Solver Foundation V2.0 is shipped today!
We are pleased to announce the release of Solver Foundation v2.0. This is the fourth on-time commercial release for the product. The Express edition is available now at https://code.msdn.microsoft.com/solverfoundation. The Standard Edition of Solver Foundation v2.0 has released-to-manufacturing, and will be available online via MSDN subscriber downloads the week of 11oct09, and offline world-wide via MSDN in approximately two months later. Our Enterprise edition is also available.
In version 2, we focused on growing our collection of solvers, vastly improving our tooling experience, and introduced the beginnings of what will be our simulation framework. At a high level, Solver Foundation v2.0 has the following new features:
Top level features we are introducing in Version 2.0:
- Design Tools. We have improved the integration, interchange, and workflow of our design surfaces for Excel, SharePoint, and Visual Studio – modelers will now be able to take models algorithmically designed in Excel and inject this directly into a full-fledged Visual Studio/C# solutions with the press of a “deploy” button. Additionally, a model can be sent directly to SharePoint using our script-safe OMLX format. This is a long-term focus area to make modeling as easy as possible without losing any capabilities for the advanced user.
- Solver Foundation Services
· Stochastic Programming and Optimization with Monte Carlo simulation capabilities. The SFS supports random parameters and recourse decisions, allowing for the definition and solution of two-stage stochastic models
· Submodels . Our master model can now define and reference submodels, allowing for better encapsulation and reuse
· Special Ordered Sets . Introduced SOS1 and increased flexibility in the definition of SOS2 constraints
· Solver Plug-in SDK improvements to include Special Ordered Sets, more detailed reporting (e.g., IIS), and expanded our solver partner ecosystem to include LINDO Systems
- Solvers
· Gurobi version 2.0 Solver is included in our release, and is the default Solver Foundation MIP solver
· Second Order Conic Programming (SOCP) Solver Extensions to our IPM Solver to support rich constraint modeling (we can now have nonlinear goals and constraints)
· Extensions to the Simplex Solver to support SOS1 and SOS2 modeling and solving
· Improved our in-house Mixed Integer Programming Solver
· Metaheuristics and Global Constraints for our Constraint Solver (developed in conjunction with our friends at MSR Cambridge) to ease and simplify declarative modeling with more powerful constructs
- Created a new F# Optimization DSL (ODSL) that incorporates units-of-measure work from MSR Cambridge
- Increased our solver vendor and modeling partner ecosystem to include LKINDO Systems and Princeton Consultants – more information can be found at www.solverfoundation.com
- Our core DLL is now localized in German. This is the start of our longer term focus to localize all of Solver Foundation in the top languages world-wide
- A host of other improvements