Session I: CPLEX 12 Technology Update
IBM ILOG CPLEX is the world's most widely used engine for solving large-scale linear programming (LP), quadratic programming (QP), and second order cone programming (SOCP) problems, with extensions for each of these to mixed integer programming (MIP). This presentation will offer an overview of the most recent release, CPLEX 12, intended both as an introduction, for listeners who are not yet familiar with CPLEX, and as a unified review of the performance and features added in the past several releases, for experienced users who wish to get the most out of the product. Those features have a range of purposes, including analysis of infeasible models, management of multiple feasible solutions to a given problem, ease of integration into application programs and interoperability with other software packages, and of course user control over many aspects of the solution algorithms when attempting to solve the most challenging models.

Session II: CPLEX Power User Workshop
This workshop is for users who already know a little about using IBM ILOG CPLEX, or maybe a lot, and who want to know more! The focus is on the practical aspects of dealing with the computational challenge that mixed integer programming (MIP) can represent. Success with MIP is a combination of sound modeling technique and performance tuning of a state-of-the-art branch & cut algorithm, and this workshop will give tips on both of these aspects. Ideas will be presented on reaching optimal solutions, as well as on what to do when optimality is beyond hope but good feasible solutions are still of value.

John Gregory has been with the CPLEX team since 1996, responsible for a range of technical tasks before taking on product management duties. Prior to joining CPLEX, he worked a decade each for Cray Research and for Control Data Corporation, also in the field of mathematical optimization. John is based at IBM's Lake Tahoe office in Nevada.