solver.com

Development Licenses

We encourage development of applications using our Solvers and commit to providing high quality technical support to you. The price to get started with our software is modest, as outlined below.  A development license enables you to write, test, debug, and modify an application, using all of the facilities of the Solver Platform SDK or the Premium Solver Platform; it cannot be used for deployment. You can however test a Web server application on a single user development computer, and Frontline can arrange a temporary 15-day license for testing on a public Web server.

Named User Development Licenses

Our most common SDK development licenses are named user licenses, priced as shown at SDK Product Pricing.  Annual Support, which provides developer technical support and upgrades and is required in the first year, is priced per edition (32-bit or 64-bit) -- to use both 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the SDK, you simply pay one license fee and two Annual Support fees.  If your application is deployed (with at least one runtime license) within the first year, the second year of Annual Support is reduced in price from the first year.  If your application has not yet been deployed after one year, ongoing support remains at the same price.

Quantity discounts for multiple development licenses are available, provided that all licenses are purchased on one invoice; contact us for details.  Note that technical support and upgrades are not discounted, since our experience is that support costs rise proportionately with the number of developers.

Flexible Use Development Licenses

For more flexible team development, Frontline offers Flexible Use (or "concurrent use") SDK development licenses, priced as shown at Flexible Use Licenses.  A Flexible Use license may be used dynamically by multiple users, one user at a time. Frontline Systems provides easy to use license server software that can be run on any PC connected to your network, making licenses dynamically available to several developers on the network.

As developer usage of the available licenses increases, you can purchase additional Flexible Use licenses. These are not discounted for quantity, but both queuing models and experience show that you can support 2X the number of developers with fewer than 2X Flexible Use licenses, so there is an effective discount that rises with the number of developers. As with single user licenses, Annual Support (technical support and upgrades) is required in the first year and is priced per edition (32-bit or 64-bit) for each Flexible Use SDK development license.  If the application ships before the end of the first year, Annual Support is reduced in price from the first year.  Please contact us with questions.

Development Licenses for Solver Engines

Frontline's seven large-scale Solver Engines "plug in" to both the Solver Platform SDK and the Premium Solver Platform, enabling you to solve every type of optimization problem -- linear, mixed integer, quadratic, conic, smooth nonlinear and non-smooth -- with world-class performance.  Unlike most other optimization software, a single named user development license for a Solver Engine enables you to use this software with both the Solver Platform SDK and the Premium Solver Platform, developing applications for Excel, MATLAB, Java, C/C++, Visual Basic, C#, VB.NET, ASP and ASP.NET.

Both named user development licenses (with quantity discounts) and Flexible Use development licenses are available for Solver Engines, as they are for the Solver Platform SDK and the Premium Solver Platform; please contact us for details.

Runtime Licenses

Frontline's runtime licenses give you the right to embed the Solver Platform SDK or the Premium Solver Platform and -- if required -- one or more of our 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.

Named User Runtime Licenses

Where a Solver Platform SDK or Premium Solver Platform development license allows you to use any of five bundled Solver Engines for optimization and/or simulation, a Platform runtime license allows you to use one of the bundled Solver Engines -- for example, the LP/Quadratic Solver or the GRG Nonlinear Solver -- required to solve the specific problem defined by your finished application.  Single "named user" runtime license prices start at 50% of a development license, and are further discounted for quantity.

Runtime Licenses for Solver Engines

If you are using a plug-in Solver Engine, you pay a nominal fee for a Solver Platform SDK or Premium Solver Platform runtime license (since you are using none of the bundled Solver Engines) plus a fee for a Solver Engine runtime license.  Single "named user" Solver Engine runtime licenses start at 50% of a development license, and are further discounted for quantity.

Flexible Use Runtime Licenses

In some situations, you may find that "named user" runtime licenses are not workable because the number and identity of users cannot be easily determined. For these situations, Frontline offers Flexible Use runtime licenses that allow (i) unlimited use with your application or (ii) at a lower cost, limited uses per day, week or month, by any number of "anonymous" users. A use of our software consists of all the calls used by your application to create and solve one problem. With a Flexible Use runtime license, you pay a fixed cost for the right to use our software with your application a certain number of times per day, week or month in perpetuity. As above, when using a plug-in Solver Engine, you'll need a Flexible Use runtime license for both the Platform and for the Solver Engine.

License Management

Deployment of an application in which the Solver Platform and/or Solver Engines are embedded requires some form of license management, to monitor and control use of the software.  For example, the lower cost of a Flexible Use Runtime license allowing a limited number of uses per day, week, or month requires software to count and limit the number of uses.

Some large company IT departments have their own systems for license management when your application is deployed -- and Frontline can work with most such systems.  But in many situations, you may look to Frontline to provide a solution.  We can!  Frontline has invested in flexible license management solutions, to make your deployment as painless as possible.

Frontline can provide you with a "license server," a software application that you can install (by running a standard Setup program) on any PC on your network.  Your development and/or runtime licenses, for the Solver Platform and Solver Engines, can be managed and monitored centrally from this server, with easy-to-use administration tools.  Named user licenses can be deployed from the license server pool to individual workstations, and later returned to the pool.  It's even possible to "check out" a named user license for use on a laptop PC while traveling, and "check in" the license on return.  Frontline also provides the software to count uses when a Flexible Use runtime license is employed; the "capacity" of the license (uses per day, week or month) is encrypted in the license code maintained by the license server.

Further Information

For further information on our programs for corporate / in-house developers, please click here to get started contact us at 775-831-0300 or info@solver.com.  We look forward to working with you!