Frontline Systems, Excel Solver, optimization software, Solver Excel, simulation software
Solver.com
From Frontline Systems, developers of the Excel Solver.

Solver tutorials

Learn to use optimization for resource allocation, and Monte Carlo simulation for risk analysis of your model.


 

Solver Platforms - Runtime Licensing Programs

Runtime Licensing Programs

Are you developing an application that requires optimization and/or simulation technology?  Do you plan to deploy your application to users within your organization, or to external customers?  Frontline's runtime licenses give you the right to embed the Solver Platform SDK, Premium Solver Platform, or Risk Solver Engine and -- if required -- one or more of our large-scale Solver Engines into your application, and duplicate or distribute copies, or make the application accessible to users on an Intranet or Web server, or via a Web service.  And our runtime license management options make it easy to monitor and control use of the software, using either Frontline-provided tools or your own tools.
 

What Is a Runtime License?

A development license enables one or more application developers, to write, test, debug, and modify an application, using all of the facilities of the Solver Platform SDK or the Premium Solver Platform.  In contrast, a runtime license enables one or more end users to run the finished application that uses the Solver Platform to find solutions to optimization or simulation problems; it cannot be used to modify, recompile or debug the application itself.  A runtime license may be temporarily used (and re-used) for client evaluations and sales demos, or it may be permanently deployed at client or customer sites.

A runtime license costs less and "does less" than a development license.  Where a Solver Platform SDK development license allows you to use any of five bundled Solver Engines for optimization and/or simulation, an SDK runtime license allows you to use one specific Solver Engine -- such as the LP/Quadratic Solver or the GRG Nonlinear Solver -- that is required to solve the specific problem defined by your finished application.  Runtime license prices generally start at 50% of a development license, and are further discounted for quantity.

Runtime licenses may be purchased only after an appropriate license agreement is signed with Frontline Systems.  We offer a standard form of license agreement, that is sufficient for many common situations, and does not require a license origination fee.  If our standard form of agreement is not appropriate, we'll be happy to negotiate a custom agreement with your organization that includes a license origination fee to cover the extra costs of negotiation.

Independent Software Vendors

Our program for independent software developers is designed for the following conditions:

  • You are developing an application that will be sold or licensed to many external customers -- other organizations or individuals.
  • While you may have market estimates, you don't know precisely in advance how many and what kind of runtime licenses you'll need.
  • For purposes of warranties concerning your own and Frontline's software, your customer is the "end user;" they will look to you for assurance of performance, support and the like.
  • The price of a runtime license must bear a reasonable relationship to the price at which you are selling or licensing your application -- and this may cover a very wide range.
  • You want to monitor and control use of your own software by external customers, and you probably have a preferred license management system for this purpose.

Our experience is that independent software vendors often find our standard form of license agreement acceptable, so there is often no license origination fee, or only a minimal fee.  Because of uncertainty in market demand, however, ISVs often want to purchase only enough runtime licenses for copies of the application they are reasonably certain to sell, and they have a need for "reusable" runtime licenses for client evaluations and sales demos.

To learn more about our program for independent software developers, please click here.

Corporate / In-House Developers

Our program for corporate / in-house developers is designed for the following conditions:

  • You are developing an application for use by one organization -- business, government, education or other.
  • Your application will be used by employees, contractors, etc. within your organization, or by "captive customers" such as sales reps or dealers who regularly do business with you.
  • Your organization will determine how many and what kind of runtime licenses are needed, and will purchase them from a central point, in one or a few transactions.
  • For purposes of any warranties concerning Frontline's software, your organization is the "end user;" it does not make its own warranties to users of the application.
  • While you want to comply with license terms, your concern is with enabling rather than monitoring or controlling use of the software (license management).

Depending on corporate policy and/or the number of licenses and the size of the transaction, you may need to negotiate a custom license agreement.  This always involves a license origination fee; on the other hand, you are typically able to take advantage of quantity discounts to lower the overall costs of runtime licenses, because you have a centralized decision process to determine the number of licenses you want or need at a given point in time.

To learn more about our program for corporate / in-house developers, please click here.