John Gregory, ILOG CPLEX Product Manager, posted this on sci.op-research:
The July 28 announcement of the agreement by IBM and ILOG was a surprise
to all but a few key members of the two companies. It will take literally
months, not days, before this transaction will be completed. Until then
an arm’s-length relationship must continue to exist between IBM and ILOG.
For these reasons, speculation about specific future product direction is
fruitless. The respective teams at IBM and ILOG have not yet even had time
to digest the news themselves. IBM and ILOG both have long histories of
supporting the OR community and leadership in that community. I have been
assured by an executive involved in the transaction planning that IBM
is keenly interested in CPLEX and the optimization products, and keenly
interested in preserving the business it generates and the customer
goodwill that this business has developed over the past 20 years. ILOG’s
optimization technology and technologists were considered a key asset in
the transaction.John Gregory
ILOG CPLEX Product Manager
I agree about the leadership history of ILOG and IBM. Both as companies and as individuals within those companies, they have had a tremendous positive effect on our field. I look forward to company statements aimed not at the financial world (“This is a good acquisition for both IBM and ILOG”) but at the OR world. And I am sure those will be coming in time.
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