SIA Information Management Show Convenes In NYC; Most Quote Vendors Will Show Off Incremental Improvements

It's SIA show time -- time once again for the best and the brightest techies of the securities industry to descend to the basement of the Sheraton Centre for a look at the latest in shiny hardware and colorful screens (often made more colorful by magnetic fields from passing E trains).

"Ideas That Work" is the theme of this year's Securities Industry Association Information Management Conference, held for the first time in the spring. With such a pragmatic theme, it might be expected that exhibitors would focus on incremental improvements rather than stunning breakthroughs, and this seems to be the case.

Perhaps the biggest announcement will come from Quotron Systems, Inc., which will introduce the "Global Trading System" -- its first attempt to gain a beachhead in the trading room market dominated by Rich and Micrognosis. Quotron's GTS uses the Q1000 minicomputer as a digital switch/file server to support a variety of trader terminals, including Sun Microsystems workstations and DOS machines under Microsoft Windows.

The GTS is built around a souped-up Q1000, which reads in and creates databases from digital data feeds, and controls a video switch for page-oriented services. Data delivery to the workstation can be handled over a ten megabit/second 802.3 Ethernet LAN or a one megabit/second twisted pair. One keyboard will control multiple screens, up to eight in the case of dumb video monitors. The Sun 15- or 19-inch monitors can be divided into quadrants for multiple page displays.

Other new things to be seen at the SIA show include:

-- ADP Financial Information Services will show FS Director, a new Convergent Technologies-based product with a small desktop processor; FS Advisor, a CT-based dial-up system; "Prophet Tool" from Prophecy, a prospecting program that runs on CT or IBM equipment; IBM systems using new PS/2 models 30 and 50.

-- Citicorp Investment Bank will show version two of "Streetsense" with Dow Jones news, fundamental data on listed corporate bonds, equities, pricing on corporate bonds, and an enhanced alert to include news, total volume, and block volume.

-- CMQ Communications will show its real-time spread sheet on Ashton-Tate's Framework II; options strategies package providing analysis of risk/reward on options vs. underlying instruments; a low-end modular video switch; market data feed, a consolidated feed providing everything trading in North America in real-time.

-- Marketview Software will show the newest version of Marketview, driven by S&P's Ticker III; real-time data is supplemented with selected intraday and historical data.

-- PC Quote will show "Basketmaker," a premium service that calculates the value of any user-defined basket and displays the results on the quote page.

-- Programit will show "Trends" PC-based trader's workstation with networking capabilities. Displays up to six services or pages at once. using IBM AT or Compaq 386.

-- S&P Trading Services will show "Market Mate," its branch brokerage display system running on Ticker III.

On the SIA program and of special interest to MTR readers:

"What's Next in Trader Workstations" -- During the general session Wednesday afternoon, Painewebber's John Faccibene will moderate discussion with Donald Bracken of DEC, William Cline of Rich, George Grant of Quotron, and Stephen Sutton of Micrognosis.

"Financial News Service Alternatives" -- During the general session Thursday morning, Nomura's Frederick Matteson will moderate discussion with William Clabby of Dow Jones, Thomas Jordan of Knight-Ridder, and Margaret Klein of Reuters.

Josh Weston, chairman and CEO of ADP, will give the luncheon address on Thursday.

"Broker Workstations Reconsidered" is a Thursday afternoon workshop featuring Janet Dillehay of Painewebber and Lawrence Kummer of Shearson.

"Trading Workstation Alternatives" is a Thursday afternoon workshop with Frederick Matteson of Nomura discussing the Angus, CP Technology, and Programit systems.