Xignite Taps Xpansion’s Xmon Tool for Web Services Data Monitoring

San Mateo-based web services data provider Xignite has allied with London-based data usage monitoring and analysis provider Xpansion Financial Technology Services’ Xmon cost-tracking and usage-monitoring tool, to allow clients to monitor cloud-based data services.

The vendors are ready to roll out Xmon integrated with Xignite’s Market Data Cloud Platform, and already have proof-of-concept projects underway using production data at clients, having begun talks in the fourth quarter of 2018.

“We were at a prospect and learned they were using Xmon. We said, ‘What the heck is Xmon?’ but the client really liked it and wanted to continue using it. So we started talking to Xpansion and learning what they do,” says Xignite CEO Stephane Dubois. “They were doing analytics and reporting… that we’d only heard about. And we realized that if we combined the two, it would be a really compelling solution.”

Dubois says the move is a continuation of the vendor’s drive for data optimization—starting with cloud-based data, and now incorporating a tool that can show specific instances of data use, identify inefficiencies, such as areas of duplication and repeated requests for the same data, and managing reconciliation of invoices, which he admits is not Xignite’s area of expertise.

Xmon also supports the creation of a cache by Xignite from where data can be used by others within a firm, rather than re-requested and paid for twice. The companies say that by optimizing vendor data requests and streamlining usage across other areas, firms could reduce their overall market data spend by between 20% and 40% in their first year of using the service.

Dubois says that while Xmon is typically used by smaller firms, such as asset managers and hedge funds, and Xignite has been targeting larger firms, “Together, we can go after both.”