London Forum For FIX

LONDON--The FIX Committee last week held the London Forum for FIX. A forum for software vendors interested in developing Fix-based applications.

The forum, according to, Alan Line, director of UK FIX Committee and director of dealing fund manager at Foreign & Colonial, was an opportunity to give vendors an open arena to discuss areas of concern and the future development of the [FIX] message standard.

The committee was able to bring vendors up to date with global FIX Committee projects such as the formation of a new legal entity, FIX certification vendor decision, and FIXML initiatives. In addition, vendors were offered seats on working parties. Line explains one of the important reasons to hold forums such as this is because the committee wants to show vendors that they understand they're providing solutions to something the FIX Committee has driven. "I think they appreciate that we understand these vendors are investing a lot of money into this [FIX] initiative," says Line.

Both software and middleware vendors, such as NEON and Sybase, network vendors, like TNS, and market data vendors, such as Bridge and Reuters were among those present. "This is not a definitive list," said Line of the vendors present at the forum. "We're trying to market to more vendors interested in developing FIX applications. We'd like to see more participation from those vendors."

As for recent changes within the UK Steering Committee, Line says, there nothing new to report. Rest assured, that won't be for long. As Line promises, "We're continuing to recognize the joint benefits on all sides of business, be it vendor or by- and sell-side firms. We hope to achieve recognition through forums such as these, and by continuing to address other [FIX] initiatives."