R.J. O'Brien, ITG, Nybot, GemStone, Calypso, VMware

Chicago-based futures commission merchant (FCM) R.J. O'Brien will connect to global derivatives markets via derivatives trading solutions provider Patsystems, and will also install the vendor's front-end trading screens, including Pro-Mark and J-Trader, Patsystems officials announced last week. The FCM will also use Patsystems' risk management solution, officials add. Patsystems last month announced that it had added functionality to J-Trader (DWT, April 30).

Agency broker-dealer and block-crossing network provider Investment Technology Group (ITG) and Cogent Consulting have partnered to offer ITG clients access to Cogent's broker review and commission management solutions. ITG clients will be able to analyze, document and manage commission spending and broker management, according to ITG officials. Cogent's suite of solutions—ResearchTrak, BrokerTrak and CommTrak—assesses the value of research from brokerages and third parties, determines commission allocation and analyzes spending, in compliance with regulations set forth by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the U.K. Financial Services Authority (FSA). The co-branded service will be available in the third quarter of this year, say ITG officials.

The New York Board of Trade (Nybot), a wholly owned subsidiary of IntercontinentalExchange (ICE), announced late last week that the U.K. Financial Services Authority (FSA) had granted Nybot's application to become a recognized overseas investment exchange (ROIE), effective immediately. The new designation allows Nybot to expand its electronic trading activities and increase the scope of its sales and marketing initiatives in the U.K. In February, Nybot began using ICE's electronic trading platform to trade soft commodity futures (DWT, Feb. 12). Even though Nybot is regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in the U.S., it has agreed to cooperate and share information with U.K. regulators, one condition of ROIE status. Other conditions include affording U.K. investors the same protections they receive when they trade on U.K. exchanges and that the FSA and the CFTC make adequate arrangements to share information between them. Nybot submitted its ROIE application in December 2006.

GemStone Systems, a New York-based enterprise infrastructure technology vendor, has partnered with enterprise-class software vendor Rogue Wave Software, to provide synergies between their offerings, say officials from both vendors. By combining the data caching and management capabilities of GemStone's enterprise data management platform, GemFire Enterprise, to the Rogue Wave Hydra service grid, users will experience improved data access and distribution that will allow intelligent parallel processing across grid and service-oriented architectures, add the officials.

Trading-software provider Calypso Technology last week released the latest version, 9.0, of its Calypso solutions suite. Upgraded features include the ability to configure instrument masters for exotic structures without any coding, a Web-based interface for the platform's enterprise risk service and new credit default obligation (CDO) structuring and analysis tool. The platform's database schema is also now defined in XML for easier upgrades, say Calypso officials.

VMware, a provider of virtualization software, has launched VMware ACE 2 Enterprise edition. VMware ACE enables IT desktop managers to create a standard PC environment, wrap it with IT policies to protect the contents, package it into a virtual machine and deploy it to any managed or unmanaged licensed PC client. The product also features Pocket ACE, which enables deployment of a full-featured desktop virtual machine to a portable media device.