A H I S TO R Y O F N A G

The NAG idea

The idea to build a numerical algorithms librarycollaboratively fromwithin university resources cameto me in February 1970. It would meet the immediateneeds of Nottingham, Oxford, Leeds, Manchester andBirmingham Universities, and SRC Research Centre atChilton. And in the event much else besides. Virtually fromthe outset we received practical support in the form ofnumerical algorithms and software from the numericalanalysis community worldwide. Our mentor wasJimWilkinson, the assistant to Alan Turing in buildingthe Pilot Ace computer. Jim always supported and helpedthe young, when they showed promise. And I was youngonce. He gave us his invaluable numerical linear algebrasoftware, and his contacts. Our key ideals were voluntarycollaboration and quality in every phase of the activity.

To build the library, we needed the best algorithms in thevarious subfields of thirty areas of numerical mathematicsand statistics – expressed in high quality software,conforming to computer language standards; supportedby carefully prepared user documentation; with eachalgorithm selected on the basis of performance in solvingtest suites. For each phase of the activity, we neededstandards. Wherever possible, these were computer-based. This led to our involvement in language standards,arithmetic standards, portability standards. It’s wonderfulbeing new in a field such as scientific computing – it givesyou so much freedom.We also worked well together andworked extremely hard.

Brian Ford Founder Director

An earlyNAG logo

13 May 1970 – NAG (NottinghamAlgorithms Group) is born!

A collaborative project based atNottingham University with thegoal of designing, documenting andtesting high-quality numerical software

October 1971 sees the NAG Library,Mark 1 release featuring approximately90 routines

During the 1970s the NAG Library continuesto growwith three more Marks in five years

NAG Founder Director, Brian Ford

James HardyWilkinson – NAGwas born under JamesWilkinson’smentoring of the founder director, Brian Ford. NAG’s Oxford officeis named after the eminent mathematician

TheNAG1970s

The overall biggest contribution was

to create a reliable shared base for

scientific computing – a basic setof

software that could be depended on,

that covered the basic needs of much

of classic numerical analysis, that would

improve over time and on an evolving set

of platforms. NAG has also been a major

contributor to important international

standards, including Fortran 90 and

IEEE arithmetic.

Stuart Feldman,Vice-President,

Engineering,Google

An ICL KDF9, as used by JimWilkinson

Early NAG literature

TheNAG1970s

Early NAG literature

First non-ICL NAG Libraryimplementations appear –a ground-breaking event inportable numerical software

Interest in the NAG Library growsfrom industry and internationally

NAGmoves from Nottingham, UK toOxford in August 1973 – the ‘N’ in‘NAG’ becomes ‘Numerical’, ratherthan ‘Nottingham’

TheNAG1970s

Brian Ford,Steve Hague

First NAG Inc officeBrian Ford and Brian Smith, Oxford 1975

TheNAG1970s

NAG Ltd incorporated on 18March 1976in order to meet growing demand beyondacademia for access to NAG software

Formed as a not-for-profit company(a status that it still retains) to encouragespirit of collaboration to continue

NAG Inc established in 1978 to meetgrowing demand in North America

David Sayers Steve Hague, Brian Ford; IFIPWG 2.5 Meeting, Oxford (1975)

Mike Hooper, Lesley Brankin

TheNAG1970s

I have fond memories of visiting NAG early in my career at the

old central office on the BanburyRoad. Meeting with friendly

people, having fascinating discussions both about software and

about numerical/scientific programming (not at all the same

topic). The move to the new quarters (more sterile = neater

and flatter) was a big plus also - coincident with a shifting

role from a central coordinating group to abroad producers

in scientific computing. What didnot change was the quality

and passion of the people and their drive to make the life of

scientists better, and to take advantage of the newest and

best results in the math softwarefield.

My own interests are quite broad- I’ve worked in compilers,

helped numerical analysts, donesome scientific computing and

kibitzed a lot more of it, plus touched on many other areas of

the computing sciences. Visits to NAG and membership on the

Technical Policy Committee helped form my own views of the

evolving computing landscape and the key roles of an expert

community and specialized company in the global ecosystem.

High points included speaking atthe AGM (and investing my

pound sterling), many happy dinners chez Ford, and great

meetings of the TPC and long involvements with many of the

NAG staff as well as members of the core NAG world

My own involvement originally focused on my interest in

Fortran and in my own astrophysics research; this expanded

over the years to general interests in arithmetic and algebra.

As I moved into other areas of computing, it was very useful

to reference the needs of the classic scientific community.

I was recently a member of the panel of a major review of the

UK’s e-science program. Many ofthe issues we have discussed

over the years were implicit in projects we saw. I am now at

Google, with computational resources of a different sort but

also of a magnitude I did not imagine 30+ years ago. Yet many

of the old problems of reliable computing at scale remain.

