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StatSoft Inc, is an International Software Development organization head-quartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA. StatSoft is most recognized as The Creator of the STATISTICA Software.

The company was established in 1984 as a partnership of a group of university professors and scientists. Its first products had menu-driven libraries of flexible statistical procedures and ran on microcomputer platforms such as Apple II, CP/M, Commodore, and PC DOS 1.0.

Today StatSoft, Inc. is a privately owned corporation headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, with offices in 24 countries including Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom.

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 (that is a Macintosh with 15,000 times less memory than the average Mac in 2009) 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 a large statistical package - 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 designed to overcome limitations of 16-bit computers, low-level numerical optimizations, and custom-designed input/output technology, which were largely responsible for the program's unmatched speed. 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 - 1990 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 - where all numerical output could be interactively visualized in a variety of ways. 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. (A major result of this decision was the new graphics technology introduced in 1991 in the STATISTICA line of software, see below.)

One of the many unique features of CSS was the comprehensiveness and quality of the statistical procedures (that were developed by experts from the respective fields of research or practice). For example, the general ANOVA/MANOVA module featured a version of the well-known Ganova algorithm (written by J.A. Woodward and M.L. Brecht from UCLA); the Quality Control and Process Analysis modules have been continuously updated and improved based on the reviews and suggestions of experienced engineers practicing SPC in various actual production environments. In 1988, the company also released a more powerful program for the Macintosh: MacSS (Macintosh Statistical System).

These years were marked by a steady increase in the popularity and recognition of the CSS line of software. The company received many large orders from major corporations and universities. The demand for StatSoft products overseas also grew rapidly. In 1988, StatSoft of Europe - the first StatSoft foreign office was opened in Hamburg, Germany [(later incorporated as StatSoft (Europe) GmbH)]. At the same time, all R&D resources of the company were devoted to the development of a new, advanced line of statistics software: STATISTICA, which was designed to offer in several areas entirely new levels of functionality not available at that time in any data analysis software. 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. STATISTICA/DOS offered the largest selection of graphics in a single system available on the market and a number of technological advantages unmatched by any other software for any microcomputer or mainframe platform. The program's numerical optimizations of many procedures enabled the users to process extremely large data sets (and designs) on inexpensive PCs; at the same time, most of its accuracy-sensitive procedures featured so-called extended (or quadruple) precision, which can be matched only by arbitrary-precision math programs. Its proprietary input/output technology, coupled with virtual memory management, allowed for the analysis of designs that required as much as 300 megabytes of memory (RAM or active workspace) to be performed on 16-bit operating systems. The program's extremely fast data management could handle an unlimited number of records containing up to 32,000 variables (or up to 8 megabytes) per record. The selection of its graphs, the level of their integration with numerical results, and the on-screen customization and multigraphics management options in STATISTICA/DOS placed it beyond any other software product in its category available on the market. STATISTICA/DOS was one of the most successful vertical market applications. Some of its unique features and user interface solutions have become standards for statistical and analytical graphics software.

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 (version 4.0, see below). Represented the crowning achievement of the Research and Development Department of StatSoft, Inc. This product, which was the result of a three-year large-scale development project, was not merely a "Windows conversion of a DOS program," but the first statistics package that offered true MDI (Multi-Document Interface) handling of the output and took full advantage of Windows' object-oriented technology. Its data, results, and graph windows could be treated as objects and converted into one another in a number of ways. The graphics technology (e.g., proprietary resolution enhancement, smart zoom, and region selection procedures) and its integration with numerical output, the flawlessness of the user interface of STATISTICA, and the capacity and speed of its computational modules all set new standards for numerical and graphical analysis software.

1994-1998 The reception of STATISTICA - 4.0, 4.5, 5.0, 5.1, '97 Edition, and '98 Edition. The initial release of STATISTICA for Windows (4.0) was followed by releases 4.5, 5.0, 5.1, '97 Edition, and '98 Edition, and they continued to set the new performance, quality, capacity, and comprehensiveness standards for statistics, graphics, and analytic data management software. With each release, the response of users was consistently and overwhelmingly positive. All reviewers of STATISTICA for Windows unanimously evaluated it as the best and most powerful statistics software on the market. Further, even as of this printing, STATISTICA has received the highest rating in EVERY comparative review of statistics software in which it has been featured; in the entire history of the software industry, very few products have ever achieved that record. This includes comparative reviews of statistics software in virtually all major computer journals and magazines that have reviewed statistics software (e.g., PC Magazine, PC World, BYTE), many specialized professional publications (e.g., Biotechnology Software, Scientific Computing, and periodicals in the area of quality control), articles written by statisticians (e.g., NATURE, Statistical Papers) and users of statistics (e.g., Government Computer News), and also many Reader's Choice Awards based on surveys conducted by the editors.

