Have you ever been using @RISK on a large model and wished you could speed up your simulations? Do you run simulations frequently to generate mission-critical data for on-the-spot decision making? If these situations sound familiar, look no further than @RISKAccelerator!
@RISK and @RISKAccelerator
@RISK is an advanced risk analysis tool which adds directly in to Microsoft Excel. @RISK performs risk analysis on your spreadsheet using Monte Carlo simulation techniques. You simply replace uncertain values in your existing spreadsheet with @RISK probability distribution functions that represent a range of possible values. Then, select your output cells - the bottom-line cells whose values you are interested in - and simulate. @RISK recalculates your spreadsheet hundreds or thousands of times, each time sampling random values from the @RISK functions you entered, and recording your outputs. @RISK gives you distributions of possible outcomes, including the probabilities that they will occur. This not only tells you what could happen in a risky situation, but helps you discover the crucial scenarios to encourage or avoid.
@RISK's Monte Carlo simulation is used extensively across a wide variety of industries for analyzing and generating results for models affected by uncertainty. However, some of these models can be complex and involved. Some models include hundreds or thousands of uncertain factors. The impacts of all of these factors are combined in a single simulation to generate results. This can be time-consuming. For example, in the securities industry, the risk and return of portfolios comprised of thousands of different securities - each with a different possible future price path - are often calculated using Monte Carlo simulation. This is a lengthy simulation that is re-run as market conditions, current prices, and portfolio components change.
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That's where @RISKAccelerator comes in. @RISKAccelerator is designed to handle large, time-consuming @RISK simulations quickly and efficiently by maximizing the use of available hardware. By using @RISKAccelerator in conjunction with @RISK for Excel, large models such as the portfolio example above can be run in a timely fashion, generating the critical information needed for real-time decision making!
How @RISKAccelerator Works
@RISKAccelerator uses the technique of "parallel processing" for
speeding up simulations. With parallel processing, multiple processors
work on the same job simultaneously or "in parallel." The @RISKAccelerator
software uses the multiple CPUs found in a single machine or over
a network to dramatically increase the speed of @RISK simulations.
@RISKAccelerator "splits up" a single @RISK simulation and sends
it out to available computers and CPUs. Each computer runs its portion
of the simulation concurrently with the others, sending results
back as they are completed. When the entire simulation is completed,
all results are merged back together and the results are displayed
just as they are in a standard single-processor version of @RISK.
All this happens transparent to the user, with all routing and scheduling
handled by @RISKAccelerator.
With @RISKAccelerator, the speed of some simulations increase almost linearly with the number of equivalent CPUs used. For example, if 8 CPUs are used for a single simulation, the simulation may run nearly 8 times faster than it currently does in an existing copy of @RISK for Excel on a single CPU PC.
Users Will See Incredible Speed Increases
Large models with long recalculation times will especially benefit
from @RISKAccelerator's speedup. By "scaling" @RISKAccelerator up
to 10, 20, 50 CPUs or more, users will see an incredible speedup
in simulations. Although actual speed increases will vary depending
on the model type and computer, network and server configurations,
all @RISKAccelerator users will experience a marked decrease in
simulation runtimes, allowing more complex simulations to be run
more quickly and more often.
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Flexible and Easy to Use
There are no restrictions to the type of model that can be
used with @RISKAccelerator. Any valid @RISK for Excel model can
be used with no changes or extra setup required. No hardware modifications
are required for computers on the network or server utilized in
the simulation.
A variety of hardware configurations can be used for running @RISKAccelerator. The computers connected across a LAN can be utilized in a single @RISKAccelerator simulation, or a single simulation can be run on a server with multiple computers and CPUs. A desktop computer with multiple CPUs, a new and increasingly popular PC type for users with time-intensive, "number crunching" applications, is also an excellent platform for @RISK - @RISKAccelerator simulations. These PCs are available now with two or four CPUs in a single box, with eight CPUs and more coming in the near future.
Using @RISKAccelerator is as simple as using @RISK. Just start @RISK for Excel as you would when running the standard single-processor version of @RISK. This starts @RISK, Excel, and @RISKAccelerator. After loading your @RISK model, click the Simulate icon to start a simulation. Then, @RISKAccelerator takes over.
During the simulation, an @RISKAccelerator monitor window appears showing the status of the available CPUs in real time. This enables you to see how many iterations of your simulation have been run on each CPU, and lets you watch as @RISKAccelerator "delegates" the simulation to various CPUs as they become available.
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Boost Efficiency with Simultaneous Simulations!
Multiple @RISK users can send simulations simultaneously to a group
of networked computers or to a server onto which @RISKAccelerator
has been installed. This allows the sharing of the processing power
of a network or cluster of PCs among a group of @RISK users. All
routing of jobs and simulation processing is transparent to each
user - they can monitor the progress of their simulation just as
if it were running on their PC only. Users will not have to wait
in line to run their simulations using @RISKAccelerator. @RISKAccelerator's
advanced scheduling algorithms maximize all available CPUs so multiple
simulations may run smoothly and concurrently.
@RISKAccelerator Features
- Use multiple processors in the same machine or in different machines
over a network.
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Simulation results the same as those obtained from a standard single-processor
version of @RISK.
- Compatibility with @RISK 4.0 and higher and Excel 97 and higher.
- Simulations are as scalable as possible, so increasing the number
of processors reduces the simulation time proportionally.
- Multiple users may submit simulations to the same group of PCs running
@RISKAccelerator simultaneously.
- As easy to use as @RISK - all work is transparent to user.
System Requirements: IBM PC compatible Pentium or higher; Microsoft Windows 98, 2000, or NT; Microsoft Excel 97 or higher required for each computer where @RISKAccelerator is installed; @RISK 3.5.2 or higher and Excel 97 or higher for user's computer; 16MB RAM
Recommended: 32MB RAM installed.
COMPATIBILITY: @RISK for Excel is compatible with Excel versions 97 through 2003.
Version: 2.0