Stuart Feldman,Vice-President,Engineering,Google

A new NAG logois designed

In 1980, NAG Ltd becomesfinancially self-supporting

The first meeting of the NAGUsers Association was held in 1981

Another portability first…the multi-platform, multi-package,NAG Graphics Library launchedin 1982

TheNAG1980s

A Cray-1Tim Nash, Robert Morrell, John Piper,Katrina Jenkins,Christie Arnsten, Karen Pitcher, Susan Ing, Shirley Surridge

Kevin Day,Gareth Hudson

TheNAG1980s

David Sayers, Susan IngDavid Sayers, Diana Grace, Lesley Brankin

Release of the first partiallyvectorized implementation of theNAG Fortran Library (Cray-1) in 1983

NAG Technical Policy Committeeestablished and held first meetingin 1985

Pilot implementations in Ada project beginsin 1985 funded by European Union (EU)

Fortran software tools project beginsin 1984, funded by UK Alvey initiative

A NAG christmas party

TheNAG1980s

Brian Ford, Steve Hague, Gareth HudsonNAG staff at an exhibition

1980s exhibition stand

TheNAG1980s

Fortran Library manual Members newsletter, 1987

Brian Ford, Founder Director of NAG,awarded OBE in 1989 in ‘recognitionof outstanding services to Britishindustry and research’

Collaboration in the LAPACK linearalgebra project begins 1987

Brian Ford awarded OBE

Peter Samuels, Sven Hammarling, Steve Hague

TheNAG1980s

JoanWalsh, Sven Hammarling, Jerzy Wasniewski

Ian Hounam, Steve Hague, Robert Iles,Wayne Cowell, Malcolm Cohen

NAG staff photo from an Oxford Journal article ‘The Numerical Algorithms Group’ 10 Years On

TheNAG1980s

Brian Ford Margaret Day, Brian Ford

Opening of Wilkinson House, July 1989

TheNAG1980s

David Hartley (seated), James Ellis MEP, Mrs Heather Wilkinson

TheNAG1980s

Ada EuropeWorkingGroup,Brussels

GatlinburgMeeting inOxford, 1981

TheNAG1980s

Cricket match between NAG staff and MCS at Argonne

Graham Hodgson,Brian and Gill Ford

TheNAG1980s

James Davenport Opening of Wilkinson House North

Lawrie Schofelder,Jim Pool,Brian Ford

TheNAG1980s

Sven and Pam Hammarling Sven Hammarling, Emmanuel Vergison

Fritz Bauer, JimWilkinsonNAG Inc staff (and Steve Hague)

NAG expands further into Europe with theopening of NAG GmbH, Germany in 1990

NAG’s first set of routines in C is launchedin 1990, The NAG C Library, Mark 1

TheNAG1990s

Cray and the Numerical Algorithms

Group have enjoyed a long and fruitful

relationship for many years, andwe

sincerely extend our congratulations to

the organization, and to its employees,

in honor of its 40th birthday. NAG’s

company ethos as a not-for-profit

organization paired with its management

focus on core skills have been thekeys

to its successful longevity in an often

hostile and unforgiving marketplace.

We look forward to many more years

of ongoing collaboration and we wish

the NAG team nothing but the best in

the future.

PeterUngaro,President andCEO,Cray

Brian FordNAGWare promotional photo

NAGWare promotional photograph

TheNAG1990s

New NAG product launches of:

� NAGWare Fortran Tools, Release 1

� NAGWare f90 Compiler, Release 1

� IRIS Explorer, Release 3

� The NAG Parallel Library, Release 1

� AXIOM (symbolic solver system), Release 1

BCS Award to Malcolm Cohen ofNAG for his outstanding work onthe NAGWare f90 Compiler

I wish NAG a happy 40th Anniversary.

Having worked with NAG for many

years, I find the their ethos consistently

results in the highest quality, accurate

algorithms both for special purposes and

for the extremely comprehensiveset of

advanced library routines that provide

the base for many essential applications.

I look forward to many further years of

fruitful collaboration. Weiter so!

ProfessorUweNaumann,

Head of Software andTools for

Computational EngineeringGroup,

RWTHAachenUniversity

TheNAG1990s

May I wish the Numerical Algorithms

Group a happy 40th Anniversary. My

own recent experience has been that

NAG’s numerical routines are thoroughly

documented and easy to call fromthe

Maple environment. For one of my own

particular finance optimization needs,

NAG proved more flexible and more valid

than some of the routines provided with

general purpose maths applications.

ProfessorEliezer Z. Prisman,

Director of theFinancial Engineering

Program,Schulich School of Business,

YorkUniversity,Toronto

Malcolm Cohen receiving BCS award

TheNAG1990s

Major newMarks of NAG’s principalLibrary products continue to be released –in keeping with NAG’s commitment tocontinued enhancement

First availability of LAPACKroutines in 1992

Advert launching the world’s first f90 Compiler First C Library advert LAPACK users guide with NAG staff contributors

NAG and Intel have enjoyed a productive

working relationship over the last

15 years leading to high-quality high

performance numerical libraries.Our

Intel® Math Kernel Library (MKL) team

is delighted to congratulate NAG on their

40th birthday and offer our bestwishes

for the future.

