Experts Discuss Economic Downturn and Top Ten Technology Best Practices That Can Help Companies Remain Competitive at ILOG’s DIALOG09 Conference

Author James Canton, and Other Global Technology Thought Leaders Say Increased Agility and Innovation are Essential for Survival

SUNNYVALE, Calif. and PARIS, Dec. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — ILOG(R) (Nasdaq: ILOG; Euronext: ILO, ISIN: FR0004042364) today announced its user conference DIALOG09, a premier forum for technology leaders and innovators. At DIALOG09, IT leaders from IBM, Accenture, Group RCI, the global leader in vacation exchange, and ING Group, a global financial services company, M-Focus, a manufacturing and logistics software provider, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. and Swiss Medical Group, a private medical insurance company will address the audience. These customers will share their responses to economic realities through a combination of practical workshops, product-in-action sessions and an exchange of insights and ideas with peers and product experts.

DIALOG09 will be held February 3 – 5, 2009 at Renaissance Resort at SeaWorld in Orlando, Fla.

CEO and Chairman of ILOG Inc., Pierre Haren will address how companies can thrive by being more agile and better responding to changes. In his keynote “The Real-Time Enterprise – Creating Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy” renowned futurist and author Dr. James Canton will discuss how complex changes will force enterprises to operate in new ways. William R. Pulleyblank, vice president for IBM’s Center for Business Optimization will discuss “Twenty-first Century Optimization Challenges” explaining how operations research and mathematical programming have applications beyond traditional sectors. In “Flexible Supply Chain Strategies in a Volatile World” David Simchi-Levi, chief science officer, ILOG Supply Chain Management Applications will delve into how building flexibility in manufacturing, supply chain and network strategies can improve the ability to respond to change on an ongoing basis while significantly reducing costs.

In addition several technical tracks will focus on ILOG’s four industry-leading technologies – Business Rules, Optimization, Visualization and Supply Chain applications, while general tracks will focus on better alignment of business objectives with IT departments and increasing return on investment. More information on product tracks at: http://dialog09.ilog.com/agenda.php.

New at DIALOG09

• Clinics: Practical sessions to bridge the gap between the theoretical and applied knowledge.
• ISV & OEM Partner Track: Exclusive sessions dedicated to Independent Software Vendor (ISV) and Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) partners.
• First meeting of ISV & OEM Partner Advisory Council (PAC): A newly-formed council comprised of stand-out leaders among ILOG partners who will act as trusted advisors to the company.
• Birds of a Feather sessions: Challenges will be discussed with industry peers.

Leading customers below endorse DIALOG.

• “I am looking forward to DIALOG09. I have been to business rules forums in the past, but am looking forward to sharing ideas and experiences with other ILOG customers,” said Kevin J. Chase, CEBS senior vice president, Group Implementation Services, ING Group. “The planned sessions will allow us to get much more detailed information and feedback than at an industry conference.”
• “We have had a successful BRMS implementation of our Claims Excellence Application, so at DIALOG09 we want to share again our success story, and to benefit from hearing the experiences of others in using these products to their advantage,” said Rodolfo Viola, director, Support Services, Swiss Medical Group. “We look forward to learning and discussing what is next in the evolution of BRMS, and harnessing BRMS in new and better ways in order to add new capabilities to the JRules engine, for example: Intelligent Medical Scheduling.”
• “DIALOG08 was a useful and wonderful experience,” said Mark Frost, director of Business Strategy and Decision Science, Fiserv Corporation. “As a new optimization customer of ILOG then, I appreciated the opportunity to listen to superb presentations by diverse companies on the cutting edge of innovation. I very much look forward to DIALOG09.”

To read more about customers’ experiences visit: testimonials section. To register for DIALOG09 and for more information, including a detailed agenda, visit: www.ilog.com/dialog.

About ILOG

ILOG delivers software and services that empower customers to make better decisions faster and manage change and complexity. Over 3,000 corporations and more than 465 leading software vendors rely on ILOG’s market-leading business rule management system (BRMS), supply chain planning and scheduling applications, and optimization and visualization software components, to achieve dramatic returns on investment, create market-defining products and services, and sharpen their competitive edge. ILOG was founded in 1987 and employs 850 people worldwide. For more information, please visit http://www.ilog.com.

ILOG is a registered trademark of ILOG S.A. and ILOG, Inc. All other company and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.

SOURCE ILOG