The information in this survey was provided by the vendors in response to a questionnaire developed by Robert Fourer. The survey should not be considered as comprehensive, but rather as a representation of available Linear Programming packages.

Questionnaires were sent to vendors drawn from previous survey participants, the OR/MS Today database and other sources. It includes the products of those vendors who responded by the deadline. If you know of a Linear Programming package that is not in this survey, please contact Patton McGinley at (770) 431-0867, ext. 214 (please include vendor contact information). They will be included in the online version.

The survey is broken down into twelve separate tables (plus a vendor contact list) for easier downloading and viewing:

Table 1:

Vendor

Software Description:
Type: Solver, Modeling Environment, Integrated Solver & Modeling Environment

Table 2:

Software Description (continued):
Forms: Independent Application, Procedure /Callable Library, Object /Class Library, Source Code, Add-in to

Table 3:

Platforms Supported: PC/Windows, PC/Linux, Mac OS, Other OS
Microprocessor Support: Shared Memory, Distributed Memory

Table 4:

Size of Problems Solvable by This System:
Largest Version Limited by: Internal Restrictions, Max # of Constraints, Available Memory, Available Disk Space, Processor Architecture

Table 5:

Size of Problems Solvable by This System (continued):
Free Student/Academic Version: Unlimited, Size Restricted

Free or Open Source

NEOS Server Access

Table 6:

Pricing Information:
Commercial (Single Machine, Floating Licenses Available, Site License Available), Educational (Single Machine, Floating Licenses Available, Site License Available), Student/Academic (Single Machine, Floating Licenses Available, Site License Available)

Table 7:

Data Compatibility:
Reads Spreadsheets, Writes Spreadsheets, Reads Database, Writes Database, Reads and Writes Text

Table 8:

Solvers or Modeling Environments :
Solvers/Modeling Environments that Link to Product, Bundled as Single Package, Available Separately

Table 9:

Formulations Supported:
Variable Types: Integer, Binary; Semi-continuous; Arbitrary Discrete (SOS1); Piecewise Linear (SOS2); Other

Table 10:

Formulations Supported (continued):
Constraint and Objective Types:Convex Quadratic Objective, 2nd-order Cone, General Convex, General Nonlinear, Other

Table 11:

Algorithms:
Linear Programming: Primal Simplex, Dual Simplex, Interior Point
Integer Programming: Branch-and-Cut, Presolved, Hueristics for Seeking Feasible Solutions, Other Algorithms

Table 12:

Algorithms (continued):
Utility: Presolve, Infeasibility Diagnosis, Other

Table 13:

New Features

Other Techniques (available as part of the package)

Comments

Vendor List:

Software vendor contact information

Be sure to take a read the companion article to this survey: "Linear Programming" by Robert Fourer.