JamesReinders, Intel Director,

SoftwareDevelopment Products

Jeremy Du Croz, Robert Iles, Steve Hague

TheNAG1990s

Fujitsu would like to congratulateNAG

on the occasion of its 40th birthday.

Fujitsu and NAG have enjoyed an

excellent collaborative relationship

over many years to support our joint

customers. We have always foundNAG’s

software to be of high quality andtheir

approach to be very professional.

DrOkuda,ExecutiveArchitect,

Technical Computing SolutionsUnit,

Fujitsu Limited

Gareth Shaw,BodeMeduoye,Alan Brown,George Levy,Stef Salvini,Shah Datardina,Jeremy Du Croz,Zahair Maany,Mishi Derekshan,Richard Brankin

TheNAG1990s

RobMeyer, Brian FordSven Hammarling

NAGWebsite launched in 1993

Nihon NAG KK (formerlyIRIS Explorer Center Japan)formed in Tokyo, 1996

John Reid and Alison Reid

Brian Ford, Kate Jackson

TheNAG1990s

Susan Shayler, Katrina Jenkins,Eleanor Hudson, Kate Jackson

Margaret Day, Graham Hodgson

Wishing NAG a happy anniversary –

I find that the NAG Library makes it

easy to solve complex operational

research problems on multiple computer

platforms. It provides a bed-rockfor the

most sophisticated models, including the

best large sparse matrix solversthat

I know.

AndrewKoh,ResearchFellow,

Institute for Transport Studies,

University of Leeds

TheNAG1990s

Bo Einarsson Chuck Lawson, Optimization Chapter (E02)

Chris Sennett,Sue Bond, Writerof first Algol 68Compiler, andGill Ford atRSREMalvern

TheNAG1990s

Doris Pool

John Rice, IMSL AdvisorGeoff Hayes, NPL Optimization Chapter (E02)

AMD has collaborated with NAG for

nearly 10 years. With NAG’s solid

understanding of computer math

and broad experience in the high

performance computing industry,

together we’ve built the AMD Core

Math Library (ACML) into a widely

used product recognized for quality,

accuracy, and performance.

FrankGorishek,

Director ofApplications and

Infrastructure,AMD

TheNAG1990s

Christina Stetter,John Rice,Nancy Rice

Peter Kemp,Brian Ford,David Benco

TheNAG1990s

Movern Gentleman, Patrick Gaffney Margaret Wright, NYU and SIAM,Contributor to Optimization Chapter (E04)

LAPACK working meeting,Ayers Hall, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

The NAG logofurther evolves

NAG and AMD collaboration formedwith release of the co-developedAMD CoreMath Library

In July 2004, Brian Ford retires asDirector of NAG after 34 years of service.President of NAG Inc, RobMeyer becomesCEO of the NAG Group

TheNAG2000s

Stewart Andrews and Susan Shayler

Mick Pont, Mike Dewar

Mick Pont, Anne Trefethen

RobMeyer, CEO (2004 – present)

TheNAG2000s

NAG Library continues to evolve andexpand with Fortran Library Mark 21,C Library Mark 8 and SMP LibraryMark 21 releases

NAG Ltd awarded Investors in Peoplestandard in March 2006 – retains thisaccreditation status in 2009

NAG advertisement in Scientific ComputingWorld ‘Make life easier’ marketing campaign

TheNAG2000s

On behalf of SAP I want to wish NAG

another 40 years of continued success.

NAG has been very successful in the

global marketplace and boasts customers

that are among the best names in

finance, engineering, oil prospecting,

scientific research, chip design and

software. We are very pleased tohave

NAG as a client of SAP and we are

confident that NAG’s investmentin SAP

Business ByDesign will help fuelits

future growth. We value the partnership

that we have established and look

forward to a long and mutually beneficial

relationship.

MarkOakey,GlobalVice President of

Sales for SAPBusinessByDesign

NAG Inc staffRachel Foot, David Carlisle, Mike Dewar

Mike Hooper, Andrew Quick

TheNAG2000s

Brian Smith, Rick GuidoAnne Trefethen, Tony Nilles

John Deaker and wife, Fiona Racher, Jake Hurley,Spanish distributor, Ian Ried

Giovanni (Lasertec), David Burridge, Louise Mitchell,Anne Gyldenkaerne, Hans JoergeMöhring, Lucio Vittori

NAG distributor – Oxford Tour

TheNAG2000s

Francis Iles

CSC distributor: Stewart Andrews, Robert MorrellHans Joerge Möhring, David Burridge, Andrew Giles

TheNAG2000s

Steve Hague, Linda Hefele, Richard FieldSteve Hague, Peter Kemp

Steve Hague, NAG’s first employee,joining NAG in 1971, retires from hisposition as Chief Operating Officer ofNAG Ltd in June 2007

