Jersey City, NJ – IPC Systems, Inc., a leading global provider of specialized communications and managed network-as-a-service solutions for the financial trading community, today announced that it has acquired ASPone Networks, a global voice and data network provider to the financial markets. IPC and ASPone’s complementary customer bases, market focus and solution synergies enable IPC’s Financial Markets Network to uniquely offer highly differentiated data and voice connectivity solutions to the global financial industry.
ASPone was founded in 2005 by Patrick McGrath, Arthur Hughes and Sina Hakman as a one-stop shop service provider of IT solutions for the financial markets. Today’s announcement reinforces IPC’s commitment to delivering best-of-breed network solutions that offer market participants adaptive, on-demand connectivity throughout the trade lifecycle and across asset classes. Capital market firms are continually seeking ways to rapidly access liquidity venues, counterparties, brokers/dealers, institutional investors, trade lifecycle services and market data. Through this acquisition, IPC expands its financial ecosystem of 5,000 locations into high-growth markets around the world and strengthens its global capabilities to provide capital market participants with even greater levels of resiliency and reliability.
“The strategic decision to acquire ASPone is driven by our commitment to empower our global customers, offering them faster and more direct access to the markets they trade in, coupled with the highest levels of service and support available in the industry,” said Neil Barua, Chief Executive Officer, IPC. “We believe that the combined IPC and ASPone business will create tremendous value for customers of both organizations and enhance our ability to deliver industry-leading managed network-as-a-service solutions.”
“Integrating with a larger, successful organization like IPC provides the ASPone Networks team with the resources and global reach to accomplish its goals of continued growth and support of existing and new clients,” said Patrick McGrath, Chief Executive Officer, ASPone. “IPC is positioned perfectly to best serve our customers moving forward and offer employees additional opportunity.”
IPC looks forward to welcoming the ASPone employees to its global team and to onboarding and supporting all ASPone clients, while providing the opportunity for these firms to take advantage of its broader Financial Markets Network portfolio and global reach.
The IPC Financial Markets Network service portfolio includes the Connexus Financial Extranet and Direct Connect data services, as well as Trader and Enhanced Voice connectivity services. IPC’s Financial Markets Network interconnects global financial centers and allows access to approximately 5,000 market participant locations in over 700 cities in nearly 60 countries.
ASPone is specialized in the development and provision of technology and communication based solutions for the finance industry. It has a broad international presence with offices in Istanbul, Moscow, Singapore, Hong Kong and London. The company has deep expertise in fast, high-volume, highly robust transactional systems tailored to the needs and constraints, including compliance, of financial companies. ASPone is organized around two divisions: (i) a systems division that sells trading solutions, as well as architecting, developing, maintaining and/or hosting bespoke financial software solutions, and (ii) a networks division that sells trader voice and data connectivity solutions to financial institutions.
IPC is a global provider of mission-critical network services and trading communication technology to the financial markets community. With complete focus on this sector and more than 40 years of expertise, IPC provides customers with integrated solutions that support traders and participants across the entire trade lifecycle, including sell-side and buy-side financial institutions, inter-dealer brokers, liquidity venues, clearing and settlement firms, independent software vendors, corporate finance departments, financial information exchange providers and market data providers. IPC’s offerings include a unified communications/application platform, award-winning trading positions, managed voice and data connectivity solutions, compliance technologies, infrastructure management and a suite of enhanced service offerings. IPC’s global reach extends to more than 60 countries – including a network of nearly 5,000 customer sites across 700 cities and an installed base of more than 120,000 trading positions deployed worldwide. Headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey, IPC has more than 900 employees located throughout the Americas and the EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions. IPC’s mission is to continually innovate to support collaboration across the global financial community and address our clients’ needs in an ever-changing landscape.
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