History of the GoldSim Technology Group

GoldSim technology can be traced back to 1990, when a group of engineers at Golder Associates, an international group of engineering consulting firms, was asked by the United States Department of Energy to develop probabilistic simulation software that could be used to help with decision support and management within the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, the organization responsible for the safe disposal of the nation's nuclear wastes. The initial result of this effort was two DOS-based programs (RIP and STRIP). RIP was used to simulate the long term performance of engineered facilities to contain the waste. STRIP was a strategic planning simulator, and was used to assist in evaluating options for development and licensing of waste disposal facilities. RIP and STRIP were subsequently used worldwide, primarily in support of radioactive waste management and mining projects.

Although these precursors to GoldSim were powerful simulators, the user interface tended to be complex and presentation capabilities were limited. To address these limitations, design of a graphical, Windows-based version of RIP and STRIP began in 1996. This effort, funded by Golder Associates, the US Department of Energy, the Japanese government (JNC), and the Spanish government (ENRESA) produced GoldSim. GoldSim was first released in 1999. GoldSim continues to be used extensively in the radioactive waste management and environmental arena worldwide.

From the outset, the GoldSim development team saw the potential for the powerful probabilistic framework upon which the software was based to be extended into other applications, including strategic planning and risk management within the business world. As a result, in contrast to RIP and STRIP, which were very specialized tools, GoldSim was designed from the ground up as a general-purpose, probabilistic simulation framework. Functionality for dealing with hazardous and radioactive waste management applications was isolated into a specialized module. The basic software framework is a powerful general-purpose simulator that has subsequently been used in a wide variety of applications, ranging from long-term business planning for manufacturing companies to operational models of mines and power plants.

After GoldSim was released in 1999, it was used as a proprietary tool by Golder Associates and was generally provided only to our clients. In April of 2002, the GoldSim Technology Group began selling GoldSim Pro as a stand-alone software product. Since then, the GoldSim Technology Group has focused on extending GoldSim into a number of business arenas, focusing on strategic planning and risk management applications.

In order to provide the flexibility required to continue to grow the business into new arenas and better service our growing list of customers and clients, the GoldSim development team purchased the software from Golder Associates and established a new, independent company, GoldSim Technology Group LLC, on January 31, 2004.

GoldSim currently has over a thousand users around the world (including nearly 200 academic institutions in 40 countries), and our user-base is growing rapidly. The software is very actively developed, and continues to evolve in response to customer's needs.

Making Better Decisions In An Uncertain World