NAG launches new connector product,the NAG Toolbox for MATLAB in April 2008

Two new prototype products launchedin 2009 – the NAG Library for .NET andNAG Numerical Routines for GPUs

Serving the needs of Greater China, NAGopens office in Taiwan in November 2009

TheNAG2000s

Brian Smith at the Maui HPC Center Caltech; Brian Ford, Jim Pool,Paul Messina, Director MCS Argonne

A gathering ofmathematicalminds

TheNAG2000s

Richard Field, Gill Ford, Brian FordLloyd Fosdick, contributed first software tools

Jeanette Moré, Jorge Moré Jim Pool

TheNAG2000s

NAG Inc BoardMembers 2004:RobMeyer,Peter Kemp,Steve Hague,Brian Ford,Brian Smith

Sven Hammarling,Jeremy Du Croz,Jack Dongarra

TheNAG2000s

NAG Inc staff, 2004

Congratulations to NAG on its 40th

birthday. NAG has had a resounding

reputation for numerical excellence

and innovation throughout its 40year

history. NAG’s software is an excellent

complement to Intel’s Xeon processors

in HPC solutions, which is why Intel and

NAG have worked closely together in the

past. We look forward to seeing NAG

take advantage of the new architectural

enhancements Intel is making tothe

Xeon processor family in the coming

years.

RichardDracott,GeneralManager,High

Performance ComputingOrganization,

Digital Enterprise Group, Intel

Peter Kemp, Rick Guido and other NAG Inc colleagues

TheNAG2000s

Wilkinson House ground floorduring the refurbishment

Wilkinson House receptionafter the refurbishment

We wish NAG a happy 40th

birthday. NEC and NAG have

enjoyed many years working

together serving our joint

customers.

FumihikoHisamitsu,

GeneralManager,

HPCDivision,NEC

TheNAG2000s

NAG signs the largest deal inits history – to provide CSEsupport to the supercomputingfacility, HECToR

Offical HECToR launch

TheNAG2000s

NAG’s is to be congratulated on reaching

its 40th year – a remarkable achievement

given the many changes in numerical

software, and the underlying hardware,

over this period. NAG has maintained

is position in the development and

distribution of numerical software by

providing reliable implementations of the

best numerical algorithms, with regular

updates of the algorithms and inclusion

of new ones as the state of the art

advances. Manchester was one ofthe

founding university partners of NAG,

so it is particularly appropriate that

collaborations between NAG and The

University of Manchester are going

from strength to strength, facilitated

by the presence of the new NAG

Manchester office.

Nicholas J.Higham,FRS

RichardsonProfessor ofApplied

Mathematics; Director ofResearch,

School ofMathematics,

TheUniversity ofManchester

Nihon NAG staff – TsunetakaWatanabe, Takayoshi Hata,Hiromu Chiba, Keiko Aoyama, Seiji Sugiyama

Ian Reid with a client at a trade show

NAG’s past and present success would not have been possible without the outstandingefforts of its staff, from the inception, through the next four decades and to the present day.We recognise and thank all below for their contributions as NAG staff.

Aaltonen, RoopeAdam, CharlotteAdamovich, LindaAdams, RachelAid, SihaceneAlesi, DorothyAllard, JeanAllen, WendyAlm, BarneyAnderton, PeterAnton, LucianAndrews, StewartAoyama, KeikoArmstrong, ChrisArnold, YvonneArntsen, ChristieAromolaran, AdeArora, NikkiArthur, ShelleyAsaturyan, SourenAshdown, KennethAtta, NaeemAusten, LesleyAustin, Gail

Bagnall, SarahBandy, IanBanecki, GrzegorzBarker, LindseyBarlow, GillyBarnes, AlanBarnes, JanetBarnes, CatBarrett, DeniseBarrett, TracyBartlett, AlisterBasman, StephenBatsel, LeeBeauchamp, SophieBegum, ShamimBello, AbdulBenco, DavidBennett, LynneBentley, JanetBerryman, PhilipBeynon, SheilaBoardman, JoanBolwan, SandraBouhamou, NadirBourdillon, NicolaBowden, MicheleBoyd, IanBrankin, Richard

Brankin, LesleyBrent, ErinBroadbery, PeteBrookes, PhilipBrooks, SarahBrown, RoseBrown, AlanBrown, JimmyBrown, MariaBryans, JasonBurgess, TerryBurnett, MargaretBurridge, DavidBush, IanButler, PaulButterworth, AndrewByng, MartynByrne, FionaByrne, Julie

Cadel, AlisonCadogan, AudreyCampbell, JulieCaplin, BarryCappleman, JennieCarlisle, DavidCarr, DavidCassell, DavidCassier, FrancoisCaswell, SheilaChabbali, MarwanChadwick, IsabelChakkera, VasuChelson, JohnChen Zhao, JeanChiba, HiromuChou, EdwardChung, AdrianChurches, JimClay, EmmaCliffe, RogerCole, AnthonyColes, ValerieColley, SamanthaConway, GerryConway, Carol-AnneCook, AdrianCook, GuyCook, VickiCornali, DelCorning, RichardCox, ChristopherCrampton, Andrew

