ILOG
| Company type | Public (before acquisition) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Software |
| Founded | January 1, 1987 in Paris, France |
| Defunct | January 6, 2009 |
| Fate | Acquired by IBM |
| Headquarters | Gentilly and Sunnyvale, California , France and United States |
Area served | Worldwide (Australia, China, Germany, Japan, Singapore, United Kingdom) |
| Products | Business rule management systems, optimization software, visualization components, supply chain applications |
| Parent | IBM (since 2009) |
ILOG S.A. was a global software enterprise acquired by IBM in January 2009. The company specialized in developing enterprise solutions for supply chain management, business rule management, visualization, and optimization. Its leading Business Rules Management System (BRMS) product suite was rebranded as IBM Operational Decision Management, although several components continue to carry the ILOG brand.
The software developed by ILOG was compatible with a variety of platforms such as COBOL, C++, C#, .NET, Java, AJAX, and Adobe Flex/Flex AIR.
Established in 1987 in Paris, France, ILOG maintained headquarters in both Gentilly and Sunnyvale, California. The company also operated offices across Australia, China, Germany, Japan, Singapore, and the United Kingdom.
Significant acquisitions included CPLEX Optimization Inc. in 1997, which added the CPLEX mathematical programming software to its offerings, and LogicTools in 2007, broadening its supply chain application portfolio. These assets were subsequently incorporated into the IBM Optimization Suite.
Products
The core product lineup of ILOG comprised:
- ILOG JRules and ILOG Rules, business rules management platforms enabling both business professionals and IT teams to define application logic; JRules was designed for Java environments while ILOG Rules targeted C++.
- ILOG Views and ILOG JViews, visualization development kits for C++ and Java respectively, featuring extensions for charts, maps, and interactive graphics; these are now marketed as Rogue Wave Software Views.
- ILOG CPLEX, a software solution focused on mathematical optimization.
- IBM ILOG Elixir component libraries for Adobe AIR and Flex environments.
- IBM ILOG Supply Chain Apps, a comprehensive suite addressing supply chain needs.
- ILOG Solver, recognized as a leading commercial constraint programming tool as of 2006.
- Specialized libraries derived from ILOG Solver including ILOG Scheduler for scheduling tasks, ILOG Dispatcher for logistics dispatching, and ILOG Configurator for configuration problems.
Company
ILOG operated internationally as a software provider specializing in business rule management systems, optimization algorithms, visualization components, and supply chain solutions. The company had a presence in nine countries with main offices located in:
- France: Gentilly, near Paris
- United States: Sunnyvale, California, near San Francisco
History
The name ILOG is a fusion of the French terms for "Intelligence" and "Logiciel" (meaning "Intelligent Software").
Founded in 1987, ILOG focused on licensing software components designed to enhance client applications. Initially created using LISP, these components were transitioned to C++ by 1992 to better align with industry standards.
In 1993, the company introduced ILOG Views and ILOG Solver to provide visualization interfaces and resource allocation solutions. Early sales concentrated on Europe before expanding into the US and Asian markets by 1995.
The acquisition of CPLEX Optimization Inc. in 1997 strengthened ILOG’s capabilities in linear programming. During the late 1990s, Java versions of products were launched alongside a business rule management system (BRMS) introduced in 1996 aimed at developers managing application logic. The financial services industry became a major user of ILOG’s BRMS technology, particularly for online trading platforms and credit decision systems. This product category remains the company's most significant.
Visual product lines received C# versions in fiscal year 2004 while BRMS offerings followed with C# releases in fiscal year 2005.
Before its initial public offering on NASDAQ in 1997, ILOG’s funding came from retained earnings, venture capital investments, and interest-free loans provided by French governmental bodies and the European Union. The IPO enabled the acquisition of CPLEX.
In 1998, SAP A.G. invested in ILOG, becoming its largest client and enhancing its influence within supply chain management markets. That same year saw ILOG’s listing on Euronext Paris's Nouveau marché before transitioning to Eurolist in 2005.
Recent developments
On October 26, 2006, ILOG secured a 35% ownership interest in Shanghai FirstTech Co., Ltd., a Chinese systems integrator focused on solutions for the manufacturing and insurance industries.
On November 20, 2006, ILOG acquired a one-third share in Prima Solutions, a Paris-based provider of software platforms tailored to the insurance market.
ILOG finalized the purchase of LogicTools on April 11, 2007. This Chicago-based company specializes in supply chain planning software, particularly in network design and inventory optimization, utilizing the ILOG CPLEX optimization engine.
On July 28, 2008, an agreement was announced between IBM and ILOG regarding IBM's intent to acquire ILOG.
The transaction was completed on January 6, 2009, incorporating ILOG’s sophisticated optimization and decision management technologies into IBM’s software offerings.
By July 1, 2009, ILOG had been fully assimilated into IBM, with its product line rebranded as IBM ILOG.
Customers
By 2009, ILOG Optimization was employed by more than 1,000 academic institutions for research and educational purposes. Additionally, over 1,000 commercial organizations—including upwards of 160 companies from the Global 500 list—used ILOG Optimization to support essential planning and scheduling operations.