StatSoft
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
StatSoft, Inc. is one of the largest providers of analytic software worldwide. StatSoft's flagship product line is the STATISTICA suite of analytics software products. STATISTICA provides a comprehensive array of data analysis, data management, data visualization, and data mining procedures. It includes a wide selection of predictive modeling, clustering, classification, and exploratory techniques in one software platform. StatSoft is also the largest manufacturer of enterprise-wide quality-control and improvement software systems in the world, and the only company capable of supporting its QC products worldwide.
StatSoft’s software products are used in mission critical manufacturing applications, in regulated, FDA-controlled industries, and as a foundation of corporate-wide Six Sigma initiatives. StatSoft’s products are also used to help achieve compliance with CFR Part 11 and Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) regulations. STATISTICA has achieved an unprecedented record of recognition from both users and expert reviewers since its first Windows release in 1993, being ranked the highest in every review by an independent third party.
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[edit] Company Overview
StatSoft, Inc. is a closely held corporation with headquarters in Tulsa, OK (USA). StatSoft offices are located in 20 countries on all continents, including: Germany (StatSoft GmbH), France (StatSoft France), the United Kingdom (StatSoft Ltd.), Poland (StatSoft Polska Sp. z o.o.), Italy (StatSoft Italia, srl), Sweden (StatSoft Scandinavia AB), the Netherlands (StatSoft Benelux BV), Iberian Peninsula - Spain and Portugal (StatSoft Iberica Lda.), Russia (StatSoft Russia), Taiwan/China (StatSoft Taiwan), Japan (StatSoft Japan, Inc.), Korea (StatSoft Korea), Brazil (StatSoft South America), South Africa (StatSoft Southern Africa), Australia (StatSoft Pacific Pty Ltd.), Czech Republic (StatSoft Czech Republic s.r.o.), Israel (StatSoft Israel Ltd.), Hungary (StatSoft Hungary Ltd.), Singapore (StatSoft Singapore), Switzerland (StatSoft Switzerland), Bulgaria (StatSoft Bulgaria Ltd.), and India (StatSoft India Pvt. Ltd.).
StatSoft’s software is available in Chinese, Czech, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Russian, and other languages. Documentation is available in Arabic, Chinese, Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and other languages.
Data analysis software from StatSoft is used at most major universities, research institutes, corporations, and manufacturing facilities in more than 60 countries. StatSoft products are distributed by all major US and international software distributors, and they are available from value-added resellers, consulting firms, and university computer stores. Student versions of STATISTICA (and related textbooks) are distributed directly by StatSoft offices around the world.
StatSoft’s STATISTICA line of software is available in single-user versions (for individual end-users), in the form of network or concurrent multi-user packages, and as enterprise fully Web-enabled systems (with extensive groupware functionality) integrated with a data warehouse. The exact number of users of StatSoft products is difficult to determine but can be estimated at more than 600,000 users worldwide (universities/research institutions: 30%; corporations/manufacturing facilities: 60%; government agencies: 10%).
[edit] Company History
1984: The company was established in 1984 as a partnership of a group of university professors and scientists. Although their research interests were in different areas of quantitative data analysis, they had one thing in common: In order to analyze data from their own research, they each had to develop custom statistical procedures, which were either not available on the market or available only in command-driven, inflexible, and tedious-to-use mainframe (or mainframe-like) programs.
The company started with only five employees; its first products (PsychoStat-2 and PsychoStat-3, designed mainly for natural and social scientists) included menu-driven libraries of flexible statistical procedures integrated with data management. The programs could run with only 64k of memory, were available in versions for all microcomputer platforms (including Apple II, CP/M, Commodore, and PC DOS 1.0), and due to their flexibility and ease of use, they quickly gained in popularity.
1985: StatSoft started to grow rapidly. In 1985, it was incorporated following the release of its first general market product: Statistical Supplement for Lotus 1-2-3 (the first statistics add-on for the Lotus spreadsheet, later released in a stand-alone version as STATS+). In the same year, StatSoft released StatFast, which was the very first statistics package released for the newly introduced Apple Macintosh. The program offered a selection of basic statistics and graphs integrated with a data editor and could run even on a 128k Macintosh with a single floppy drive.
1986: Following the success of the Statistical Supplement for Lotus 1-2-3 and StatFast programs, two new units (the Analytical Graphics group and the Numerical Optimization group) were added to the StatSoft Research and Development Department in the spring of 1986. In this new organizational structure, the work began on a new project: expanding and integrating all existing StatSoft lines of software into the large statistical CSS (Complete Statistical System), featuring specialized modules for all areas of statistics in business, science, and engineering.
