Aria International Wows Hambrecht & Quist With Mac II-Based Market Data Workstation System

A tiny San Francisco company, Aria International, is quietly developing an Apple Macintosh II-based workstation system for brokers and traders. The company won't comment, but sources who've seen a prototype say it's the hottest thing ever done with a Mac.

Aria, formerly known as Prescriptive Technologies, comprises a group of former Bank of America systems developers, and its chairman is former Bankamerica Corp. chairman Leland Prussia. "The company has not yet been announced," says Prussia. "It may be a bit premature right now to go public in this way." John Scull, who oversees securities industry applications at Apple Computer, Inc., didn't return phone calls.

Aria's first tentative probe into the real world is in response to two RFPs issued by San Francisco-based Hambrecht & Quist, Inc. H&Q is looking first for a new system for its trading room, chiefly an OTC market-making operation, and second for a new retail broker workstation, says the firm's systems head, Ian Hobson.

While Hobson stresses that he's made no commitments, he does say Aria is "definitely on the right track," although "clearly it's an unfinished product." H&Q is a big Mac shop, not only because of its historical relationship with Apple, but also because Hobson believes "the user interface currently provides a much, much easier tool."

The Aria trading room proposal, says Hobson, calls for Mac II workstations connected via LAN to a hopped-up Mac II data feed server. The server contains 16 Megabytes of RAM and three communications processors, he says. A larger server, such as a Stratus price box, is an option.

One drawback is that the Aria system currently handles only digital feeds, but Hobson says the company is working on a solution for NASDAQ Level III terminal emulation. The multiple-monitor capability of the Mac II also provides certain benefits, says Hobson: "Users who are used to the four-screen Rich systems and others who prefer the big 19-inch monitor can both be satisfied."

The retail brokerage system would simply be a "downsized application" from the trading room proposal, says Hobson, and could include portfolio management and access to client data on a VAX host. H&Q anticipates needing about 200 retail workstations.

Aria has demonstrated its prototype for other firms, at least one of which is equally impressed. According to one source, no one, not even Sun or Apollo, has demonstrated as many simultaneous sessions in as many windows as Aria on the Mac II.