The American Society for Quality Control (ASQC) catalog of recommended books and software (1996) calls STATISTICA "the hands-down winner of competitive comparisons by independent firms" (page 71).

In his review of STATISTICA, Harvey Kaye (the author of Decision Power) concluded: "STATISTICA has the best user interface I have seen in a program. (...) The design of the program is remarkable... Five other statistics programs on the market all claim to be the best. Only STATISTICA dares to compare. They give you actual performance comparisons and explain the limitations of each competitor's program. (...) After trying STATISTICA for myself, I can see why they are so confident. This program is a software engineering superstar."

In the summary of a comparative review of statistics packages with graphics capabilities and technical graphics programs, the editors of PC Graphics & Video concluded: "Pure and simple, StatSoft's STATISTICA 4.5 is the king of data visualization tools." (August, 1995).

STATISTICA 5.0, which was released in the fall of 1995, automatically configures itself for new 32-bit Windows 95/NT or the older version of Windows (3.1) and features a large number of new statistics and graphics procedures, a word-processor-style output editor of unlimited capacity (combining tables and graphs), and a built-in professional development environment that enables the user to easily design new procedures (e.g., via the included, comprehensive STATISTICA Basic language) 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, Classification trees, a powerful development environment (and new functions in STATISTICA Basic), several hours of unique, multimedia training materials, and comprehensive HTML (Internet) support.

1995-1998 A transition to enterprise computing. Since its first release in 1993, the STATISTICA line of software grew dynamically.

Over that period of time, the StatSoft Research and Development department was working closely with its corporate clients and remained as responsive as ever to the evolving needs of the market that started looking for new, "integrative" qualities of software. Significant development efforts and investments were devoted to make STATISTICA the most powerful and easy to deploy analytic tool for enterprise environments, where a tight integration with centralized data warehouses and flexible tools for collaborative work (the groupware functionality) are expected. As a result of this effort, STATISTICA emerged as a leading enterprise application.

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 most comprehensive implementations of the GLM (General Linear Models), GSR (General Stepwise Regression), GLZ (Generalized Linear/Nonlinear Models), and PLS (Partial Least Squares) methods available on the market. These powerful modeling tools are integrated with a wide selection of unique visualization techniques designed for both exploration/data mining and hypothesis testing.

2001 The release of STATISTICA 6 marks a new generation of statistical software. STATISTICA 6 is based on the COM architecture and high-end technologies (such as multithreading and support for distributed processing for large enterprise installations) usually not found in such "vertical market" applications as data analysis software.

2008-2009 Broadening the enterprise product line, optimized 64-bit computing, and the inception of StatSoft PowerSolutions, Inc. (a company that helps to produce cleaner energy). StatSoft products and in particular, the server-based enterprise platform continue to expand by adding specialized features to support newly emerging analytic needs, as well as more of new, unique tools. For example, Monitoring and Alerting System was released - an enterprise server-class product that is capable of processing in the background thousands of variables and monitoring complex, interactive patterns between them to predict that process may not be compliant any more with a specific model or may be drifting out of specification limits (before any limits are actually visibly exceeded).

Release 9 of STATISTICA has upgraded the entire line of StatSoft products to highly optimized 64-bit computing.

StatSoft Power Solutions - "an alternative energy company" was established in Spring of 2008 as a fully owned subsidiary of StatSoft to provide solution packages designed for utility companies, for optimizing power plant performance and reliability (availability of capacity), and for reducing harmful emissions. Based on over 20 years of experience in applying advanced data driven data mining optimization technologies for process optimization in various industries, these solutions enable power plants to improve their operations by using their existing control systems and equipment, and leveraging existing historical data.

By applying advanced knowledge discovery algorithms, and patent-pending specialized methods for achieving optimized robust performance, this technology enables operators to achieve lower emissions (e.g., lower NOx, CO), greater efficiency, and greater reliability (e.g., by stabilizing critical performance parameters, such as furnace gas exit temperature, etc.) for a small fraction of the cost and in a much shorter time than the hardware-based solutions to the same problems that cost hundreds of millions of dollars and years to deploy. StatSoft PowerSolutions, Inc new patented and/or patent-pending proven methods are applicable to furnaces of various designs, and in particular to fossil-fuel power plants, and technologies ranging from older cyclone -, t-fired, or wall-fired to atmospheric pressure fluidized-bed boilers, and newer coal gasification furnaces, and not are being deployed in other industries that face similar problems (steel production, cement production, paper and pulp industry). Present

StatSoft software is available in single-user versions (for individual end users), in the form of network or concurrent multi-user packages, and as enterprise 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%).

