Opening Cross: Do You Think of Data as a Grgich or a Gato Negro?

From there, the conversation turned to wine, and the incredible range of tastes, grapes and styles available for all tastes. Dennis, the owner, said he recalled his “Aha!” moment with coffee, but hadn’t yet experienced the same revelation with wine, whereas I remember my “Aha!” wine moment clearly: a Penley Estate Shiraz-Cabernet Sauvignon blend from the Coonawarra wine region in Australia with my one-time publisher and other reporters at Boisdale restaurant in London’s West End. Until then, you couldn’t pay me to drink red wine. Since then, I’ve tasted a few truly great wines, plenty of truly awful ones, and many good, solid go-to bottles—and I’ve enjoyed every new experience.
Wait, you ask: is there anything relevant to data in here, or has old Maxoholic finally lost it? Yes, dear reader, but like a good winemaker, all will reveal itself with a little patience. Hint: it’s all in the blend.
Let’s move for a moment to a whisky analogy: it annoys me no end when people turn their nose up at blended whisky, professing that anything other than single malt is garbage. Don’t get me wrong: a good single malt is a joy, and no two are alike. In fact, the character of a single malt can change from year to year, whereas blends are just as artfully crafted to taste the same, batch after batch. For example, Aberfeldy Distillery in Scotland (for the thirsty hikers out there, it’s adjacent to the Rob Roy Way) produces an excellent single malt. But the distillery is best known for Dewars—a blend for which international demand is so great that the distillery exports almost everything it produces.
Back to the wine analogy. Over Thanksgiving, I took my brother-in-law—who works for Italian wine importer Noble Grape Wines—for a wine blending class at Conn Creek winery in Napa, California, a winery that buys grapes from vineyards all over Napa and uses its expertise to create impressive wines, such as its Anthology blend. The winemakers start with a base of cabernet sauvignon from any of the sub-regions in Napa, each with different soils, altitudes and climates, then add small amounts of other grapes, such as merlot, malbec or petit verdot. The results are arguably more impressive than any single grape from a single vineyard.
After that lengthy preamble, here’s my point: as the breadth and scope of market data constantly expands, data providers and consumers need to think of a comprehensive data service as one of these complex blends of different components and characteristics, comprising a broad range of datasets in a cohesive whole, with both breadth and depth, and consistent quality, which appeals to a broad audience, whereas a single-grape wine—like someone selling a feed handler for only a couple of exchanges—may appeal to a limited palate.
So, for example, FactSet’s decision to incorporate global ETF data from Markit, while improving its coverage, may also broaden both companies’ appeal. Or, think of 1010Data’s decision to move into providing a collection of third-party and proprietary data, rather than just providing a Big Data analysis platform, is like a wine blender that also begins growing its own grapes. Of course, key to any good wine is the skilled winemaker who nurtures the grapes and decides the blends. For example, fixed income data provider BondWave is hoping that two experienced new hires will contribute to the depth of its content. However, SIX Financial Information USA has a new master blender in the form of Roger Bohrman, following the departure of president Barry Raskin after many happy vintages at the vendor. We can’t wait to see what “label” Raskin takes his blending skills to next.
Only users who have a paid subscription or are part of a corporate subscription are able to print or copy content.
To access these options, along with all other subscription benefits, please contact info@waterstechnology.com or view our subscription options here: http://subscriptions.waterstechnology.com/subscribe
You are currently unable to print this content. Please contact info@waterstechnology.com to find out more.
You are currently unable to copy this content. Please contact info@waterstechnology.com to find out more.
Copyright Infopro Digital Limited. All rights reserved.
As outlined in our terms and conditions, https://www.infopro-digital.com/terms-and-conditions/subscriptions/ (point 2.4), printing is limited to a single copy.
If you would like to purchase additional rights please email info@waterstechnology.com
Copyright Infopro Digital Limited. All rights reserved.
You may share this content using our article tools. As outlined in our terms and conditions, https://www.infopro-digital.com/terms-and-conditions/subscriptions/ (clause 2.4), an Authorised User may only make one copy of the materials for their own personal use. You must also comply with the restrictions in clause 2.5.
If you would like to purchase additional rights please email info@waterstechnology.com
More on Emerging Technologies
Tape bids, algorithmic trading, tariffs fallout and more
The Waters Cooler: Bloomberg integrates events data, SimCorp and TSImagine help out asset managers, and Big xyt makes good on its consolidated tape bid in this week’s news roundup.
DeepSeek success spurs banks to consider do-it-yourself AI
Chinese LLM resets price tag for in-house systems—and could also nudge banks towards open-source models.
Standard Chartered goes from spectator to player in digital asset game
The bank’s digital assets custody offering is underpinned by an open API and modular infrastructure, allowing it to potentially add a secondary back-end system provider.
Saugata Saha pilots S&P’s way through data interoperability, AI
Saha, who was named president of S&P Global Market Intelligence last year, details how the company is looking at enterprise data and the success of its early investments in AI.
Data partnerships, outsourced trading, developer wins, Studio Ghibli, and more
The Waters Cooler: CME and Google Cloud reach second base, Visible Alpha settles in at S&P, and another overnight trading venue is approved in this week’s news round-up.
Are we really moving on from GenAI already?
Waters Wrap: Agentic AI is becoming an increasingly hot topic, but Anthony says that shouldn’t come at the expense of generative AI.
Cloud infrastructure’s role in agentic AI
The financial services industry’s AI-driven future will require even greater reliance on cloud. A well-architected framework is key, write IBM’s Gautam Kumar and Raja Basu.
Waters Wavelength Ep. 310: SigTech’s Bin Ren
This week, SigTech’s CEO Bin Ren joins Eliot to discuss GenAI’s progress since ChatGPT’s emergence in 2022, agentic AI, and challenges with regulating AI.