Tervela Message Medium Blog | wall street & technology

So here we are sitting on the dock, watching the sunset and reminiscing about the good old days of Lehman, Bear, and - geez - even Madoff.  We watch the tide go out and get lost in the moment.  In the old days, this would be a full page ad in some retirement magazine.  (Given the state of our 401(k)s, we'll probably have a walker next to us on the dock.) Suddenly, the wind changes direction and the tide starts coming in, awaking us from our respite.

Like the tide, the market is now coming back and firms are suddenly awakening and taking notice.  This time, however, it may be a rather high tide.  Many firms that we work with spent the past several months making some much needed architectural and infrastructure changes - fixing up the dock if we follow our coastal analogy.  Other organizations, well, find themselves a bit behind after wrestling with budget and all sorts of other organizational issues, some of which now seem to be abating.  They must be careful, though, not to find themselves caught off guard, sitting on a distant sandbar while the tide rushes in.  Perhaps it's time to look for a quick return to shore.

I'm not sure what prompted this beach imagery; perhaps it was the unseasonably warm weather in the Northeast these past few days.  I do, however, blame Melanie Rodier and her recent piece "Financial Firms Face Massive Market Data Infrastructure Challenges" in Wall Street & Technology for the tide analogy.  She couples her journalism with some recent research by Adam Honoré at Aite Group.  Here is a snippet:

Market data volumes are expected to continue to grow exponentially, further straining market data infrastructures, according to a new report from Aite Group.

 

If U.S. equities message volumes continue to grow at their current pace, they should average 1.2 billion messages per day by 2011, the Boston-based firm said.

 

Storing all Level 1 and Level 2 data for U.S. equities is approaching a requirement of three terabytes per month.

 

For all asset classes, across U.S. market data rates, data volumes nearly doubled on an annual basis over the last two years.

We'll shortly see if the tide hits the seawall.

=rob.ciampa

Tags: market data (4) melanie rodier (1) wall street & technology (3) adam honoré (1) aite group (1) 

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The latest issue of Wall Street & Technology (January/February 2009 Issue) came late.  I thought I was dumped because I was honest on the subscription and didn’t say I was buying $3.2 billion of Complex Event Processors.  Regardless, the current issue features a special report on “The Modern IT Organization.”  The lead article and the supporting pieces are a very good read.  There is a good deal of ink on cloud computing, but my comments on that are for another day.  In the meantime, the intro quote was telling:

For the first time in recent memory, senior technology leaders’ No. 1 mandate is not to build technology to prepare for business growth.  Instead the top IT priority across Wall Street is to manage technology efficiently.

But…  having just read the 2008 Financial Information Forum year-in-review that showed the market data for EVERY asset class increasing, I have to wonder whether we’re setting ourselves up for a market data crisis.  Not sure the cloud computing junkies are going to give us a sunny day on that one.

=rob.ciampa

Tags: wall street & technology (3) it (1) cloud computing (1) market data (4) financial information forum (2) 

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Talk about a buzz kill.  Wall Street layoffs.  AIG executive incentives. Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP). Bernie "Alleged Ponzi" Madoff Investment Securities. Bear Stearns.  Lehman Brothers. Washington Mutual. Lions. Tigers. Bears. Oh my!

Time for a reality check, please: the markets ARE NOT shutting down.  In fact, there is a great deal of business happening and some folks are actually making money.  It is good to see that there are some level-headed people who don't have their heads buried in the sand and are looking objectively at markets, technology and opportunity.  Let's review some recent, notable analysis and coverage.

A recent piece by Leslie Kramer in Wall Street & Technology captured the essence in its title and subhead:

Demand for Low-Latency Infrastructure in Financial Markets Continues Despite Current Turmoil. There is a race underway in the financial markets, with technology vendors and service providers vying to offer the lowest possible latency in the delivery of market data and trade execution information.

Kramer comments on recent research by Rik Turner of Datamonitor.  Turner states "...the current volatility in the markets actually makes low-latency infrastructure even more critical"  The gist is this: current market volatility underscores the need the technology, especially for systems that remove performance impediments.  (It's now moving across more asset classes...)

Another great piece was from John Barr of the 451 Group in his report "2009 preview - Financial Services IT."  John states:

2008 was (hopefully) a once-in-a-lifetime event in financial markets. In 2009, we expect the markets to pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and start planning for the future. Consolidation, cuts and cost savings have made recent headlines – but business goes on, the value of being competitive has not gone away, the low-latency race is still being run, and the European Multilateral Trading Facilities (MTFs) must compete on both business model and technology if they are to survive to the end of 2009.

Poignant. Pithy. Think about it.  When we get through the current market challenges - and we will - the firms that will lead are the ones taking action NOW.

=rob.ciampa

Tags: low-latency infrastructure (1) wall street & technology (3) datamonitor (1) the 451 group (1) 

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