Lumina Introduces Analytica Decision Engine 2.0 Development Tool; ADE 2.0 Makes It Easy to Utilize Analytica Decision Support Software in MS Windows Applications and Over the Web

Business Wire, Oct 19, 1999

LOS GATOS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 19, 1999--

Lumina Decision Systems, a leading developer of visual software for creating, analyzing and communicating quantitative business models, today introduced Analytica Decision Engine(TM) 2.0. Marketed to application developers and corporate IT groups, ADE 2.0 makes it easy for developers to incorporate the sophisticated modeling and probabilistic analysis capabilities of Lumina's Analytica(R) 2.0 Decision Support software into custom applications and web sites.

"In today's competitive and fast-paced business world, we often have to assimilate mountains of data and make crucial decisions on the fly. With ADE 2.0, companies can offer their employees or customers the ability to use a familiar application such as sales forecasting to create thousands of "what if" scenarios and then use this information to make complex decisions," said Thomas Tomasetti, CEO of Lumina. "When published on a Web sites or corporate intranet, this powerful decision making ability is both a strategic tool and competitive advantage."

ADE 2.0 can be used to enhance analytic and computational capabilities in a wide range of application areas, including e-commerce, financial and sales forecasting, corporate strategy, artificial intelligence, simulation, risk analysis, R&D project evaluation, new venture assessment, environmental cost-benefit tradeoffs, public policy scenario analysis, health-care cost management, and energy exploration.

For example, a version of ADE was the core technology used by Ask Jeeves (Nasdaq:ASKJ) to provide the natural-language answering services used in its new Shopping Advisor application that is initially being employed by www.etown.com.

ADE is based on the proven core technology of Analytica, a sophisticated modeling tool that uses influence diagrams to communicate the flow of information and harnesses the power of Intelligent Arrays(TM) to model complex problems. Analytica's graphical interface and standard diagram symbols make it easy for users to create even the most complex models.

The Analytica Decision Engine 2.0 provides several specific features that help users create, calculate, and communicate a decision model. For example, Influence Diagrams provide an intuitive, visual display of model structure in a far more convenient representation than is possible with a spreadsheet. Hierarchical Diagrams organize a complicated model into a hierarchy of comprehensible and simple modules. Intelligent Arrays allow users to easily create and modify models with many dimensions. Risk Analysis and Uncertainty lets developers treat uncertainty explicitly with probabilities. Enterprise-ready Connectivity (ODBC integration) enables access to ODBC-compliant databases and applications, including Microsoft Access, Oracle, Informix, DB2, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), e-commerce systems and data warehouses.

To provide the widest range of inter-application compatibility, ADE 2.0 is available as both an ActiveX in-process automation server and an ActiveX local automation server. ADE 2.0 runs on Window NT 4.0 or later and is available now through Lumina's web site at http://www.lumina.com. Special introductory pricing for ADE 2.0 is $1,995 (USD) and includes a copy of Analytica Enterprise Edition 2.0.

Lumina Decision Systems, Inc. develops, markets and supports software designed to analyze complex decisions and simplify quantitative business modeling. The company was founded in 1991 and is headquartered at 59 N. Santa Cruz Avenue, Los Gatos, Calif. 95030. For more information on Lumina and its products, please visit the Web site at www.lumina.com or call 408-354-1841.

Analytica is a registered trademark of Lumina Decision Systems. Lumina Decision Systems. Analytica Decision Engine and Intelligent Arrays are trademarks of Lumina Decision Systems. All others are trademarks of their respective companies.

Analytica Decision Engine 2.0 Features

The Analytica Decision Engine 2.0 provides several features that help users create, calculate and communicate decision models, including:

Influence Diagrams provide an intuitive, visual display of model structure in a far more convenient representation than is possible with a spreadsheet. Influence diagrams can be used to:

-- Conceptualize the qualitative structure before developing the mathematical details -- Self-document models without an overwhelming display of numbers and formulas

Hierarchical Diagrams are used to organize a complicated model as a hierarchy of modules, each with its own influence diagram.

Intelligent Arrays(TM) Unlike standard spreadsheets, ADE 2.0 allows users to easily create and modify multidimensional models. Intelligent Arrays can be used to:

-- Write simple expressions that operate on multidimensional values, for example: adding, or multiplying the values element by element, or summing over a dimension. -- Modify the size and number of dimensions, expanding or simplifying to find the best level of detail. -- Eliminate the expandability issue of spreadsheets and avoid errors from expanding the number of variables in linked spreadsheets.