Foreign versions of STATISTICA (including the entire STATISTICA family of products) are available in Chinese (both Traditional and Simplified), Czech, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Russian, and Spanish.

STATISTICA documentation is available in Arabic, Chinese, Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and other languages.

StatSoft has freely provided the Electronic Statistics Textbook as a public service for more than 12 years now.

This has been Recommended by Encyclopedia Britannica as - The only Internet Resource about Statistics

This Textbook offers training in the understanding and application of statistics. The material was developed at the StatSoft R&D department based on many years of teaching undergraduate and graduate statistics courses and covers a wide variety of applications, including laboratory research (biomedical, agricultural, etc.), business statistics, credit scoring, forecasting, social science statistics and survey research, data mining, engineering and quality control applications, and many others.

The Electronic Textbook begins with an overview of the relevant elementary (pivotal) concepts and continues with a more in depth exploration of specific areas of statistics, organized by "modules," accessible by buttons, representing classes of analytic techniques. A glossary of statistical terms and a list of references for further study are included.

Proper citation (Electronic Version): StatSoft, Inc. (2010). Electronic Statistics Textbook. Tulsa, OK: StatSoft. (Printed Version): Hill, T. & Lewicki, P. (2007). STATISTICS Methods and Applications. StatSoft, Tulsa, OK.

STATISTICA Statistics Analysis Data mining Predictive analytics Credit score Statistics_software Analytics Business analytics Business intelligence

• StatSoft's Official Website
  
• StatSoft Power
  
• StatSoft UK
  
• StatSoft AUS
  
• StatSoft Europe GmbH
  
• StatSoft Southern Africa
  
• StatSoft South America
  
• StatSoft Bulgaria
  
• StatSoft China
  
• StatSoft Czech Republic
  
• StatSoft Scandinavia
  
• StatSoft France
  
• StatSoft Norway
  
• StatSoft Iberica

References Cited - Statistics Textbook
University of Pretoria - Electronic Theses and Dissertations
StatSoft Sponsors Predictive Analytics World Conference, October 2010
Quality Digest - Statsoft
Electronic Statistics Reference Book - Recommended by Encyclopedia Britannica
Meta Press Software Review
Analyze Structure and Biological Assay Data
ISGTW Press Release: Scientific software goes parallel
iAdvantage Software Partners with StatSoft to offer a Fully-Integrated Statistical and Visualization Suite within eStudy™ v5.0
"Top 100 Software Products" award (February 1995)
Scientific Computer World - STATISTICA 9 Review

- StatSoft Receives the Britannica Internet Guide Award for Web Site Quality, Accuracy of Content, Presentation and Usability

- STATISTICA rated #1 in a comparative rating of statistics software published in DESKTOP ENGINEERING (November 1996)

- The highest number of points in the Buyer’s Guide rating of 48 Math and Statistics Software packages published by Scientific Computing and Automation (December 1996)

- STATISTICA wins in a PC WORLD comparative review (Swedish Edition, June 1995)

- Top 100 Software Products" award, Windows Magazine (February 1995)

- "Four stars" for STATISTICA in MacWORLD (March, 1995)

- STATISTICA called "the hands-down winner" in the American Association for Quality Control (ASQC) 1996 catalog of QC software and books

- STATISTICA wins in a major comparative review in C'T Magazin (a German equivalent of BYTE) (March 1996)

- STATISTICA rated #1 at a meeting of the Dutch Statistical Association (February 1996)

- The highest rating of STATISTICA in PC INTERN (A leading German computer magazine) section: Software Reviews (January 1996)

- STATISTICA called "a remarkable program (…) unlike anything currently on the market" in an extremely positive review in BIOTECHNOLOGY SOFTWARE (November/December 1997)

- STATISTICA Industrial System called "The Program That Can" in an extremely positive review in Quality Digest (December 1997)

- Three years Running: STATISTICA among the Top Five Statistical Software Products (Scientific Computing and Instrumentation, December 1999, p. 13)

- STATISTICA "Known for its Clean Interface and Impressive Graphics Output" Offers "High-End Stats in a Friendly Package" According to NASA Tech Briefs Review (July 1999, p. 20)

- STATISTICA receives 1999 Reader's Choice Award for statistical software from Scientific Computing and Instrumentation for third consecutive year (December 1999).

