REvolution Computing, a commercial provider of software and support for the open source “R” statistical computing language, announced that predictive analytics software pioneer Norman Nie has been named CEO. It has also received additional funding of $9 million.
Basil Horangic, partner at North Bridge said, "Two million R users already depend on R to solve critical statistics and predictive analytics challenges. R has quickly grown to a breadth of functionality that challenges its predecessors SAS and SPSS, and its growth is accelerating as the R community contributes more and more code. Over time, the open source R project is destined to become the ultimate repository of all of the world's statistics and analytics capability. REvolution Computing has done a great job in helping the R community to move the open source project forward, and in facilitating the broad adoption of open source R-based software in business. REvolution provides the features and support required for enterprise deployment of R in the life sciences, financial services and indeed virtually every industry. I have known Norman Nie, founder, CEO and Chairman of SPSS, for many years, and if ever there was a figure in the world of predictive analytics who can help REvolution R fulfill its destiny, it's Norman."
Nie founded SPSS in 1968 and guided its growth over many years as it became one of the two leading first generation statistics software companies before being acquired by IBM in August 2009 for $1.2 billion. While leading SPSS, Nie also held professorships at The University of Chicago and Stanford University. One of the nation's most prominent scholars in the field of American political behavior and public opinion, Professor Nie has published numerous award-winning books. In 2007, he received a lifetime achievement award from the American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) for his contributions to survey analytics as well as his works in political behavior. He was recently appointed a fellow of The American Academy of the Arts and Sciences (AAAS).
On taking the role of CEO, Norman Nie stated, "I am keenly aware of R's roots in the academy, just like SPSS before it. We will continue our close relationship with the academic community, even as we meet the needs of commercial users, and we will expand our commitment to the R community in terms of products, services and resources. REvolution R Enterprise has the DNA to be the world's dominant analytics platform across commerce and government. For large companies and enterprises looking to take advantage of predictive analytics solutions based in open source, we will create enhanced functionality, usability and scalability."