Cross, MatCullum, StephenCurtiss, Geoff

Dal Porto, RichardDatardina, ShahDavie, PaulDavies, CliffDay, KevinDay, MargaretDerakhshan, MishiDesai, DinaDesitter, ArnaudDewar, MikeDu Croz, Jeremydu Toit, JacquesDudley, JuliaDuell, AlanDukes, CharlesDunlop, JamesDunstan, MartinDurkin, DanielDyson, Robert

Eagle, MatthewEarthrowl, SimonEast, LorraineElfert, MathiasErl, MiodragEschenbach, ChristinaEsteves, NicolasEvans, Ray

Fagan, AngelaFagan, SharonFallen, NancyFant, LaDonnaFaulkner, Sarah JaneFear, EmilyFeatherstone, GloriaFenton, NathanielFernando, VinceFerrara-Kurth, KierithFiala, JanField, NicholasFleming, IainFlores, HectorFlynn, ElaineFoers, CarolineFoot, RachelFoote, AmandaFord, BrianForrest, GeraldForster, MargaretFox, Sarita

Fraley, ChrisFriedli, ClaireFry, YvonneFry, David

Ganev, PeterGann, AnnetteGardner, PeterGarstang, JudithGay, AlanGeary, MichaelGelder, GwynethGerke-Bonet, RogerGhazikhanlan, JeniaGibson, JonGiles, AndrewGillespie, DanielGillis, BernadetteGladwell, IanGleghorn, LindaGlen, CatherineGodwin, KathyGomez, TeresaGoodall, KarenGrace, DianaGrant, IanGrantham, ClaireGriffin, AlisonGuido, RickyGyldenkaerne, Anne

Hague, SteveHaley, FrancescaHalsall, GaryHammarling, SvenHan, RichardHanks, SuzanneHardman, EmmaHarnden, PhillipHarris, UteHarrison, BeverleyHartwell, HilaryHarvey, VilyaHasegawa, AtsukoHata, TakayoshiHayes, LizHe, FangHefele, LindaHenno, LudovicHenstock, StuartHill, PamelaHodgson, GrahamHolden, JohnHolloway, Gary

Holme, CarlHolmes, RobertHookway, JuliaHooper, MikeHopwood, DuncanHorwood, StephenHounam, IanHudson, EleanorHudson, GarethHufford Giglello, BrendaHuggett, MyoHughes, KarenHurley, JakeHurley, Stephen

Iba, ToshioIles, FrancesIles, RobertIng, SusanInnocent, PaoloIsanski, Edmund

Jackson, NormaJackson, KateJenkins, AngelaJenkins, KatrinaJones, AndrewJupe, ElizabethJusten, Lutz

Kaas, UnnKail, MargitKane, AnnaKanjo, HarukoKanjo, HarukoKarslake, BrendaKawasaki, TakakoKeady, GrantKeaty, PeterKemp, RichardKing, LindaKingsland, BryonyKirkup, StephenKnapp, KarlKnight, DavidKnowles, AnneKobayashi, TadahitoKoblas, DavidKohring, GregoryKoncka, ElizabethKrommer, ArnoldKrzysztofik, MarcinKwiczala, AnnaKyam, Jeff

La Venture, ChristinaLai-Sheung, MoLambert, TrevorLangdell, StephenLatour, KatjaLawson, MichaelLe Hyaric, AntoineLeggatt, StephanieLevy, GeorgeLewis, KarenLewis, HelenaL’Excellent, Jean-YvesLi, NingLight, SharonLipinski, ThaddeusLiu, TedLoveless, AnneLucas, CormacLucas, CraigLuczak, RichardLudlow, JohnLudovic, Henno

Maany, ZohairMacDonald, KenMacDougall, ChristineMacGregor, JohnMacKenzie, EmmaMahmood, NadjmMallett, LynneManiopoulou, AsiminaMathers, ChristianMathews, ClaireMatsuda, MitsunoriMayes, PeterMcGettrick, MichaelMcInnes, IanMcKeever, KevinMeduoye, BodeMeharg, IanMehmen, MehmetMeikle, IanMelling, DavidMerry, GrahamMeyer, RobMiddleton, SarahMilligan, JuliaMilligan, SarahMitchell, LouiseMitchell, PaulMitsuda, MitsumuriModica, MichaelMohns, Cynthia

Mohseninia, MohsenMoloney, LisaMooney, SarahMoré, JeanetteMorenoMaza, MarcMorgan, CrispinMorgan, GeoffMorrell, RobertMorrissey, JohnMortimer, PhillipMotohashi, YukoMoul, BabsMoule, HugoMoyniham, VinceMuite, BensonMulholland, LawrenceMunday, JayneMunday, NicolaMurphy, CarolineMyers, Shirley

