BRIEF TRANSMISSIONS

Commodities Exchange Center will hike user fees following addition of New York Futures Exchange data to CEC feed. First unit fee jumps 27 percent, from $44 to $56 per month, while additional unit fee more than doubles from $5 to $11. New fees take effect June 1st, says CEC market data head Farhad Froozan.

Under the Big Top Dept. Reuters Information Services will sponsor "Reuters Infoworld" April 5-7 at Boston's Parker House hotel. Product fair will feature 26 booths showcasing products of Mother R and subsidiaries. Rousing keynote address April 5th -- "International Economic Order Into the 1990s: A World of Interest and Exchange Rate Stability or Instability?" -- features First National Bank of Boston chief economist James Howell.

Et Tu, Dean Witter? Painewebber, Inc.'s decision to retain incumbent Quotron Systems, Inc. as branch system supplier leaves Dean Witter Reynolds only major diversified retail broker yet to select next-generation vendor. Painewebber will replace existing Q800 branch processors with Q1000s at all 285 branches, with roll-out beginning this month. Wang and Unisys were among losers in Painewebber bake- off. Meanwhile, Street wags say vendor seeking to displace ADP MDS 7/90 terminals at Dean Witter must accept Discover Card.

Strange Bedfellows Dept. 2/29/88: Barron's publishes cover story critical of Financial News Network, Data Broadcasting Corp., and other Infotechnology Corp.-related businesses. 3/7/88: Barron's publishes lengthy rebuttal from Infotechnology/FNN chairman Earl Brian which, among other things, questions motives of Barron's publisher Dow Jones in printing article. 3/10/88: All smiles, Dow Jones affiliate Telerate and Infotechnology affiliate Intex announce joint marketing/development agreement for automated trading systems.

In annual report, Omaha-based Data Transmission Network Corp. (formerly Dataline, Inc.) claims more than 18,000 subscribers for $19.95/month commodity quote service. FM sideband network is up to 31 stations, and a la carte information services are up to ten, says report. Company reports $493,000 operating loss on revenue of $3.22 million for calendar 1987. Whether delay in release of Lotus 1-2-3 version 3.0 will affect availability of promised Telerate/Lotus product isn't known. Product managers at both companies couldn't be reached. Telerate product is thought to be dependent on new recalculation technology expected in 3.0 version. Interrupt-driven technique allows new data to be entered during recalculation, crucial capability for real-time applications.

Bridge Information Systems has been tapped to calculate indices and dividend flow data for two "Cash Index Participation" contracts being proposed by Philadelphia Stock Exchange. If SEC approves, one CIP will track S&P 500 and other will mimic DJIA. Like shares, CIPs will pay dividends, require 50 percent margins, and not expire. But they'll also have certain characteristics of options, including buyer and seller for each contract. Options Clearing Corp. would issue and guarantee CIPs, and OPRA would disseminate trading information.

Data Broadcasting Corp. begins beta tests this month for proposed "Supernews" service comprising PR Newswire, Comtex OTC Newsalert, and other wires. Supernews will deliver more than a megabyte of data per day, says DBC marketing chief Cathy Flynn.

AT&T picked up two brokerage clients when it bought small VSAT supplier Tridom Corp. last month. Tridom is building branch networks for Prudential-Bache and Ohio Company (MTR, March 1988).

With October 19th market crash study out of way, SEC market regulation staffers are expected to turn attention to long-delayed NASDAQ ticker proceeding. Decision could come as soon as end of April, says source.

Telerate Systems and Independent Bankers Association of America have launched custom version of dial-up Telerate Access Service for IBAA members, mostly smaller community banks. IBAA Telerate Market Access Service, PC-based, will allow users to retrieve real-time prices on CDs, commercial paper, government securities from Telerate database.

NASDAQ information-sharing link with Stock Exchange of Singapore's SESDAQ (MTR, May 1987) began operation March 28th. Price and volume data on 35 NASDAQ stocks are shared via batch file transfer once per day each way.

Quote of the Month: On appropriate pricing metrics for market data in age of price box or user market database: "It turns out the only fundamental problem is those organizations who provide a broadcast- type feed. If you look at a transaction-type service where somebody maintains a database and users query against it, the rational charging metric there is simply that of charging on the bandwidth between my premises and their premises. They shouldn't care whether I have one person taking amphetamines or 50 people taking barbiturates. As far as they're concerned it's the same workload. The one confounding area is simply one of a broadcast type feed where I have the ability to disseminate that to mobile areas. It's a fundamental problem." -- David Isherwood, assistant vice president, Shearson Lehman Hutton, speaking at March 2d Price Boxes and Market Data Feeds conference sponsored by MTR publisher Waters Information Services, Inc.