1987: In the fall of 1987, StatSoft released the first part of CSS, a comprehensive statistical system featuring advanced memory management, low-level numerical optimizations, and custom-designed input/output technology. This first part of CSS (statistics and data management only) included prototypes of many of the unique features of input, output, and analysis control (e.g., Scrollsheets) that were further developed in the subsequent releases of the program and later became trademarks of StatSoft software technology.
1988: In the fall of 1988, StatSoft released a version of CSS featuring the first prototype mechanism of a unique integration between numerical results and graphics. The new graphical features of the program were so well received by customers that the company decided to expand the Analytical Graphics group of its Research and Development Department and to invest more in the development of the graphics aspects of the system.
1988-1990: These years were marked by a steady increase in the popularity and recognition of the CSS line of software. The company received many orders from major corporations and universities. The demand for StatSoft products overseas also grew rapidly. In 1988, StatSoft of Europe, the first StatSoft foreign sales office, was opened in Hamburg, Germany [(later incorporated as: StatSoft (Europe) GmbH)]. More than 60% of StatSoft revenues were devoted at that time to research and development (more than four times the industry average). In 1990, StatSoft, Inc. rejected a major offer from one of the largest software companies which intended to acquire the STATISTICA technology; StatSoft, Inc. decided to remain an independent company.
1991: The first (DOS) version of STATISTICA (a new, graphically oriented line of statistics software) was released in March 1991.
1992: The Macintosh version of STATISTICA repeated the success of its DOS counterpart: Only two months after STATISTICA/Mac was first shipped (in January 1992), the results of a survey of a random sample of 1,000 readers of MacWORLD placed it on the list of the best products in its class (MacWORLD's "World-Class Award" survey). STATISTICA/Mac also quickly gained popularity overseas; for example, it is the first statistical software package for the Macintosh that was available in Japanese.
1993: The new Windows version of STATISTICA pre-released in 1993
1994-1998: The initial release of STATISTICA for Windows (4.0) was followed by releases of 4.5, 5.0, 5.1, '97 Edition, and '98 Edition. All reviewers of STATISTICA for Windows unanimously evaluated it as the best and most powerful statistics software on the market. STATISTICA 5.0, which was released in the fall of 1995, automatically configures itself for Windows 95/NT or the older version of Windows (3.1) and features new statistics and graphics procedures, a word-processor-style output editor, and a built-in professional development environment that enables the user to design new procedures and integrate them with the STATISTICA system. STATISTICA 5.1 was released in the first quarter of 1996 and was followed by STATISTICA '97 and '98 editions. Some of the many new features added to the already comprehensive list in STATISTICA 5.0 were state-of-the-art implementations of Correspondence Analysis, Variance Components, and Classification Trees.
1999-2000: In 1999, StatSoft unveiled a new generation of enhancements and optimizations to the enterprise and connectivity products, along with new releases of specialized add-on products, including comprehensive implementations of the GLM ( General Linear Model), GSR (General Stepwise Regression), GLZ (Generalized Linear/Nonlinear Models), and PLS ( Partial Least Squares).
In 1999 and 2000, StatSoft products continued to receive recognition in formal independent reviews and comparisons published by experts read by a broad spectrum of scientists.
2001: STATISTICA 6 was released. STATISTICA 6 is based on the COM architecture and technologies such as multithreading and support for distributed processing for large enterprise installations. This release included built-in Visual Basic scripting that gives programmers access to all of the program’s functionality.
2002-present: StatSoft continues to grow and spend more than 30% of its revenues on Research and Development. STATISTICA 7 was released in 2004. Its product line now features a comprehensive selection of technologies, solutions, and integration services, including:
• Data analysis tools for virtually any application, including validated installations for the FDA-regulated industries
• Integrated, server-centric analytic applications for all categories of analysts (from advanced R&D statisticians to occasional users and consumers of simple reports)
• Comprehensive applications for predictive and exploratory data mining and text mining
• Quality control and improvement applications including a broad selection of tools for implementation of Six Sigma initiatives, "predictive QC", and "QC mining"
• Document management systems (21 CFR Part 11, and Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliant) fully integrated with analytic solutions
[edit] StatSoft’s Services
StatSoft's professional services groups provide a range of services to complement the STATISTICA software. StatSoft provides software integration and customization services, development of custom Web applications based on WebSTATISTICA Server technology, as well as installation of a general-purpose Web Server system. StatSoft also offers deployment of data mining solutions designed to work with specific data warehouses and solve particular ranges of problems. Additionally, statistical consulting services are available. StatSoft offers both introductory and advanced training courses in major cities in the United States and overseas. StatSoft's training classes provide hands-on experience with its line of software products as well as an introduction to real-world example applications. StatSoft, through its Technical Services group, provides software validation services as part of the deployment of STATISTICA applications. These services include requirement gathering and documentation, validation planning, installation qualification, operational qualification, and performance qualification.