Nadeem, SarfrazNaisby, SarahNakagome, MihoNakano, GoNash, TimNaylor, WilliamNg, AnthonyNilles, AnthonyNivesse, VivienNolan, GodfreyNugent, Stuart

O’Brien, CarlO’Brien, David LukeO’Hare, KatieOhya, MasamiOldfield, RobinOliver, SandraOmoboya, AdebolaO’Neil, RosemarieOnizawa, MakotoOrchard, MaryOzawa, Michiko

Pain, JohnPalmer, PaulaPanda, PradutPapara, AthanasiaParker, IanParker, NikPaver, AdrianPavey, SuzannePayne, JulianPayne, Vanda

Payne, RachelPearson, StephenPearson, SuzannePeckman, KurtPeckover, KimPellissier, ValenePengelly, MarkPennington, VictoriaPhillips, EmmaPighills, HelenPinkstone, SusanPiper, JohnPittlekow, YvonnePont, MickPool, JimPowers, RichardPurvis, Kevin

Qui, YiqiQuick, AndrewQyqalla, Albert

Racher, FionaRamirez-Andres, MilaRamzan, AkhtarRansom, MarcusRassinot, IsabelleReeves, JohnReid, JosieReid, IanRen, YuheRichardson, MikeRichardson, PatriciaRichardson, MarkRidgway, LisaRidley, PhilRivas, JaneRoberts, SarahRoberts, TimRoberts, PaulRobinson, GuyRoetzel, ChristianRuiz, LuisRuppenthal, ErwinRushby, AndrewRussel, IanRutter, MaureenRyan, Thomas

Saedi, ForoozSalvini, StefanoSamuel, PeterSanders, FionaSantander Webb, LuzSasaki, Keishi

Sayers, DavidScadeng, ValerieSchmidt, KathleenSchrier, KevinSeaman, GregorySedgwick, RichardSenda, AkikoSerban, SorinShaw, GarethShayler, GraceShayler, SusanShea, BrianSherwin, HelenaShibata, NaokiSiemienuich, JerzySilver, KatieSimpson, HowardSims, ThereseSkinner, RobertSmith, DavidSmith, JacquelineSmith, JenniferSmith, CarolSmith, GregSmyth, EdwardSnape, DianaSoufian, MajeedStalenska, KarenStalewski, AndrewStanley, ValerieStathis, KonstantinosSteenman-Clark, LoisStepek, KarenStevens, RobertStockton, DawnSugiyama, SeijiSurrage, ShirleySwindells, Neil

Taafee, SusanTallet, RichardTamiz, MehrdadTan, EdTaylor, GeoffreyTaylor, DebbieThomas, LanceThomas-Constantino, TracieThompson, KevinThomson, ChrisTong, RobertTownsend-Green, CarolineTrefethen, AnneTrinder, Keith

Tsikas, ThemosTurner, Sarah

Uemura, ShuheiUtsunomiya, Yoko

Valtisiaris, DianeVan Hoeij, MarkVanMaanen, AstridVarley, RuthVaughn, SallieVivien, NivesseVo, Alexander

Walker, DavidWalter, MaryWalton, JeremyWard, NickWarson, RichardWatanabe, TsunetakaWaters, ArlonWeir, CameronWelding, JanetWen, JimWenger, JoyceWest, MichaelWhite, ChrisWhitmore, RichardWilliams, MargaretWillis, ElizabethWilson, GavinWilson, MilesWinter, LindaWittman-Hohlbein, MartinaWong, JessicaWood, JasonWoodhams, PaulWright, SarahWright, Thomas

Yearling, DavidYudong, Sun

Zan, JennaZurawski, John

We’ve tried ourvery best to listevery NAG employee.If any are missing,please accept ourapology.

The NAG project has survived through aperiod of enormous change in computingsince 1970, but the objectives from itsearly days can be traced throughout itshistory. A major influence in the firstyears was the Computer Board, whichpromoted collaboration among university

computer centres by providing standard equipment andencouraging the staff to share their expertise. The firstgroup of NAG contributors in 1970 were enthusiastic for theidea of a software library, and the first edition was producedamazingly quickly. But the essential follow-up was toconsolidate the project by establishing high standards forsoftware, documentation and testing, an activity not alwaysappreciated by people who liked writing programs but wereless keen on tidying them up. This vital development waspromoted with tact and resolution by Brian Ford and hiscolleagues in other universities. In this phase there werenumerous problems with imperfect compilers, ill-definedinterfaces with operating systems, and the effects ofword-length, and the work was a great education in softwareengineering for the early contributors. Many compilers andmachines have come and gone since then; one lastingfeature for NAG is that it still uses the word Fortran, whichsome people wanted to abolish 20 or 30 years ago.

