, .NET
• PC, Linux, gcc
• Itanium2, Linux, Intel C++ (64 bit)
• Solaris (32 bit)
• PC, Linux, Intel C++
• AIX (32 & 64 bit)

"We are committed to offering our customers the highest quality and most sophisticated numerical analysis solutions, on the fastest, most widely used computing platforms today," said Phil Fraher, COO of Visual Numerics. "The latest installment of the IMSL C Numerical Library will provide programmers in a range of industries with the power to develop world class numerical analysis applications with confidence. This new offering also strengthens our commitment to the growing business analytics market as more and more companies find themselves in need of deeper analysis capabilities for greater return on investment."