MSB Adds Neonet To Its Middleware Expertise By Signing On To Support Sungard's Panorama

MSB Consultants has agreed to support Sungard Capital Markets' risk management system Panorama--a possible sign that MSB is shifting its focus from concentrating on Tibco's Enterprise Transaction Express (ETX) middleware to the Neonet solution from The New Era of Networks (Neon), a Sungard partner.

While an executive at MSB, speaking on conditions of anonymity, says the firm's agreement is merely a "broadening" of the consultancy's "impartial" services, MSB has pretty much been in the pocket of Tibco and Reuters--with two of its key principals, Gerry Buggy and Phil Hibberd, Tibco alumni (TST, January 20, 1997 and October 16, 1995; and Dealing With Technology, March 21, December 13, 1996, October 16, 1995).

Hibberd says: "MSB remains impartial and multi-focused. We will support, and indeed recommend, whichever 'middleware' suits a particular client's requirements--be that ETX, Neon, Orbix or whatever. We [expect] the Sungard/Neon partnership to deliver added value to the market."

However, two years ago, MSB co-founder and principal Phil Straszynski made a direct reference to the tight relationship between MSB and Tibco: "You could say that we have been tarred with the Teknekron [now known as Tibco] brush since we started," Straszynski commented (TST, October 16, 1995).

In fact, Waters Information Services has documented a long list of Tibco projects in which MSB Consultants has had a hand, including major installations at Nomura Securities International and Salomon Brothers.

Tibco could not be reached for comment at press time.

The MSB executive says his firm's deal with Sungard to provide integration and support services for Sungard's Panorama risk management system is "just a broadening of our coverage.

"We are not a TIB [shop], although a majority of our work is associated with that, as well as with Reuters' Triarch, CSK Software's Mips and British Telecom/Syntegra's Open Trading System. The directors' normal approach is not to nail their flag to any one pole, because if we were to be perceived as having a stronger allegiance to one or the other, that would not do us well," says the MSB source.

Sungard agreed to be a value-added-reseller of Neon middleware earlier this year (TST, January 20). The six-year VAR agreement allows Sungard to include Neonet in Sungard's trading and investment systems.

In going with Neon, Sungard expressly decided against working with Tibco and its Enterprise Transaction Express (ETX) middleware. A source close to the deal says Sungard came close to signing with Tibco instead of Neon, but shied away when customers said ETX wasn't scalable.

Sungard sells software for derivatives, foreign exchange and securities trading, risk management and portfolio management--in addition to custody and participant record-keeping for trading firms, stock brokers and mutual funds.

In working with MSB, Sungard has agreed to train MSB staff on the inner workings of Panorama, so they can help clients integrate the product with other internal systems.

"We [will] help clients weave Panorama into their fabric, by doing system integration and helping them to use Panorama objects in other areas," Straszynski says.

Sources say Sungard has recently been concentrating full force on selling and installing Panorama, but has had its resources stretched in terms of longer-term support and integration.

In addition, Sungard has recently hired a number of people to work on the Panorama team--including Henry Bonner and Josephine Palazzolo. Both worked at Sailfish Systems, a key rival to Sungard in the risk systems market.

Daljit Saund, who heads Sungard's sales and marketing, says MSB will use Panorama tools to customize the risk management application.

However, Saund stresses that the deal involved no financial arrangements between the two vendors, but that MSB will gain access to Panorama's client base.

Sungard has closed a number of Panorama deals recently, with institutions such as Westdeutsche Landesbank and BfG Bank (Risk Management Operations, May 19).

Sungard originally launched Panorama some 18 months ago (RMO, December 4, 1995).