Another important influence on the project was theemergence of comprehensive mathematical algorithms,starting with the Handbook on Linear Algebra in 1970(Wilkinson and Reinsch). This had the aim of settingstandards for the precise definition of mathematicalmethods and their scope. It became clear that generalsoftware would be used in a vast range of applications,and would depend on an energetic community of testersand critics to achieve high reliability. NAG has alwaysencouraged and benefited from user groups.

Of course the NAG Council was deeply concerned with manyorganizational matters after the incorporation of the companyin 1976. The customer base expanded greatly beyond the

universities, the staff were established in North Oxford,and overseas links were promoted. But with all thetransformations there is still a basic framework ofcollaborative development, meticulous softwareengineering, and an interest in seeking the best“state-of-the-art” methods. I hope this will continuefor a long time yet.

JoanWalsh NAG Chairman (1976–1986)

The Computer Board, that much reveredbody of the 1970s and 1980s, funded notonly university computing services butwas also a force for innovation in boththe software and networking arenas.The Board was instrumental in the earlyestablishment of NAG and, as one of its

members, I found myself drafted to represent the Secretaryof State for Education and Science on the NAG Council in1979. JoanWalsh was then the founder Chairman and whenshe retired in 1986 and, with a bit of arm twisting, I agreed tosucceed her pleading a serious lack of knowledge ofnumerical analysis.

One of the most important key issues that exercised theCouncil was the formal introduction of sales and marketing.Some thought that the appointment of a sales and marketingmanager would damage the cultural relationship betweenNAG and the academic community. How things havechanged!

But the culture has more shifted than changed, and it isremarkable to see how NAG continues to thrive whileretaining its not for profit status but with a very differentattitude to product development and marketing. After 12years I stepped down as Chairman, but remained a Councilmember until 2006 when my successor, Richard Field, andI made ourselves redundant by reforming the Council’sstructure.

David Hartley NAG Chairman (1986–1996)

MessagesfromNAGchairmen

I am very happy to be asked to writesomething about NAG on the occasionof the 40th Birthday celebrations. I wellremember meeting Brian Ford for thefirst time in 1972 when he presented theembryo NAG to an ICL group which I wasassociated with when I worked at the

Building Research Establishment. Unfortunately the Librarywas not then available outside the Universities.

Our paths crossed again when I was asked to “look after”NAG’s interests for the Computer Board and an early taskwas to arrange for the NAG company to be set up in roughlyits present form. I stayed involved over the years firstlythrough the NAG Users Group and then as a member of theBoard. It was an honour to be asked to serve as Chairmanfollowing in the footsteps of JoanWalsh and David Hartley.

NAG has always prided itself on the quality of its products,software initially and now the support service for Hector,and on the friendliness of its staff, policies developed byBrian Ford and Steve Hague and now being carried on byRobMeyer.

I wish everyone well for the next many years ofNAG’s existence.

Richard Field NAG Chairman (1996–2006)

Recently someone asked me if Ihad been involved with NAG fromits beginning. Given I was only sevenor eight at the time of NAG’s birth I wasa little taken aback by the question.But the person asking the questionwas even more taken aback to hear

that NAGwas about to have its 40th anniversary. It is anincredible achievement and one certainly to be celebrated.

I do feel I grew up with NAG, as an undergraduate using thelibraries, a graduate collaborating with NAG, then later in lifean employee of the company. I was delighted and privilegedto join the Council in 2004 and then to become the Chair ofthe newly formed Board.

For me one of the most important aspects to NAG hasalways been the people it attracts; the staff, many ofwhom over the years have become close friends, and thecollaborators who have been willing to share their ownalgorithms, codes and experiences. It is this NAG communitywho I feel have been fundamental to the success of thecompany and I feel lucky to be a part of it – I hope to beso for many years to come.

Anne Trefethen NAG Chairman (2006–2009)

Happy 40th birthday!

It has been a tremendous privilege (anda lot of fun) to have collaborated withNAG over all my working career, fromearly days in 1975 as implementor ofthe Fortran library on a CDC Cyber 72at University of Leicester, through the

birth of the NAG Graphical Supplement, and on to IRISExplorer. There are many things that make NAG unique, butan especially nice one is the warm NAG family that Brian,Steve and now Rob have worked hard to engender over theyears. The NAG ‘brand’ has remained synonymous with highquality throughout its 40 years, a tribute to all the staff pastand present, and all the contributors. It is an honour to beacting as Chairman of the Board as the 40th birthday of theNAG project approaches, and no little responsibility to befollowing in the footsteps of my predecessors, JoanWalsh,David Hartley, Richard Field and Anne Trefethen – whosteered the board so well over the past 40 years.

So…many happy returns, NAG, and best wishes for thenext 40 years!

