COMPANY NEWS

Olivier Maurel

With more than 700 employees, main offices in nine countries and operations spanning four continents, ILOG is safeguarding its IT operations with Olivier Maurel, its newly appointed CIO.

Mr. Maurel has more than 30 years of experience that includes IT management positions at IBM, Software AG and SAGA. He comes to ILOG from SNCF’s freight division, where he served as CIO for several years and used ILOG software extensively. As ILOG CIO, Mr. Maurel will not only ensure the smooth running of our IT network, but also share his insights as a veteran user of ILOG’s products.

“We felt it was important to hire the best talent for this position,” says ILOG CEO Pierre Haren. “Olivier’s team has been given the task of turning ILOG’s IT infrastructure into a showcase of IT excellence for our customers.”

In his new position, Mr. Maurel advises ILOG’s top management on the direction the company should take to further its IT capabilities. He also brings to ILOG a greater understanding of the challenges faced daily by CIOs around the world.

“I am very excited about joining ILOG and consider it a great challenge to establish a corporate IT vision for this successful international company,” says Mr. Maurel. “My experience from SNCF and knowledge of ILOG products will undoubtedly prove invaluable in my effort to contribute to ILOG’s continuing success.”

The Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization (MISMO: www.mismo.org) has awarded their MXCompliance certification to ILOG JRules, making it the first business rule management system (BRMS) to meet the organization’s standards for XML data exchange.

MISMO is a not-for-profit subsidiary of the Mortgage and Bankers Association. It works to develop, promote and maintain voluntary electronic commerce standards for the mortgage industry.

Its MXCompliance certification for credit reporting was created to ensure software vendors can reference the organization’s requirements and validate their XML implementations. ILOG JRules was certified for the Credit Request v2.3.1 part of the MXCompliance Import Service, which goes to products that read MISMO Reference Standards.

“The MISMO brand has become widely recognized as offering efficiencies through standards development and innovations,” said Gabe Minton, executive vice president of MISMO, in giving the award. “With MXCompliance certification from MISMO, ILOG has joined an elite class of vendors that can assure customers, developers and investors that their product complies with an industry standard that is critical for evolution of services in the mortgage lending industry.”

ILOG’s BRMS is widely used in the financial industry by companies that include Commerzbank, Equifax, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Option One Mortgage Company.

Eric Brisson (left) accepts ILOG’s award.

Awards were given to three companies from each country in three different categories – Technology, Manufacturing and Special Award -- for their outstanding contributions to economic development between France and Japan. ILOG’s award was for the Technology category, and accepted by Eric Brisson, ILOG vice president of sales in Europe.

Officials from France and Japan, including French Minister of Industry François Loos and JETRO President Hiroshi Tsukamoto, participated in the event. Mr. Tsukamoto read a letter from Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, congratulating the winners.

First given in 2004, the France-Japan Investment Awards is given to companies that have contributed to their countries mutual economic development through direct investment. ILOG is proud to be recognized and part of this important work.

Dr. Bob Bixby at OR seminar

Dr. Bixby is ILOG’s chief science officer and a noted authority on optimization. He co-founded CPLEX Optimization, Inc., which ILOG acquired in 1997.

Dr. Bixby gave a keynote speech at the seminar, as did Hiroshi Konno, chairman of the OR Society and professor at Chuo University. Both spoke on the advantages of using optimization in planning and scheduling operations.

Presentations were also given by representatives from three major Japanese companies that rely on ILOG optimization: JR East Japan Information Systems Company, NS Solutions Corp. and Mitsubishi Chemical Engineering Corp.

ILOG has them, and has joined the magazine’s ranks of 100 best small caps today. The editors of Red Herring (www.redherring.com) evaluated more than 2,500 technology companies in North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. Candidates with the right traits for nurturing growth and profitability were selected for the publication’s inaugural list of 100 small cap companies.

ILOG experienced revenue growth of more than 20 percent in 2005, along with a fourfold-plus increase in profitability. It also offers the market-leading business rule management system, ILOG JRules, the world’s most advanced optimization technology and superb visualization products.

“The winners on this list are the most competitive, the most innovative and the most promising technology companies in the small-cap segment,” says Joel Dreyfuss, editor-in-chief of Red Herring magazine. “We hope that the Red Herring Small Cap 100 list will shine the light on them that they deserve.”