- STATISTICA maintains the top position among standardized statistical computer programs" according to SCIENCE magazine review (May 21, 1999, pps. 1291-1292)

- STATISTICA Receives 1998 Technological Distinction Award from BYTE (March 1999)

- User Comments of the Enterprise Versions of STATISTICA Summarized in a Scientific Computing World Review (August/September 2000, pps. 29-31)

- STATISTICA Enterprise/QC Receives Top-Notch Real-world Review from VISTEON Automotive in the Popular French Magazine QUALITE REFERENCES (July 2000, p. 45)

- STATISTICA Receives 2000 Reader's Choice Award from Scientific Computing and Instrumentation (July 2000, p. 26)

- STATISTICA Receives Highest Score in Comparative Review by Futures Magazine (March 2000, pps. 58-61)

- STATISTICA Receives Top Rank Among Statistics Packages in the "AI Software (Expert, Neural)" Category of a Reader Survey by Technical Analysis of Stocks and Commodities (2000 Bonus Issue, p. 19)

- STATISTICA is the Top Ranked Statistics Package in the "Statistical Analysis Software" Category of a Reader Survey by Technical Analysis of Stocks and Commodities (2000 Bonus Issue, p. 19)

- ALSTOM Power Elblag Sp. z o.o. Optimizes Production Processes with STATISTICA Enterprise/QC (October 19, 2001, pps. 22-25)

- STATISTICA among the Most Popular Statistical Software Products for Fifth Straight Year (Scientific Computing & Instrumentation, December 2001, p. 40)

- Praise-filled Review of STATISTICA 6 Published in Scientific Computing World (November/December 2001, pps. 32-34)

- StatSoft and STATISTICA receive top marks in a survey conducted by SCIENCE (2001)

- A Comparison of Statistical Software Packages Finds STATISTICA "Flexible and Widely-used" Among Both Experts and Beginners (July 9, 2001, pps. 22-23)

- STATISTICA One of the Most Popular Statistical Software Products for Fourth Consecutive Year (Scientific Computing & Instrumentation, July 2001, p. 38)

- STATISTICA the Winner of Scientific Computing and Instrumentation Reader's Choice Award in QA/QC Software Category (July 2001, p. 32)

- Photronics Compliments the Scalability and Flexibility of STATISTICA Enterprise/QC in DM Review (February 2001, p. 91)

- STATISTICA Neural Networks "By far the best, in terms of both ease of use and power" in Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America Review (January 2002, pps. 60-62)

- Faster and More Accurate Data Analysis at John Deere with STATISTICA - A Rave Review Published in DM Review Magazine (February 2002, p. 70)

- Oklahoma State University Students Uncover, Explain and Predict with STATISTICA Data Miner (DM Review, February 2003, p. 63)

- STATISTICA noted in "Competence in Data Analysis" (IT-DIRECTOR, May, 2004)

- STATISTICA mentioned in "FDA-Compliant Data Analysis Software" (LITUS, May, 2004)

- Caterpillar Inc. reduced rotating machinery anomalies by nearly 45% using PROCEED (Quality Digest, 9/2006)

- StatSoft announces that STATISTICA has Won Scientific Computing's 2006 Reader's Choice Awards for Statistical Software. (Scientific Computing, July 2006)

- STATISTICA Data Miner receives the top rating in comparative review, "Data Mining Tools: Which One is Best for CRM?", Dr. Nisbet (DM Review, March, 2006)

- STATISTICA's top classification in a "Comparative Statistical Software Review" (SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING, February 2006)

- "STATISTICA is truly a leader among statistical packages" - a review in The American Statistician, February 2007

- "An upgrade which will pay for itself in very short order" - a review in Scientific Computing World (06/2007)

- STATISTICA Data Miner wins in a comparative study at the University of Bielefeld (Germany), February 2007

- STATISTICA's use in finance and economics discussed (Scientific Computing World 01/2007)

- International Scientific Computing (June 2008)

- STATISTICA 8: Menu-driven statistics on steroids (lots of steroids!) - a review in International Scientific Computing (June 2008)

- “STATISTICA 9 ribbon bar better than in Office 2007” - a review in Scientific Computing World (08/2009)

- STATISTICA "currently the only mainstream statistical package capable of producing calibrated new-approach biplots" (June 2009)

- STATISTICA Receives a Top Rating in the User Survey Conducted by KDnuggets