ADP-FIS Gets First Order For New Micro-Based Small Office Quote Systems

ADP's Financial Information Services unit has closed the first sale of its microcomputer-based small branch quotation systems. The deal calls for up to 300 FS-Director or FS-Enterprise systems to be installed this year at bank-lobby "Invest" centers operated by ISFA Corp. The contract's value was not announced, but is thought to be about $10 million.

The small branch systems are based on Convergent Technologies Ngen workstations. FS-Enterprise is a standalone Ngen using dial-up to access quotes and transactional services. FS-Director uses an Ngen as an office controller to support up to five other Ngens, and is hardwired to an ADP data center. Both are descendants of ADP Comtrend's Autoquote, which was taken over by ADP-FIS last fall (MTR, November 1985).

ISFA is a partnership principally owned by a group of savings and loan institutions. It was founded in 1982 to provide brokerage services through S&Ls and banks, and currently operates 165 Invest centers. ADP's low-end quote products were designed for this sort of operation, says the company's Charles Higgins.

Maybe it's just the recent bull market, Higgins says, but 170 of 180 locations committed to date have opted for the hardwired system as opposed to the smaller dial-up. "We had really expected more dial-up business," he says. "We're very pleasantly surprised." ADP claims 20 systems already in place, with new installs proceeding at a rate of 35/month.

Both systems provide quotes, order entry, and access to client records, says Higgins, and the Ngen provides customers with an easy upgrade path from FS-Enterprise to FS-Director. With the exception of a moving ticker, the hardwired system provides all the functions that the CT Megaframe-based FS-Plus offers, says Higgins, at about half the price.