BRIEF OBJECTS

In an effort to help market-making firms increase order flow, Nasdaq introduced Nasdaq Workstation Weblink, which allows order-entry firms to route orders to market makers through a Web interface to Nasdaq’s ACES order-routing system. The product, which comes in two versions, allows market-making firms to sponsor and pay for entering firms to route orders to them. Weblink ACES, priced at $199 per user, per month, will allow firms to route orders to market makers directly. Weblink ACT will have identical functions and pricing to the current Nasdaq ACT (Automated Confirmation Transaction) interface, which costs $150 per user, per month for trade reports and trade scan, provided that the firm reports less than 20 trades a day. Weblink ACT will cost $300 per user, per month for trade reports, trade scans, and risk-management scans.

The Reuters-Capco alliance Synetix has released Reuters Reference Data Manager as its first product. The service aims to increase operational efficiency and allows institutions to implement enterprise-wide data management strategies. RRDM is an application service provider (ASP) that analyzes data held across different business systems and translates it into a common format, creating a single view of the reference data, allowing incomplete items to be easily identified. More than 30 percent of trades fail because of poor reference data, Reuters says.

Prediction Dynamics released Crucible 1.0, a financial time-series modeling platform, which allows the quantitative researcher to build, analyze and maintain predictive financial models. Crucible is aimed at hedge funds and proprietary trading desks at investment banks. The system, which incorporates existing Prediction Dynamics platforms the Factorengine and the Modelengine, can be used to build models over a variety of asset classes. The software is platform-independent, three-tier client server. The underlying architecture is designed to ensure integration with third parties and proprietary systems.

Estonia’s Tallinn Stock Exchange began live trading of TSE-listed securities on the Helsinki Stock Exchange’s HEX trading system. The move represents the introduction of HEX Tallinn, consisting of the TSE and the Estonian Clearing and Settlements Depository. Mandatum Stockbrokers and Nordea Securities began trading the products, and will be followed by Evi Bank and Credit Suisse First Boston Europe.

WestLB Panmure has gone live on OM’s Oneworld Securities Finance platform, replacing an in-house system. Execution of Oneworld took six weeks, including interface work by WestLB and a three-day implementation period. Oneworld Securities Finance covers both lending and repo, and modules representing each can be separately deployed.

Transaction Network Services users can now access Archipelago using Townsend Analytics’ Realtick interface on their TNS connections. TNS’ proprietary communications network, called the Secure Trading Extranet, has about 600 endpoints. With Realtick, customers can get real-time quotes, order history, and position management tools. Realtick also features point-and-click order entry. Archipelago formerly used private lines to connect to customers but now uses TNS.

American Power Conversion has launched Powerstruxure, a systematic approach to building data center infrastructure that allows for a "pay-as-you-grow" scenario. This approach to data center support simplifies the design, building and management of data center infrastructure with an innovative, fully engineered and tested system. Powerstruxure allows additional capacity to be purchased and installed when needed, via simple building blocks, therefore reducing the up-front capital investment required to undertake data center projects. The three initial core solutions that comprise Powerstruxure are: a modular, scalable, redundant uninterruptible power supply (UPS); zoned, intelligent power distribution; and a next-generation rack enclosure.

Merrill Lynch has taken Business Engine Network to manage and control its corporate technology operations worldwide. The bank will roll out the software to 8000 IT staff and contractors allowing them to track time and expenses, manage tasks and deliverables, share critical documents and collaborate on projects. BEN’s new budget module --introduced earlier this month with release 4.0 of the package--will provide a real-time view of budget components, enabling users to continually balance IT asset portfolios between value, risk and cost.

Reuters has made a software enhancement on its Dealing 3000 to facilitate the use of the local US dollar RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement) system by financial institutions in Hong Kong for settling foreign exchange transactions. This software enhancement will ensure that the tickets from D3000 contain the appropriate payment instructions for the settlement of FX transactions between the US dollar and the Hong Kong dollar via the respective RTGS systems in Hong Kong. Most such transactions are settled on a payment versus payment (PvP) basis. Financial institutions in Hong Kong will be the first to benefit from this enhancement when the software is available in mid-March 2002. The new function will subsequently be available globally to all Reuters D3000 users.

Secfinex, an online marketplace for securities finance, has successfully introduced its on-line auction system, which allows securities lenders to auction individual lines of stock over the Internet. Three auctions have been completed. Securities lenders can create auctions at any time, defining various parameters such as size of auction, reserve level, and collateral, as well as determining which firms can bid at the auction. Bidders can bid as many times as they wish. All bids are firm and the highest bid wins the auction. Seven additional firms have signed to use the Secfinex system bringing the total number of firms active on the system to 24. New firms include ING Bank NV, Macquarie Bank Limited and Schroder Salomon Smith Barney. ING Bank is the first custody (agency) lending bank to join the system.

Egar Technology released a real-time equity options trading and risk management solution for market makers. Based on Egar’s ETS (Equity Trading System) platform, the solution incorporates functions specific to market makers that have not previously been addressed by existing systems. These include a theoretical value engine, a volatility manager, a correlation-based analyzer for delta and vega hedging, and member-firm and handheld support. The company expects to announce two new contracts shortly, one in New York and one in Philadelphia.

EDS has signed two contracts in Europe worth more than $100 million. Sal Oppenheim Jr. has renewed its outsourcing contract with EDS, authorizing the company to continue providing operational and product services through June 2007. A three-year contract with KBC Bank and Insurance Holding for development and management of software applications for KBC’s operations in areas including credit, payments, clearing, capital markets and securities.

Investment Technology Group (ITG) has signed an agreement to purchase Hoenig Group, a broker/dealer serving money managers and alternative investment funds, for $115 million in cash. The deal is expected to clear with Hoenig shareholders and regulators by the end of the second quarter. The acquisition will be immediately accretive to ITG’s earnings per share for 2002.

Hoenig, which has offices in New York, Boston, London and Hong Kong, carries about $50 million in cash and equivalents and has no long-term debt. By purchasing Hoenig, ITG hopes to expand its reach into the hedge fund community, which now comprises between 25 and 30 percent of US daily trading volume.