Business Intelligence

If you do a web search for the term "business intelligence" or "BI", you'll get two points of view - one is focused on how to gather and transform raw data into information and the other is focused on the process of analyzing and utilizing the information for strategic planning. Two parts of a whole, really, since there is no point gathering a ton of data unless you can somehow put it to use. Plus it's tough to make decisions about what your company/department/process should do unless you have enough information to support those decisions.

That got me thinking again about how important it is that ExtendSim has an internal relational database capability for storing and managing data. An internal database serves as a bridge between the simulation model and external data repositories, both to supply data to the model and to report model outputs. It also helps that ExtendSim has robust tools to facilitate the exchange of data with external sources. For example, its ADO (ActiveX Data Objects) capability allows ExtendSim to perform high speed data exchanges with external databases such as Microsoft Access and SQL Server. And the ExtendSim DB Add-In for Excel allows analysts to fully specify an ExtendSim database in Excel, including parent/child relationships, formatting, and data validation, and then retrieve useful information from the model without having to learn anything about simulation or even how to use ExtendSim.

But the storage, management, and transfer of data is only one part of the story. What is even more important is that the data gets used in a meaningful manner. And that is where simulation comes in. Simulation is a low cost, high reward method that allows you to analyze existing processes and explore the effect of changes. Likewise you can get assurance when designing completely new systems and processes since you've simulated their behavior or performance in advance. An intelligent way to do business.

A Peek into the Future of ExtendSim

With ExtendSim 10, under development now, we are updating and overhauling every aspect of the ExtendSim® application.

The development of this new version of the ExtendSim application uses industry standard IDEs (integrated development environments) for development on both Windows and Macintosh platforms. On Windows we're using Microsoft Visual Studio for our compilation and coding, and on the Macintosh we’re using Apple’s Xcode. Of course, as it has been for previous versions, the development language used for ExtendSim 10 is C++.

Another aspect of our development process that we are very excited about is we are using a cross-platform application framework call Qt. Using Qt gives us a huge advantage in that we can leverage all the existing features of the Qt framework and quickly take advantage of any new features the developers of Qt add to future versions. This means we can get new features out to you, our end users, more quickly.

A partial list of the new features planned for ExtendSim 10 that will come to you with the help of these new development tools are:

• Multiple Notebooks
• Docking tool palettes
• Tear-off tabs in dialogs and worksheets
• Multiple undo
• Improved zoom
• Anti-aliasing
• Scaled text – editable while scaled
• Object grouping
• Object free rotation
• Object transparency/translucency
• Polygon – add/remove points (alt click on a segment.)
• Improved dialog editor
• Code completion improvements
• Graphics objects on the dialog box
• Thermometer column tag
• Multiple animation objects moving at the same time
• Improved Help system
• Ability to run on all current Windows and Macintosh operating systems.
• And many more improvements.

Of course posting information like this always leads to the inevitable question, 'when will it be available?' At this point, our best response to that is it'll be available when it's done.

Coveted Emmy Award for Architect of ExtendSim

When watching live television, we don’t think twice about how the images we see on the screen are manipulated and morphed together. In the early days, live television shows would simply cut from one video to the next. So you would see a newscaster report on a story, then the screen would cut to a video of that story.

In 1974, prior to fulfilling his dream of creating a simulation application that would allow individuals in any discipline to use simulation, ExtendSim architect Bob Diamond and colleague Steve Rutt invented the Video Repositioner - a device to reposition broadcast quality video in real time.

With this Video Repositioner, television and film apparatus could finally alter the position of a video image without rescanning the originally generated image. So a newscaster could report on a story and you could see the video running in real time within the same screen.

Pretty cool invention!

This Video Repositioner was the impetus to the creation of image processing devices such as the Quantel DPE-5000 (motion adaptive line interpolation allowing both field and frame information to be used according to picture content), Grass Valley Kaleidoscope (for digital effects such as wipes, keys, recursive effects, mosaics, etc.), and Ampex ADO (digital special effects which allow rotation and perspective of video images) used by television stations and production companies including the CBS Television Network and EUE/Screen Gems.

40 years later, this groundbreaking invention will be recognized at the 65^th annual Technology & Engineering Emmy® Awards - honoring development and innovation in broadcast technology and breakthroughs that have a significant effect on television engineering. The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) awards Emmys to those involved in engineering technologies which either represent so extensive an improvement on existing methods or are so innovative in nature that they materially have affected the transmission, recording, or reception of television.

The 65th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy awards will be presented on January 9, 2014 in Las Vegas, NV as part of the International Consumer Electronics Show. Imagine That Inc. President Bob Diamond is honored to be recognized by the NATAS for his Pioneering Analog Video Repositioner.

For more information on the Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards, please go to http://emmyonline.com/tech_65th_recipients.