Ken Brodlie NAG Chairman (2009–present)

MessagesfromNAGchairmen

Having spent all my working life in NAGuntil my retirement in 2008, I should bewell placed to reflect on NAG’s eventfuljourney over four decades. Without question,two key ingredients that have enabledNAG to reach its 40th anniversary havebeen an abiding emphasis on quality and

a willingness to co-operate. But, when I think of other factorsthat might also have played key roles, they might be less clearto me precisely because I have been in the “thick of things”all those years. What is evident is that, crucially, NAG hassucceeded in steering an often complex path between stabilityand change; seeking to preserve the very best of past practicebut recognizing the critical need to adapt to changing times,especially in the world of IT. And now, two years on, do I haveany new searing insight into the challenge of navigating thatpath in the future? Not really, but what does remains abundantlyclear to me that, even if we do not fully understand why, NAGhas been and remains something special. Because the currentNAG team believes that too, I am confident about the future,and I wish NAG all the very best as the journey continues.

Steve Hague Retired Director

MessagefromSteveHague

When the group of us met in Nottinghamon the 13th May 1970 it was clear thatwe had a shared purpose – to provide anumerical library to our local computerusers. The needs of the local users wereparamount in our thinking. Fortunatelywe were naturally collaborative and

recognised the importance of building materials of lastingquality from the outset. In these characteristics we wereencouraged and supported by JimWilkinson and Leslie Fox,and by the individual directors of our own computing centres.

Although we planned initially fromwithin our ownresources, we quickly appreciated that if we were toachieve our objective of a balanced and tested generalpurpose numerical algorithms library we needed toinvolve knowledgeable numerical analysts, numericalmathematicians and computational statisticiansinternationally. Computational science was in itsinfancy and needed the algorithmic power to grow.And it had to be the best we could provide; carefullyselected, tested, and consistently documented for use.The challenge was widened by the demands ofcomputational environments with differentword-lengths, arithmetic, computing languagedialects and operating systems.

This led to recognition of the problems of algorithmic andsoftware portability and their solution through scalablenumerical algorithms and portable numerical software.Our work affected computing language and computerarithmetic design. Above all we attracted the interest andinvolvement of hundreds of numerical mathematicians,computing scientists and software implementors into ourproject. Invariably the people were and remain the mostimportant element.

Not only did we build the initial library but we have nownurtured and evolved it for over 38 years too! And createda methodology with the necessary tool suite and support tofacilitate this development. Forty years on, NAG still seeksto serve users with the library (and the Company’sexperience) in the scientific and technical computingcommunity. Quality in every aspect remains integral.Collaboration and co-operation continue as guidingprinciples in our work and relations. And that vitalcommunity spirit, within the Company and with allour collaborators and contacts provides the ambiancein which we work together and I trust it will persist formany years to come. I wish NAG every possible successin the years ahead.

Brian Ford Founder Director

MessagefromBrianFord

Technology is notoriously hard topredict but some things are clear:there will be more data; there will bean increasing need to find answersmore efficiently in terms of energy,materials and human time. The needto understand what has happened,what might happen next and theoptimal answers to the things we cancontrol will still drive NAG and ourusers. And while we don’t knowwhatthe architecture, processor count oreven the physical location of thoseprocessors we can be confident thatwe will be making the software thatenables our users to find the answersthey seek.

RobMeyerCEO

Many-core computing, in whateverform, will be a huge challenge forsoftware developers and usersthroughout this decade. NAG intendsto be at the forefront with qualitynumerical software and services tohelp our partners meet the challenge.

Ian ReidChief Commercial Officer

Our industry is going through anunprecedented period of technologicalchange and our software needs toevolve accordingly. This will involvethe development of new algorithms,the adoption of new programmingparadigms, and the identification ofnewmechanisms for deliveringfunctionality to our users. A smallorganisation like NAG cannot hope todevelop all this capability on its ownbut, by working in collaboration withour wide network of friends inacademia, we can continue to deliverinnovative and relevant software andservices to our users. NAGwasoriginally founded as a collaborativeproject, and that spirit of being anintegral part of the internationalresearch community remains ascritical to our success now as itwas forty years ago.

Mike DewarChief Technology Officer

To support the many challenges ourindustry will face in the future NAGwillembrace innovative technologies tomaintain its world class reputation forquality. We will continue to encouragesustainable business policies and indoing so, we will provide a platform thatpromotes the welfare and creativity ofour staff, collaborators, businesspartners and the community. NAG isproud to offer a unique environmentthat allows for continuous developmentof its staff ensuring it recruits andretains the very best of talent. This richand diverse talent offers unparalleledlevel of support to our users deliveringthe products and services they needwhich is as paramount today as it was40 years ago.

Our vision into the next decade is to beuniversally recognized as the preferredsource for computational softwareproducts and services and the preferredpartner for collaboration.

Susan ShaylerChief Operating Officer

NAG’sSeniorManagementTeamonthefurtureofNAG,13May2010

NAG’s current senior management team: RobMeyer, Ian Reid, Mike Dewar, Susan Shayler

NAG and the NAG logo are registered trademarks of The Numerical Algorithms GroupAll other trademarks are hereby acknowledged© The Numerical Algorithms Group 2010